Adrian Buckley defeats four WSOP champions to win the Millionaire Maker for $1.2 million

Adrian Buckely defeated a tough final table that included Erick Lindgren, Olivier Busquet and World Poker Tour's Mike Sexton on his way to winning the $1,500 buy-in Millionaire Maker for $1.277.193. Buckley is a recreational player whose previous biggest score was just $2.246 and according to him, he was on the hotrun of the century.

17 players returned for the final day of Event #16 Millionaire Maker $1,500 No Limit Hold'em tournament, the chip leader was Randy Pfeifer, but Erick Lindgren, Olivier Busquet, Mike Sexton, Niall Farrel and Andrew Lichtenberger were all still in contest for the $1.2 million first place prize.

The first player to be eliminated was Lichtenberger, he lost a coinflip with 8-8 against Q-J and Farrell was also eliminated (11th place, $90,650) after losing with T-T against Pfeifer's A-Q. 

After Farrell's elimination the players continued on one table.

Seat 1. Adrian Buckley - 3.170.000
Seat 2. Arshad "Sheddy" Siddiqui - 6.330.000
Seat 3. Javier Zarco - 13.270.000
Seat 4. Olivier Busquet - 4.775.000
Seat 5. Arthur Morris - 4.590.000
Seat 6. Erick Lindgren - 4.670.000
Seat 7.Justin Pechie - 2.155.000
Seat 8. David Miscikowski - 5.645.000
Seat 9. Mike Sexton - 1.645.000
Seat 10. Randy Pfeifer - 8.315.000

Morris finished in 10th place after losing with T-T against A-A in a preflop all-in and was soon followed by Mike Sexton.

During Level 33 (80k/160k-20k ante) Siddiqui opened to 325,000 and Lindgren and Sexton called. On the flop of 8-7-3 with two hearts Sexton shoved for 1.5 million, Siddiqui folded and Lindgren called.

Sexton showed T-8 for top pair but he was drawing very slim against Lindgren's 3-3. An 8 on the turn gave Sexton some hope, but the river 4 didn't make his full house and he was eliminated in 9th place.

Pechie finished in 8th place after shoving his short stack from UTG with K-3 suited, he was called by Siddiqui's A-A and failed to improve.

On Level 35 (120k/240k-40k ante) Busquet opened to 600,000, Lindgren shoved and Busquet called with J-J. Lindgren showed A-K but didn't manage to improve his hand and was eliminated in 7th place, while Busquet took over the chip lead with 16 million chips.

David Miscikowski was the short stack and was eliminated in 6th place not much after Lindgren.

Olivier Busquet - 16.800.000
Randy Pfeifer - 13.550.000
Javier Zarco - 11.675.000
Arshad "Sheddy" Siddiqui - 7.275.000
Adrian Buckley - 5.000.000

Siddiqui was the next one to be eliminated, his A-K couldn't hold up against Buckley's A-6 in a preflop all-in.

Busquet soon increased his stack to 19 million after eliminating Pfeifer in a coinflip, but in the end he finished in third place. He lost several big pots to become short stacked then jammed all-in for roughly 6 million over Javier Zarco's raise of 1.025 million (Level 38: 250k/500k-50k ante).

Zarco snapcalled with J-J and Busquet needed to improve his A-4 to stay alive, but failed to do so, he received $589,569 for his third place finish.

Javier Zarco - 16.000.000
Adrian Buckley - 38.000.000

The two players battled for 92 hands, in the final hand Buckley raised to 2 million (Level 41: 500k/1 million-150k ante), Zarco shoved for 17 million and and Buckley called.

Zarco: 6-6
Buckley: T-T

The board ran out 3-K-J-K-2 and Buckley's hand held up.

Adrian Buckley is an amateur poker player who defeated four WSOP champions (Lindgren, Sexton, Pechie, Miscikowski) in the finale to claim the $1.277.193 first place prize, which is quite a significant improvement from his previous top score of $2.246.

"This is all so surreal. There are crazy days behind me. This is the hotrun of the century."

1. Adrian Buckley - $1.277.193

2. Javier Zarco - $791.690
3. Olivier Busquet - $589.569
4. Randy Pfeifer - $441.465
5. Mohammad Siddiqui - $333.038
6. David Miscikowski - $253.093
7. Erick Lindgren - $193.675
8. Justin Pechie - $149.238
9. Mike Sexton - $115.890
10. Arthur Morris - $90.650