The 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas continues to thrive and the first gold bracelet for an Asian player is coming closer. Five hopefuls from Asia reached the final table in the span of a few days albeit falling just short of victory while Robert Mizrachi was among the latest stars to earn a repeat victory at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
2024 WSOP Latest Bracelet Winners
Second Bracelet for Simeon Spasov; Steve Yea, Chih Wei Fan Reach Final Table
One of the largest fields of the series so far emerged in Event #12: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em, which drew a staggering 2,526 entries for a prize pool of $3,372,210. In what has been one of the most popular lower stakes tournaments of the schedule so far, the top 379 finishers earned at least $3,006 for their efforts.
Deeper runs for Asian players outside of the top 100 included Lei Yu (161st for $3,685, Jungqiang Lyu (138th for $3,685), Chi Jen “Justin” Chu (125th for $4,067), Eugene Tung (118th for $4,067), Masato Yokosawa (114th for $4,067), and Tamon Nakamura (104th for $4,067). The latter payout was also awarded to Yan Shing “Anson” Tsang, who finished in 100th place on the dot after over-sleeping for two hours and arriving late with one big blind.
Chinese players Min Zhang and Lei Xiang earned the pay jump to $4,549, while Mengqi Chen collected $5,157. From there on, the pay jumps went bigger with Ta-Wei Tou earning $5,926 in 69th place and Japan’s Kiwamu Watabe padding his bankroll with $9,718 for 45th place. The second-best Asian player in the event was Quan Zhou, who finished in 28th place for $17,858.
That left all hopes on Taiwan’s Chih Wei Fan and South Korea’s Steve Yea, the former who can typically be found wearing a beanie hat during live stops in Asia. Fan went to the live-streamed Thunderdome table and reached the final table, ultimately bowing out in fourth place for $152,995. Yea was the next player to fall and cashed for $210,645, setting up a duel between John Henry Gordon and Simeon Spasov from Bulgaria. Spasov doubled his bracelet tally and earned the top prize of $439,815 while Gordon settled for $439,815.
Ryutaro Suzuki Takes Bronze; Robert Mizrachi Wins Fifth Bracelet
When it comes to testing the versatility of poker players, the Dealer’s Choice Championship with twenty different variants is high up on the list besides the annual Poker Player’s Championship (PPC). This time, the event gathered a field of 141 entries and some of the biggest names in the world of poker were involved to take a shot at gold and a portion of the $1,311,300 prize pool.
The top 22 players earned at least $20,000 for their efforts and 25k Fantasy Challenge draftee Yingui Li from China was among those to earn the min-cash. Poker stars Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu missed the final table and earned $27,041 each while German football striker was next to fall for $32,543, followed by Venkata Tayi. With the unofficial final table of seven formed, Day 1 chip leader George Alexander was the next to fall followed by Richard Bai, David “Gunslinger” Bach and Ben Lamb.
It was not possible to finish the tournament in the allocated three scheduled days and a trio returned for an extra session. Among them was also Japanese WSOP bracelet winner Ryutaro Suzuki. He was unable to stage another comeback from shortest stack and finished in third place for $144,431. Michael Martinelli had a tough task ahead in the heads-up against Robert Mizrachi and settled for second place and $215,848, while Mizrachi claimed his fifth bracelet and top prize of $333,045. He will certainly be one to watch for the PPC later this summer.
Nevan Chang Runs Deep; Thibault Perrisat takes the gold
Imagine a one-day tournament that costs $1,000 to enter, in which you can win bounties and have a shot at a WSOP gold bracelet? That’s what Event #14: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em was all about and it took around 15 hours of play to whittle a tremendous field of 2,639 entries to a winner. Some 396 players earned a cash reward from the $2,322,320 prize pool while each knockout also ensured money on the spot as well.
Naixuan Shi from Shanghai reached the top 100 and earned $2,345 in cash while Japan’s Haruto Murata and Aussie Yita Choong cashed for $3,662. Only one other Asian player was left in contention while former WSOP player of the year Josh Arieh bowed out in 14th place for $9,466. Among the notables on the final table were Dinesh Alt ($31,358) and Jesse Yaginuma ($72,115) to mention two.
