Benny Glaser Goes Close to WSOP Glory for PokerStake as Fellow Brit Grabs Gold

A thrilling conclusion to Event #8 of the WSOP Paradise 2024 series saw PokerStake investors grab either treble their money or six times their bet as British mixed game crusher Benny Glaser came sixth. Glaser, who was going for a sixth WSOP crown, won $304,870 in sixth place instead but that still represented a massive win for PokerStake players who backed him for either both of his entries or just bullet #2 on the site.

A Winning Return

A bumper poker festival deserves a bumper field. Every event at WSOP Paradise seems to be packed and Event #8 was a costly investment for any player who fancied a shot at the eventual $6.1 million prizepool. It was $50,000 to play and some of the best in the world took their seats in the Pot Limit Omaha tournament dreaming of capturing gold.

Benny Glaser has more WSOP bracelets than most, with a whopping five wins coming in many different game formats between 2015 and 2023 inclusive. Winning World Series events in Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw ($311,428 and $136,215), Razz ($274,693) and Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better ($407,194 and $244,103), Glaser put both a first bullet and second bullet on sale on PokerStake this month, with both $52,000 entries selling out.

For anyone who bought both bullets, the return of $304,870 for Glaser finishing in sixth place represented a return of 600% for anyone investing in bullet #2, while anyone who bought both bullets returned three times their investment. Glaser wasn’t the only big name banking a big return on his entry fee, with 18 players paid. Some others who cashed before the final table included Joao Simao (15^th for $107,130), the 17-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth (14^th for the same amount), Scott Seiver (11^th for $124,910) and Sam Greenwood, who bubbled the final table in eighth place for a return of $169,800.

Glaser Ousted by Tollerene

After Pascal Lefrancois was taken out in seventh place by Ben Tollerene, Glaser’s event came to an end at the hands of two players and two hands. First, Glaser saw his chances take a devastating hit when Tollerene rivered a full house of aces over treys. Then Yang Wang rivered trips to oust Glaser for his six-figure score.

With better luck, the British crusher who once said, ‘I’d say limit PLO8 is probably my best game but my favourite game I say is no limit single draw 2-7’ would have gone further. Glaser has banked over $800,000 in live tournament results since the start of May and won $79,370 when he came sixth in the $25,000 Event #5 that was eventually won by Eric Wasserson for his first WSOP bracelet, an event PokerStake legend Josh Arieh came second in for $262,090, multiplying 36 PokerStake investors’ stakes by ten in the process.

After Glaser departed, Dylan Weisman continued his excellent 2024 by winning $410,970 in fifth, before Nick Schulman fell just short of winning yet another bracelet, exiting in fourth place for $553,990.

The dominant Ben Tollerene fell in third for $746,790 and heads-up, Stephen Chidwick took on Yan Wang for the title. It was Wang who held the chip lead by 2:1 but Chidwick quickly grabbed a double-up and while both men held the lead thereafter, a huge hero call on the river saw the British player grab 80% of the chips in play. Soon after, he had them all, winning with pocket aces before politely shaking Wang’s hands and accepting the congratulations of his rail.

The Champion in His Own Words

“Bracelets are something that used to be a huge goal of mine in the earlier part of my career.” ~ Stephen Chidwick, two-time WSOP champion.

After victory, Chidwick spoke to reporters who asked him how it felt to win his second WSOP title, once again in PLO, a format he didn’t always play so regularly.

“Winning anytime it feels great,” he said. “Bracelets are something that used to be a huge goal of mine in the earlier part of my career. As time has gone on, my focus has kind of shifted a bit more to some other tours and some of the higher stakes tournaments.”

Chidwick then admitted that he has reduced the volume of events he plays these days, keeping his powder dry for the big buy-in events for maximum return.

“If I have some skills in PLO tournaments, it’s probably mostly applying my tournament knowledge across to PLO, since the majority of the very strongest PLO players are primary cash players so there aren’t a whole lot of tournaments. Having a foundation in the theory of PLO, and then very strong tournament fundamentals, hopefully I’m able to combine those two.”

Stephen Chidwick isn’t just the most successful British player of all time in ranking tournaments. He’s got the top of the all-time money list in his sights. Who would doubt him after this latest seven-figure win moved him to within just over a million dollars of Justin Bonomo in second place?