The latest millionaire was made at the 2017 World Series of Poker (WSOP) late Wednesday night, when Pablo Mariz, a semi-professional player from Canada, would place himself among poker’s elite by winning the annual Millionaire Maker.

The WSOP added this popular event a few years back with the intent of providing a low buy-in option, with the chance to win big. As the name suggests, the winner of the event will become a millionaire with a guaranteed cash of at least $1 million for first place.

Since the event’s inception, the prize pool has always met or exceeded the guaranteed amount. This year, Pablo would take home over $1.2 million for winning the event.

His victory did not come easy, however, he had to fade a few cards and get lucky on more than one occasion to outlast the gigantic field of 7,760 players. Soon after heads-up play began, he found himself on the ropes when he got all the chips in with a pair of threes against his opponent’s pair of Aces. Mariz would spike a three to keep his hopes alive.

The very next hand saw Dejuante Alexander, his opponent, double up to keep the heads up battle going.

On the final hand of play, Mariz called an all in bet with Q-J. Alexander showed A-3 and the race was on. The flop gave Alexander a pair of treys, but the river and the poker gods were kind to Mariz and dropped a Queen of spades to give him his first WSOP bracelet.

Prior to winning the Millionaire Maker, Pablo placed second in the $1,000 Tag Team event earlier in the series. He was scheduled to stay for just 2 weeks and play a few smaller events, but his cash in the Tag Team event changed his plans to stay a bit longer. After this epic win, and more money than he’s ever seen in his life, Mariz has decided to play the rest of the series out, and take a seat in the Main Event.

A win in the Millionaire Maker and a second place finish also puts him atop the leaderboard for the Player of the Year Race at the WSOP.