WSOP 2024: Asher Conniff Lands First Bracelet, Jaka and Soverel on Collision Course in Heads-Up Championship

The first two bracelets of the summer were awarded on Day 3 of the 2024 WSOP, as Asher Conniff and Jose Garcia won gold in the Champions Reunion and Casino Employees. Event respectively. Plenty of new events kicked off, with the opening day of action in the $1,000 Mystery Millions and $25,000 Heads-Up Championship, while Daniel Negreanu was involved in a massive coinflip near the end of the WSOP Kickoff.

Coniff Claims Maiden Gold in Opening Event

Asher Conniff took home the bracelet and $408,468 in the $5,000-entry Champions Reunion Event #1, beating Turkish player Halil Tasyurek heads-up to prevent only the third bracelet in Turkey’s poker history. There were ten players involved, and players began on two tables of five. That didn’t help PokerStake player Aram Zobian, who lost a coinflip to slide down the pecking order then a hand later, busted to the same player as Jonathan Pastore’s were too strong for Zobian’s , sending the American to the rail with $23,584.

That elimination of Zobian in 10^th place produced the final table, at which Terry Fleischer maintained a powerful lead. With stacks becoming shallower, Bryce Welker busted next, losing with to Conniff’s , cashing for $29,999 in ninth, before Costa Rican Michael Acevedo busted with to David Coleman’s , an exciting flop of ultimately leading to Acevedo missing spades on turn and river, winning $38,903 in eighth place.

Serbia’s Nenad Dukic lost a massive flip to Tasyurek to get extremely short and busted soon after for $51,416 when another went against him, his falling to Fleischer’s . David Coleman left the action soon after for $69,231, his losing to Conniff’s .

The overnight leader Fleischer busted in fifth for $94,936 when the escalating blinds prompted a bluff that went wrong as his ace-high shove ran into Tasyurek’s trips, and play was three-handed after French player Jonathan Pastore crashed out for $132,545, his outrun by Tasyurek’s when a board of sent him home.

Tasyurek’s huge pile of chips dominated Yuzhou Yin to defeat when ace-nine beat ace-deuce, the Chinese player heading home in third for $188,342, and Turkey was hoping for a third bracelet winner heads-up with a massive lead of 6-to-1 in chips. Asher Conniff would not be denied, however, his king-high doubling through Tasyurek’s ace-high before king-ten got there against ace-ten to almost level the chips. It seemed to be Conniff’s day and so it proved, as with the lead after a vital flush, he called off his stack correctly with pre-flop. Tasyurek needing help with . It never came on the king-high board and Conniff had the gold, the top prize of $408,468 and the first bracelet of the 2024 WSOP.

Jose Garcia Takes Acclaim in Casino Employees Event

Spanish poker dealer Jose Garcia took home gold in the $500-entry Casino Employees Event, also known as Event #2 on the WSOP ticket. Just four players returned to the action on the final day, with Jose Garcia going wire-to-wire as a strong overnight leader to first-time WSOP bracelet champion.

The final four were quickly the final three, as Lang Anderson busted in fourth place for $26,698. All-in with , he lost to Garcia’s as a board of gave the Spanish player the pot. Richard Rothmeier was Garcia’s closest challenger overnight and he took out Alex Green in third for $37,264. Green’s was dominated and defeated by Richard Rothmeier’s and that gave Rothmeier a foothold heading into the final duel.

Just ten minutes into the heads-up battle, Rothmeier had his feet swept from under him. All-in with pre-flop, he grimaced as Garcia called with and a board of never looked like helping Rothmeier back into contention. He took home $52,773 in second place but it was Garcia who claimed gold and he celebrated with friends on the rail as he took home the $79,134 top prize.

Daniel Willis Holds Huge Lead in Kickoff as Kid Poker Crashes

The final eight players have been reached in Event #3, the $500-entry WSOP Kickoff, with Daniel Negreanu the highest-profile casualty of a frantic second day of action. Play had reached the final two tables when Kid Poker committed almost all of his chips with against the of Shawn Smith. It was a huge 20 million chip pot and while it wouldn’t be enough to win the tournament, it was a huge pot and with all the experience in late stages of tournaments, Negreanu would have been confident of using the pot to end his 11-year wait for his seventh WSOP bracelet. As it happened, no ace or king came on the board and there wasn’t even a club sweat. The Canadian poker legend lost the last of his chips one hand later.

While Negreanu crashed out, others soared to the top of the leaderboard, Smith among them. His stack of 16,150,000 at the close of play was good but it was still some way behind Daniel Willis, who piled up 23,725,000 by the close of play. The British player will be hoping to win the first bracelet for his country at this year’s WSOP when the final eight battle to a finish on the third day of action in the event.