Taiwanese streamer and content creator Yu-Chung “Nevan” Chang made it to the final three and even held the lead at times, but ultimately bowed out in third place for $96,965. Ron Schindelheim finished in second for $131,571 and French player Thibault Perrisat became the surprise winner for his first bracelet as well as top cash prize of $197,308.
Caleb Furth Goes Wire-to-Wire
The great game of Pot-Limit Omaha with a twist – you need a high and low hand to scoop the entire pot! Some 1,277 entries emerged in Event #15: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better and they compete for a slice of the $1,704,795 prize pool, a mission in which 192 players were successful for at least $3,007.
Renji Mao and Ren Lin from China both cashed for the minimum, as did Japan’s Kosei Ichinose. Yueqi “Rich” Zhu made it to 83rd place and collected $3,387 while fellow countryman Pei Li reached the next pay jump to $3,697, as did Satoru Suzuki from Japan (63rd for $4,631). China had one more hopeful in the mix and Jiyang Gan almost went all the way as he not only reached the final day but also the heads-up stage.
Gan needed to overcome a big chip disadvantage as Caleb Furth led the way since half-way on Day 2 and eventually closed out the tournament in dominating fashion. The first Asian bracelet of the summer was denied by one spot, as Gan earned a runner-up prize of $176,891, while Furth won his first bracelet and $265,361.
Kartik Ved Falls Short of Second Bracelet; Brent Hart goes the distance
Not really considered as a low-stakes competition anymore, many notables jumped into the fray in Event #16: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em and the tournament created a field of 660 entries. The top 124 finishers earned a payday of at least $9,964 and some big names in the money outside of the top 100 included the likes of Thomas Boivin, Michael Moncek, Jen Harman, and Patrick Leonard to show how elevated the field was.
Chuanshu Chen from China earned the min-cash just like WSOP Main Event winner Espen Jorstad while Taiwan’s Wing Po Liu and the Taiwanese James Chen cashed for $10,800, as did Chinese player Chongxian Yang. Singapore’s old school legend John Juanda made it to 56th place for $11,936 while Punnat Punsri showcased his talents with a 34th place finish for $18,037. Yuya Kita from Japan (30th place) and Jianfeng Sun (26th place) missed the final three tables and unlocked a cash prize of $21,468 each.
French player and Asia live poker regular Anthony Cierco saw his deep run end in 13th place for $32,059 and Day 3 ended with seven players remaining including six Americans and India’s Kartik Ved as the only former WSOP bracelet winner still in the mix. Ved was among the shorter stacks and remained there to ultimately see his fate sealed in fourth place for $220,373. The eventual champion was Brent Hart for $660,284 after defeating Eddie Ochana in heads-up, the latter of which took home $440,202.
Another third place for Taiwan; Timothy Murphy straps gold
The dream of a WSOP bracelet can come true in massive fields with a low buy-in, and requires a lot of fortune along the way. One such tournament was Event #17: $800 No-Limit Hold’em DeepStack with 4,732 runners and it concluded in two days, distributing the entirety of the $3,331,328 prize pool among 710 players.
Yingui Li earned his sixth cash of the 2024 WSOP with a 62nd place finish for $6,981 while Chien Chih “Maggie” Weng was the first contender to receive a five-figure prize, earning $10,058 in 44tn place. The final three tables included four players from Asia but three of them bowed out soon after the redraw. Ryuta Ogawa from Japan earned $12,232 while Lei Yu and Mengqi Chen cashed for $15,005.
On the official final table seven Americans were trying to keep the bracelet on home soil and one of them succeeded. The UK’s Harry Lodge fell in 9th for $36,986 while Taiwan’s Tao Chu earned another podium finish for Asia but bowed out in third for $183,237. Raymond Mancini lost the heads-up duel with Timothy Murphy to settle for $246,031, his opponent lifted the hardware for the winner shot and collected the top prize of $368,977.
With so many final table appearances in these half a dozen tournaments, it sure seems to be just a matter of time until the first player from Asia wins a bracelet at the 2024 WSOP.
Stay tuned for more news from Las Vegas in the following days and weeks.
*Article by Christian Zetzsche
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