The 2024 WSOP Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship is one of the more prestigious titles to win at the World Series of Poker apart from the Main Event. Since this event was inaugurated in 2006, it has brought about some of the best – and really THE BEST – poker players in the world. It used to be a H.O.R.S.E. tournament, but has evolved into a full nine-game event.
Winning an event of this caliber with a mastery of these nine different poker games – No-Limited Hold’em, Limit Hold’em, Razz, No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw, 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better, Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better and Pot-Limit Omaha – really cements a poker player’s reputation as being among the best in the world.
Daniel Negreanu Wins the Coveted $50K Poker Players Championship
There were a total of 89 entries who would play through 100-minute levels of various games playing 12 hours each day for 5 days. This event required physical and mental endurance along with a sharp focus to outplay a top field of competitors.
The prize pool reached up to $4,249,750 with the top 14 survivors guaranteed at least a minimum payout of $102,999 while the champion was guaranteed the lion’s share $1,178,703 along with the WSOP bracelet.
Canadian poker pro and Poker Hall of Fame inductee Daniel Negreanu aka Kid Poker burst into stardom at the start of the poker boom and was well-known for his engaging table demeanor and uncanny telepathic ability to seemingly know what his opponents were holding. Negreanu won 6 WSOP bracelets and a WSOP Player of the Year Award back in 2004. However, he hadn’t won an event on American soil since George W. Bush was still in the White House in 2008. His last WSOP bracelet victory was over a decade ago in Europe back in 2013.
Being the true poker player that he is – Negreanu still continued to play actively. Whether it was online or live, Negreanu continued to make final tables, even coming up in some very close (yet painful) runner-ups and coming in the money rather consistently. In WSOP events alone, he has scored 266 cashes. Of course, no win could be as sweeter as his most recent one of The 50K Poker Players Championship as it was the one tournament that he really dreamt of winning. In a post-interview with WSOP,
“There is one event in the world I want to play more than any and I wanted to win more than any, and it’s this one. This is the one,” Negreanu said. “Obviously, the Main Event is special in a different way. But this one is all the best players in the world, pro-heavy field, playing 100-minute levels, days and days of grind, 12 hours a day. So to come out on top, you can’t fluke that.”
And it was a very worthy field that he had to overcome with the likes of other greats like Phil Ivey, Michael “The Grinder” Misrachi, Jeremy Ausmus, Joao Vieira and David Benyamine to name a few. Not only did Negreanu have to show his skill, he also needed a bit of lady luck on his side.
Negreanu Lucks Out
In one moment at Day 4 of the event, Negreanu almost went out in 6th place. On a hand of Omaha Hi-Lo, Bryce Yockey sat on a full-house, but a magical one-outer on the river had Negreanu spiking a straight flush to take down a massive pot and stay alive in the tournament. It was a hand that will surely be remembered in the annals of WSOP history.
During heads-up play on a hand of Pot-Limit Omaha, Negreanu’s tournament life was on the line as Yockey was sitting on a pair of aces, and one card away from the title when Negreanu – with a small pair and a straight draw – hit a set on the river to stay alive.
Eventually, on the final hand in a game of Pot-Limit Omaha Negreanu put Yockey all-in on the flop. Negreanu flopped a set, improved to a full house on the turn, and had Yockey drawing dead to be eliminated at 2nd place for a payout of $768,467. Meanwhile, a rowdy rail cheered on Negreanu as he was awarded the top cash prize of $1,178,703 along with his 7th WSOP gold bracelet.
The bracelet Negreanu has so dearly coveted for nearly 20 years was finally his, and with it a massive celebration began inside the Event Center. Negreanu posed for pictures with fans who chanted his name and, of course, captured video for his vlog. After years of chronicling all his near-misses and tragic outcomes, Negreanu can finally show himself on top. Tomorrow’s video will likely be the most viewed one of all.
RESULTS – Event 58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship
*Article by JJ Duque
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