Australian, Malcolm Trayner, Wins 2024 WSOP Mystery Millions Event
Australian professional poker player, Malcolm Trayner, has won the 2024 World Series Of Poker $1,000 buy-in Mystery Millions event. The event saw the largest ever field for an event of its type and in beating out more than 18,400 other players to take the top spot, Trayner not only took home a $1 million prize pot but secured his first-ever WSOP bracelet, aged just 24 and competing in his maiden WSOP event, besting Carson Richards in the final heads-up duel.
Richards took home a prize of over half a million dollars. Valentyn Shabelynk, of Ukraine, and DJ Buckley, of the U.S. took home the two-million-dollar bonus pots.
Big Money Prize For Malcolm Trayner
Trayner’s victory in the recent 2024 WSOP Mystery Millions event more than doubled his lifetime poker earnings, pushing him up to 35th in all-time Australian earners. Although the country is best known for its love of slots (pokies), poker popularity in Australia is high, with regular games played at the table, as well as online. According to betting expert Jack Garry, there are plenty of sites for players looking to compete in tournaments, cash games, or freeroll events. There are poker sites available for all levels of players and for high and low-rollers, as well as anonymous casinos that offer discretion and privacy.
The Mystery Millions Format
The Mystery Millions event sees a million-dollar first prize for the winner of the three-day event. It also features a bounty pool. Money from each buy-in is added to the pool and, starting from day 2, whenever a player eliminates another player, they draw a random prize from the bounty pool. Prizes vary up to $1 million. This year, both million-dollar bounty prizes were won on day 2. There were also bounties of half a million dollars and $250,000.
The main event saw 18,403 entries, representing the 6th-largest field of a WSOP tournament, and the largest ever for an event with a $1,000 or higher buy-in fee. A total prize pool of over $16 million was on the line, with $300 from every buy-in being placed in the prize pool bounty.
Trayner’s Win
The final day of the event is when the action for the main event really heated up. 18 players were left fighting for the final table and Trayner was not in the top 10 at that point. However, by the time the final table was called, Trayner had fought his way to the top of the chip count.
Trayner proceeded to eliminate Amir Mirrasouli, whose sixth-placed finish saw him take home $186,080. Trayner also eliminated Ashri Azran, in fifth with a prize of $240,350. From there, Carson Richards further narrowed the field, leaving him and Trayner for the final heads-up battle. At the start of the heads-up Trayner had more than three times the chip count of Richards. Richards did briefly take the chip lead after landing a flush on the river, but Trayner came out on top with a final hand of a top pair.
A Big Step For The 24 Year Old Australian
Trayner’s million-dollar prize pot is the biggest of his career. It more than doubled his career earnings and pushed him up from 170th to 35th in Australia’s All-Time Money list. This was Trayner’s first ever WSOP bracelet event and his highest earnings came last fall when Trayner won $125,495 in a World Poker Tour Australia event, where he finished runner-up.
Although this is his first title of the year, Trayner has played in three final tables and he now stands in 79th place in Global Poker’s Player of the Year 2024. After the event, Trayner said he had made a few mistakes earlier in the competition but that once he settled, it was just a case of doing what he had done many times before online and in live poker events.
The World Series Of Poker
The WSOP includes 101 events and while most poker variants are covered, the Mystery Millions event is one of more than 50 that use Texas Hold ‘Em. The events take place primarily in June and July, which means there will be many more opportunities for Trayner to add to his season earnings, and for other players to take home a WSOP bracelet for winning events.
