The first bracelets of the 2024 WSOP were awarded in Vegas last night, but Daniel Negreanu wasn’t among the recipients – DNegs falling late in the day in his quest for WSOP gold.

Close but no WSOP gold cigar for Negreanu

Negreanu was on a deep run in Event #3, the $500 WSOP Kickoff No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout. Looking for his 7th bracelet he had plenty of chips but his bid for gold ended after a huge clash…

Daniel Negreanu: A♣ K♣

Shawn Smith: 10♣ 10♦

Flop: 2♣ J♠ 5♠

Turn: 3♦

River: 9♠

All-in with fumes on the next hand, Negreanu was out in 16th spot for $8451 and his decade-long wait to add to his WSOP haul continues. The UK’s Daniel Willis leads the final eight, with Smith in second spot.

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Opening event Gold for Conniff

Meanwhile, Asher Conniff scooped the opening event, the $5k Champions Reunion, after seeing off a field of 493 runners to bag the $408,468 top prize.

A slew of former main Event champs had turned up to play this one, including 2003 champ Chris Moneymaker and defending champ, Daniel Weinman, but only four made the paid spots.

Weinman was among them, in 52nd place, with 2012 winner Greg Merson in 67th, 1995 champ Dan Harrington in 37th and top of the bunch, 2016 victor Qui Nguyen in 21st spot.

Conniff recovered from a big chip disadvantage heads-up, finally seeing off his opponent with the same hand that caused Negreanu so much grief…

Halil Tasyurek: J♦ 9♦
Asher Conniff: 10♥ 10♣

Conniff bubbled the Main Event final table in 2022 with pocket tens after he ran into flopped quads but this time there was no such drama…

Flop:  7♠ 4♣ K♠

Turn: 5♦

River: 8♣

Event #1: Champions Reunion

Buy-in: $5000

Entries: 493

Prizepool: $2,047,800

Winner: Asher Conniff

Prize: $408,468

Poker dealer earns almost $80k at WSOP

The WSOP may well pay a bit better than most stops for poker dealers, but Jose Garcia’s $79,134 scoop came courtesy of playing rather than working.

Garcia took down event #2, the Casino Employees event, after a record-breaking field saw the final four come back for an extra day to decide the bracelet.

While the event caused some controversy and confusion over who should be eligible to play, the man from Albuquerque, New Mexico avoided all the pitfalls.

Heads-up saw him face Richard Rothmeier and the finale was one of domination…

Richard Rothmeier: K♥ 9♣
Jose Garcia: K♣ Q♣

Flop: 8♦ 4♣ Q♦

Turn: 6♣

River: K♠

Event #2: Casino Employees

Buy-in: $500

Entires: 1189

Prizepool: $499,380

Winner: Jose Garcia

Prize: $79,134

Today’s schedule includes day 2 of the prestigious $25,000 buy-in Heads-up Championship, the bracelet and $500,000 up top for the winner.

Defending champ Chanracy Khun fell in round 1 to Chance Kornuth but fan favourite John Smith took out Dario Sammartino to continue an amazing run in his favourite event.

We’ll be back tomorrow with a round-up of all the best of the WSOP 2024 action and results, so be sure to check in!

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