Aaron Stefansky wins Event 5 of the Escalator VII Series heads-up for $135,733

Escalator VII series
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Fla
event 5
$1,700 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guarantee
Entries: 559
Prize pool: $838,500
March 9-13, 2023

Event 5 of the Escalator VII Series was a multi-flight $1,700 no-limit hold’em (re-entry). Across three flights, a field of 559 entrants generated a prize pool of $838,500, easily beating the $500,000 guarantee.

A heads-up deal was struck at the final table and as the chip leader it was Aaron Stefansky who was the official champion of Event 5 with $135,733.

There were 175 players returning on Day 2 and Stefansky was sixth in chips. He remained consistently at the top of the leaderboard, and when the 70-man field was in the money, Stefansky jumped to the top of the counts, and it wasn’t particularly close. From about seven tables down, Stefansky ran away with the chip lead as no player was within 25 big blinds of his lead.

By the time the final table was reached, Stefansky was comfortably in the game with 30% of the chips. He racked up two eliminations to extend his lead and a third day of the tournament was required as the final four players hit a hard stop. When play resumed, Stefansky picked up where he left off and went heads-up with the lead. Things got tight from there and when eventual runner-up Dmitry Savelyev proposed a deal, Stefansky agreed and was the official champion of Event 5.

Stefansky primarily plays cash games and recently relocated to South Florida from Chicago with his wife. Amazingly, this was Stefansky’s first live tournament and one of a lifetime, ending in victory and a six-figure score.

*denotes heads-up deal