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A poker player with no recorded live poker tournament results has entered the $100,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) nearly for free.
Phillipp Mellon, who doesn’t even have a page on The Hendon Mob, showed up Tuesday with just five other players when the high-stakes tournament began at 1 p.m. PT. He sat down at the table to play against crushers such as Alex Foxen and Eelis Parssinen, both 2026 bracelet winners. Jason Koon, who is up for Poker Hall of Fame, was among those who registered shortly after the tournament started.
How Poker Player Entered the High Roller
Mellon wasn’t staked to play the tournament. Few poker players out there with no tournament results could find a backer for a $100,000 buy-in tournament. He instead earned his way into the event in perhaps the most improbable way.
The bracelet hopeful trying to win life-changing money, as Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers tweeted, started out competing in and winning a $120 Step 1 Landmark satellite at Horseshoe Las Vegas. That win gave him a seat in the $850 Step 2 satellite, which he also won. Mellon then moved on to Step 3, a $7,500 satellite, and he won that one for the $100k PLO seat.
Mellon, who declined an interview, is from Miami, Florida. His LinkedIn profile shows he is an organ procurement transplant coordinator/RN and associate partner for T-1 Med LLC.
Mellon hung in there with the pros for about four hours. But he inevitably bowed out during the middle of the Day 1 session against Sergio Martinez Gonzalez when he flopped two pair and ran into top set. So, he ended up turning $120 into $0, but he does have a story to tell and an experience — playing in a six-figure buy-in tournament — that most poker players will never have an opportunity to live out.
The field, at the time of publishing, had increased to 26 players with registration open until tomorrow. Shaun Deeb is the defending champion in this event, although he’ll be a late entry due to holding a chip lead at the final table in the $1,500 8-Game Mixed.