John Smith, Artur Martirosian and Faraz Jaka Hunt Heads-Up Glory

Just 16 players are left in the $25,000-entry Heads-Up Championship, Event #6 of the 2024 WSOP, with the defending champion Chanracy Khun having been eliminated in Round 1 of the star-studded event. The 64-entry WSOP Heads-Up Championship, saw a $1.5 million prize pool amassed, with 16 players chasing eight money places and a top prize of $500,000 tomorrow.

With a min-cash of $86,000 on the line for anyone who wins their next – and third – heads-up match, the field could hardly be tougher, with heads-up specialist John Smith, poker coaching boss Faraz Jaka, American poker hero Sam Soverel, Russian GG MILLION$ crusher Artur Martiroisan, Cary Katz and Kane Kalas all looking to show their one-on-one skills are worth half a million dollars when play resumes.

Day 1 saw some true poker heroes depart, with Khun first amongst them, his defeat to Chance Kornuth being followed by an early bath for Chris Brewer, Dario Sammartino and Nik Airball in Round 1. Others to depart early included Shaun Deeb and Alex Foxen as some poker greats made way.

Stephen Chidwick’s path went like Chance Kornuth’s, as a tough first round opponent – Jeremy Ausmus for Chidwick – was defeated only for Round 2 to prove impassible, as the Englishman lost to the titan Artur Martirosian. The Russian hit a full house against Chidwick’s top pair and prevailed, as did John Smith, who took out Sammartino on his way to Round 3.

With other stars such as Kane Kalas, Cary Katz, Matthew Wantman and Marko Grujic all still very much in the hunt for the WSOP bracelet, anything could happen on the second and final day of the event.

Event #6: $25,000 Heads-Up Championship Day 2 Schedule:

1. Cary Katz              vs.    Artur Martirosian
2. Patrick Kennedy   vs.    Michael Steele
3. Darius Samual        vs.    Matthew Wantman
4. Weston Mizumoto vs.    John Smith
5. Nikolai Mamut        vs.    James Gorham
6. Marko Grujic          vs.    Joseph Miller
7. Faraz Jaka            vs.    Sam Soverel
8. Owen Messere      vs.    Kane Kalas

Match 1 winner vs. Match winner, Match 3 winner vs. Match 4 winner, etc on Day 2.

Jamie Kerstetter and John Cernuto Chasing Nattress King in Omaha Event

Adam Nattress (2.48 million) took the chip lead after Day 2 of the $1,500-entry Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better 8-Max Event #4, with players such as James Chen (1,985,000), ‘Miami John’ Cernuto (1,135,000), Ben Yu (715,000) and Eric Baldwin (555,000) all in hot pursuit.

Popular poker commentator and seasoned professional Jamie Kerstetter may only start with 280,000 chips on the final day but with 21 players only between her and a first WSOP bracelet – to join her WSOP Circuit rings – and a top prize of $209,350 up for grabs, anything is possible on finals day.

Chen on Top in Mystery Millions After Dramatic Day 1a

Event #5 began on Thursday, as the $1,000-entry Mystery Millions saw 2,246 entries whittled down to just 118 survivors on Day 1a. Top of the pile after a mammoth day at the felt was Pete Chen, whose stack of 3.15 million chips dwarfed everyone’s except Uri Reichenstein (2,225,000) with the infamous EPT runner-up bagging slightly more than Japanese player Akinobu Maeda (2,080,000).

With other poker luminaries such as Andrew Moreno (1,370,000), Brock Wilson (1,035,000), Jeremy Becker (940,000), and Alex Foxen (625,000) all still in there fighting, the standard for Day 2 when it comes is guaranteed to be high.

Wagner Calls Tune but Glaser Going for Gold in Dealer’s Choice

Lastly, Day 1 of the $1,500-entry Dealer’s Choice 6-Max Event #7 concluded, with 126 surviving from 530 entries. Michael Wagner topped the leaderboard at the close of play with 272,000 chips, a little ahead of Jacob Hamed (262,500) and legendary multiple mixed game player and WSOP bracelet winner Benny Glaser (261,500).

With a prize pool of $707,550 creating a $138,296 top prize, others such as Scott Bohlman (259,000), Andrew Kelsall (240,500), Jeff Madsen (193,000) and Maxx Coleman (147,500) will all fancy their chances of a deep run and a tilt at the bracelet come Day 2.

With thanks to PokerGo for their official WSOP photography. The 2024 World Series of Poker is available to watch exclusively on PokerGO. Subscribe today and watch all the drama play out in Las Vegas!