McMillen is victorious in WSOP $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max

On Thursday night, the 2020 WSOP Online Event #9: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max drew 658 runners who rebought 368 times.

The 1,026-entry field resulted in a $974,700 prize pool, and after 10 hours of play, it was 70-year-old Ron "MacDaddy15" McMillen coming out on top to win a $188,214 top prize and a WSOP gold bracelet.

While he's got plenty of live experience, the tournament marked his first time ever playing online poker. He navigated a field of young, online crushers to show that even a live player can succeed online.

McMillen, a regular on the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT), actually came fairly close to winning a bracelet in the past on a couple of occasions. In 2014, he finished 12th in Event #19: $1,500 NLH for $29,709, and a year later placed 10th in the 2015 WSOP Event #6: $1,000 NLH Hyper-Turbo for $14,255.

It was clearly a special moment for McMillen and his friends cheering him on.

After Ray "Raytrg" Vilaman bubbled the tournament in 144th place, the eliminations came at a rapid pace. Among the notables to cash were Chris "Robotbob47" Moorman (141st - $1,656.99), Alan "mossadshark" Sternberg (109th - $1,754.46), Daniel "DNegs" Negreanu (96th - $1,851.93), Tara "bertperton" Cain (79th - $2,241.81), Yong Keun "LuckySpewy1" Kwon (56th - $2,729.16), Nick "cashUSklay" Schulman (43rd - $3,703.86), Anthony "heheh" Zinno (22nd - $5,360.25), Ryan "Adopt_aDogg0" Leng (10th - $10,331.82) and Aram "X69Podheiser" Zobian (8th - $17,447.13).
Final Table Action

This was Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman's second final table appearance this series but unfortunately, it was short-lived once again after he lost a flip holding ace-nine suited to McMillen's pair of ducks.

Chris "moodeez" Moody was the next to go after they three-bet jammed holding a suited jack-ten but was dominated by Ryan "Im.Sorry" Torgersen holding king-jack. Moody flopped a broadway draw but the board finished with running fives ending their tournament in fifth place.

The final table eliminations continued in a flurry after Ruth "crazeelf666" Ruffman got her remaining chips in the middle holding a made hand of tens but ran into the pocket queens of Torgersen ending her night in fourth place.

After Wade "WillowG23" Griffith bowed out in third place – the result of getting it in on the river holding top-pair only to see Torgersen table a flush – the heads-up match was set with Torgersen holding almost a 2:1 chip lead over McMillen.
The Turning Point

Despite the disparity, it proved to be a back-and-forth affair until McMillen won a flip holding pocket tens against Torgersen's ace-queen. There wasn't much of a sweat as a ten appeared in the window giving McMillen a set to win the hand and from there he held a 19:1 chip advantage.

It only took two short hands after when Torgersen was eliminated in second place after they flopped top-pair holding king-four only to be flushed out on the turn by McMillen's ten-five of diamonds.

Immediately after the victory, McMillen and his friends headed to ARIA to celebrate with a bottle of Dom Pérignon.

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)