The 2024 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas has entered level three and more than one third of the 99 coveted gold bracelets has found a new owner. No player has won two events as of yet, but several contenders have reached multiple final tables whereas others were successful in their bids to increase the own tally. Latest repeat winners were Philip Hui and Timur Margolin, whereas a new tournament on the schedule crowned its inaugural champion.
2024 WSOP – Latest Winners
Alex Manzano Wins First Gold Bracelet for Chile
In the history of the WSOP, the USA as host nation boasts the most bracelet winners with more than 1,500 and rising. Another number that is increasing once in a while is the number of countries with at least one bracelet winner. Latest entry to the club is Chile, as Alex Manzano has topped an 2,402-entry strong field in Event #33: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha DeepStack. He claimed the biggest slice of the $1,225,020 for his victory, which was worth $161,846 for the efforts.
Some 361 players collected at least $1,200 and some of those with a min-cash were Asian players Yuta Kanamaru, Xinli Ye, Haobo Zhang, Ryutaro Sugita, Ryuichi Ikeda and Sen Mu. The pay jumps especially early in the money were not that big and Makoto Yoshimichi as well as Nipun Java earned $1,811 for narrowly missing the top 80 spots. Yucheng Liu earned $3,822 for 47th place and his result was only topped by fellow Chinese player Jun Lai, who reached the final three tables and bowed out in 23rd place for $6,946.
Manzano rode a big stack to victory against several American players with circuit grinder Kelly Kim the most notable one in third place for $78,018. The UK‘s Mitchell Hynam was also among the finalists as well and earned $31,492 for his sixth place.
Antonio Galiana Tops Star-Studded Field in Event #34: $2,500 Freezeout
One hand that poker players will talk about for many years was a gutsy bluff by Spain‘s Antonio Galiana in heads-up against Johan Guilbert. They had been the final duo to battle for the biggest slice of the $2,819,075 prize pool with $439,395 up top and $292,927 for the runner-up. A ten-high all clubs board saw a six-bet bluff by the Spaniard with seven-high to get Guilbert out of a chop. Galiana ultimately came out on top after and won his first gold bracelet.
The 1,267 entry strong field was filled with a lot of notable poker pros from all over the world and the top 191 finishers all earned at least $5,000. Nan Hong and Chih Wei Fan settled for the min-cash, as did the Aussies Didier Guerin and Yita Choong, Xiaohu Liu, Zhao Xin, Natural8 ambassador Pete Chen, and Anson Tsang. The Asian bracelet winners Calvin Lee and Pei Li made the pay jump to $5,250 but finished just outside of the top 100. Further up the leaderboard was Xiaoye Zhang from China, who fell in 58th place for $8,119.
India‘s Sriharsha Doddapaneni and Aussie Stevan Chew both cashed for $10,826 whereas former StarCraft pro and WSOP bracelet winner Jinho Hong collected $12,796 in 29th place. Aussie Sean Ragozzini made his second deep run of the series so far and was the best-placed Asia-Pacific contender with 18th place for $15,356.
Former WSOP Main Event finalist Eoghan O‘Dea, Patrick Leonard, Joshua Reichard, Romain Lewis, Juha Helppi and Jeremy Ausmus all reached a star-studded final table but the bracelet went to Spain for the first time in 2024.
Philip Hui‘s Comeback Denies Aussie Mayoh Bracelet
Another mixed game bracelet was awarded and it improved the track record of Philip Hui from three to four after he came out on top of Event #35 H.O.R.S.E. In a field of 835 entries. The tournament produced a prize pool of $1,114,725 and Hui‘s latest victory in Sin City was rewarded with a payday of $193,545. He had to overcome a large chip deficit in heads-up against Aussie Daniel Mayoh, who was denied a maiden bracelet.
The top 126 finishers earned at least $3,004 and Hong Kong‘s Yun Choi was second in line at the payout desk to collect that min-cash. Ashish Gupta earned the same amount for 88th place while Wing Po Liu made the jump to $3,154 a few spots further up the leaderboard. Gary Benson ($3,417), Masafumi Iijima ($4,056), Ke Chen ($4,568) as well as Song Wang ($7,401) all cashed thereafter.
China‘s Xixiang Luo, who recently won the APT Jeju Main Event, continued his stellar performances on the live felt and made it all the way to sixth place for $33,078. Mayoh at some point held a 10-to-1 lead over Hui in heads-up but could not seal the victory to settle for a consolation prize of $129,052.
Third Bracelet for Timur Margolin
From a gargantuan field of 4,278 entries, Israel native Timur Margolin has added a third WSOP gold bracelet to his resume after he was the last man standing in Event #36: $800 8-Handed NLHE DeepStack. For his efforts, Margolin earned a top prize of $342,551 while runner-up Agharazi Babayev from Azerbaijan received $228,321. Asian part-time resident Michael Allen from the UK finished in third for $168,276 while Taiwan‘s Jeremy Chen finished in ninth place for $32,288.
The massive $3,011,712 prize pool came with a min-cash of $1,601 for the top 642 finishers with Sydney resident Will Davies, Dicky Tsang, Patrick Liang, and Chien Chih „Maggie“ Weng among the min-cashers. Japan‘s Shoko Asano reached the top 100 and cashed for $3,646 in 86th place with Nan Hong following suit in 80th place. Vietnam‘s Ha Duong bowed out right after that and earned a pay jump to $4,239.
Ashish Anilkumar from India bowed out right before the redraw of the final three tables in 28th place for $12,821 whereas Chih Wei Fan (13th for $19,980) and Guofeng Wang (10th from $25,285) hit the rail on the final two tables. Joseph Couden in fifth place ($93,758) was the only other former WSOP bracelet winner in contention, well-known American pro Adam Hendrix from Alaska finished in fourth for $125,074.
Calvin Anderson Denied Fifth Title; John Fauver Takes the Gold
After the WSOP hosted a Big O Event (Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo with five cards) for the first time in 2023, the $10,000 Championship Edition was introduced this year. The event attracted a very healthy field of 332 entries for a prize pool of $3,087,600 with 50 players cashing for at least $20,306.
Joined by a slate of international stars such as Jake Schwartz, David Williams, Christian Harder, Mike Matusow, Justin Saliba, Matt Glantz, Sean Winter and Adam Friedman, two players from Asia also ran deep. Nagoya Kihara finished in 23rd place for $25,340 while Yan Shing “Anson” Tsang reached 14th place, which came with a payday of $30,800. It was the fifth cash for three-time bracelet winner Tsang, who is looking to further cement his status as one of the most successful Asian players at the WSOP.
Among the final eight contenders were seven Americans and Colombian crusher Farid Jattin, who reached his second final table of the series. In Event #8: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, Jattin was denied a maiden bracelet and he finished as runner-up. Jattin seemed to take revenge for that close call as chip leader with four left but a series of all-in showdowns decimated his stack to instead bring with it a fourth-place finish for $217,783.
Michael Rocco‘s second final table in 2024 ended in 7th place for $83,359 while the pursuit of a repeat victory of Dylan Weisman resulted in fifth place for $155,065. With the elimination of Nitesh Rawtani in third ($311,737), the talented multiple COOP and WSOP winner Calvin Anderson was up against John Fauver. Bracelet number five for Anderson will have to wait, as he finished second for $454,668 while Fauver became the first WSOP Big O Championship winner with a top prize of $681,998.
The most recent string of deep runs were promising yet again, but Aussie Malcolm Trayner remains the only Asia-Pacific player to win a bracelet at the WSOP 2024 so far. However, there are plenty of chances remaining to increase this tally.
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