Nick Petrangelo Wins Wynn Summer Championship for $2.2 million

American poker hero Nick Petrangelo has guaranteed himself a winning summer in Las Vegas and it’s had nothing to do with the World Series of Poker. At a six-handed final table full of poker legends, the popular professional Pentrangelo won the top prize of $2.22 million in the $10,000-entry Wynn Summer Classic Championship for the seventh seven-figure score of his superb poker career.

British Dangerman Avoided  

Petrangelo’s victory in the 2024 Wynn Summer Classic Championship didn’t come easy and the six players who made the final were all extremely capable of winning a major title. The British were coming as two of the six were from the United Kingdom, with Rehman Kassam the first to bust.

Kassam, whose lifetime earnings according to The Hendon Mob totalled $1,388,399 before the final table grew considerably when he cashed for $457,511 in sixth place, representing four times his previous biggest cash, the $111,638 that he received for winning the £990-entry PokerStars side event in London back in 2017.

A few hands later, five became four as the American Kurt Jewell was busted in fifth place. Jewell earned a score of $616,553 for finishing outside the podium places in the 1,440-entry field. Soon, the final three remained as the experienced Turkish tournament player Selahaddin Bedir busted in fourth place for $832,749, the last six-figure prize of the event.

Petrangelo Gets Victory

Another British casualty came in third place. Lewis Spencer has accumulated over $3 million in lifetime tournament earnings at the live felt and added his first-ever seven-figure result in coming third for $1,123,597. Spencer, whose previous 10 biggest results were all outside the tournament winning position, likely won’t mind at all at not winning, with his earnings in ranking events now over $4.2 million.

Heads-up, Petrangelo took on his fellow countryman Gustavo Ortega Jimenez, and eventually got the better of him to relegate Jimenex to the runner-up position, earning him a total of $1,516,617. Petrangelo busted all three of his final opponents to win.

Petrangelo’s win, worth $2,221,775 to be precise, was the second largest score of his poker career after he took the title – and a WSOP bracelet – back in 2018. It was in the $100,000-entry high roller WSOP Event #5 of that year that Petrangelo took home $2,910,227.

The Champion in His Own Words

“When we were coming up, these [tournaments] were the biggest thing we played all year.”

After this latest tournament title, Petrangelo was delighted to scoop the trophy and top prize.

“It’s cool to get a break from streams and just play in the corner of the room and no one knows what’s going on,” he said. “I really love playing in Vegas in these events that start really deepstacked and stay deep for a long time,” Petrangelo told PokerNews after his win. “It’s cool to get a break from streams and just play in the corner of the room and no one knows what’s going on! It’s pretty rare for me that there’s 220 buy-ins for first. Usually, I play for like eight so it’s pretty cool!”

Despite now predominantly being a high roller playing smaller-field events often costing six figures to buy into, Petrangelo appreciates the merits of playing a larger-entry field.

“Even though now I do play some of the bigger stuff, people forget that some of us have been playing for 17 years and when we were coming up, these things were the biggest thing we played all year. I don’t forget what I learned from all those reps playing these things.”

Petrangelo described the schedule as intense for him in recent years and even after the WSOP has concluded, he won’t be taking a long-term break any time soon.

“With the way the schedule is, there’s always something. It’s one long game!”

If poker itself is playing the ‘long game’, then Petrangelo – now up to over $37 million in live tournament earnings – is one of its biggest winners.