Julio Belluscio picks up first WSOP victory

After three days of mixed game action, Julio Belluscio defeated Federico Quevedo in heads-up play to win Event #73: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet at the 2023 World Series of Poker in the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. The popular mix of big bet variants attracted a record field of 377 runners to generate a prize pool of $836,600.

Belluscio took home the top prize of $190,240, along with his first bracelet, and more than doubling his previous WSOP earnings total of $90,339.

"This year, I expected to win," said Belluscio, who mentioned in his post-win interview that he's been doing this for 15 years, and he came into this summer's WSOP with renewed confidence. "When I have chips, I affect all the players because they never know what to do against me."

Belluscio also credited his rail with "making him feel comfortable and big" during his final table run and acknowledging that having his friends and family there made all the difference, going so far as to say, "If I make the Main Event final table, then you will see a real rail. I will spend $100,000 to fly all my friends and family from Argentina here, and they will be making too much noise."

Multiple bracelet winners graced this year's final table, including the shortest stack to start, Anthony Zinno, who would be the first to exit the final seven when a rough river card made his opponent a straight and eliminated his opportunity to chop the low in PLO8.

Next out was Hye Park, who would fall to the eventual champ, Belluscio.

Two-time bracelet winner, Erick Lindgren made his exit in fifth place. Lindgren bagged the Day 1 chip lead and stayed around the top of the counts throughout Days 2 and 3. However, Lindgren mentioned he couldn't get any momentum going and took a big hit at the final table when he called off a large percentage of his stack in PLO 8.

Tomasz Gluszko was out in fourth after most of his stack went to Belluscio as well in Pot-Limit 2-7 Triple Draw.

Three-handed play was all about Belluscio, as he would chop away at five-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser multiple times and finished off the runner-up Quevedo in three heads-up hands. The last of which saw Quevedo all-in for one pot-sized bet before the flop.

Final table results:
Place Name Country Prize
1 Julio Belluscio Argentina $190,240
2 Federico Quevedo Costa Rica $117,517
3 Benny Glaser United Kingdom $78,939
4 Tomasz Gluszko Poland $54,118
5 Erick Lindgren United States $37,901
6 Hye Park United States $27,130
7 Anthony Zinno United States $19,857