WSOP 2024: Big Huni Wins the Money as Hunichen Claims First Bracelet, Neves Dominates the Monster Stack Finale

A staggering ten WSOP bracelet events took place on Day 24 of the 2024 World Series of Poker, as players such as Chris Hunichen, Christopher Vitch and Pedro Neves all won gold. The action saw packed cardrooms at Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas as the WSOP moved past the halfway stage in style.

Big Huni Wins Debt Bracelet and $2.8m in High Roller

A heroic performance from both Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen and his epic rail saw the American finally win his first-ever WSOP bracelet as the popular play claimed $2.8m in the $100,000 High Roller. Beating the six-time WSOP winner Jeremy Ausmus heads-up, Hunichen took the title after a thrilling final day’s action at the felt.

The final day started with just six players after the official eight-handed final table lost Isaac Haxton in 8^th and Daniel Aharoni in 7^th place the previous evening. Heading into the last day, it was Swedish star Viktor Blom who led with a massive advantage, but once again, Blom was left on the outside looking in, as by the time the final table concluded, he was the only player left without a victory in WSOP events.

The first player to leave the action went with form as the short-stacked Justin Saliba left after an almost inevitable early elimination. Saliba was very short coming into play and lost with K♥ J♦ to Jeremy Ausmus’ A♦ Q♥. Both a queen and an ace arrived on the flop and Saliba hit the rail for $512,465 but that only told half the story. Ausmus had already double up through Chance Kornuth with the former’s tournament life on the line, ace-five getting there against pocket sevens. Taking out Saliba as well gave Ausmus the air of a man who couldn’t lose.

Latvian bracelet winner Aleks Ponakovs was the next to leave, cashing for $681,796 in fifth place. All-in with K♦ J♦, he couldn’t overtake A♠ 5♦ for Chance Kornuth, with the chips going in on a flop of A♥ 6♠ 2♥. A 9♣ turn and 2♣ river sent Ponakovs to the rail and boosted Kornuth’s chances of victory.

Sadly for Kornuth, he went from hero to zero to bust for $932,725. All-in with the best of it, his 9♠ 9♣ was defeated by Ausmus’ K♠ 6♣ as a board of A♣ K♦ 5♠ K♣ J♣ fell to eliminate Kornuth in cruel fashion. Ausmus, again, looked invincible and soon after got it in with the biggest stack holding A♣ J♦ against Hunichen’s 5♦ 5♣. ‘Big Huni’ needed to hold to survive, and after a flop of 10♥ 7♠ 2♣, an A♥ on the turn was devastating for him. Only a five could save him, and miraculously, incredibly, one landed on the 5♠ river to raucous cheers from Hunichen and his rail… and a wry smile from Ausmus, stood impassive looking at the board.

Viktor Blom’s tournament ended in third place – just as it had in the $50,000 High Roller – when he was crippled in horrible fashion against a resurgent Hunichen. Blom’s A♣ K♦ was way ahead of his opponent’s A♥ 6♥ with all the chips committed pre-flop and the Americna’s tournament life on the line. The dealer fanned 10♣ 7♣ 3♠ – no help for Hunichen – before an 8♦ turn, but a 6♦ on the river saw Blom damaged in sensational fashion, handing Hunichen a lifeline. Blom departed soon afterwards, the Swede’s K♣ J♠ losing to Hunichen’s A♦ 7♦ when the American hit the nut flush on the turn, sending Blom to the rail for $1,311,091.

Heads-up, Hunichen had a 2:1 chip lead and almost made it count very early, only for Ausmus to hit a miracle of his own. All-in with K♦ 8♥ against Hunichen’s K♥ 9♥, Ausmus turned an eight to double up. By then, however, he had already dropped to a 4:1 dog so the chips were still in his opponent’s favor. Soon, Hunichen had another shot at glory, and this time he would get lucky himself to win it.

Ausmus called all-in with J♠ J♦ on a flop of 9♥ 5♠ 2♦ and when Hunichen had shoved with 9♦ 7♦ and it looked good for Ausmus to take a huge lead but after the turn of K♣, Hunichen seemed disconsolate.

“I can’t believe I’m going to get second in another of these tournaments.”

Incredibly, the 9♣ landed on the river and Hunichen went wild, celebrating with his friends and family as all Ausmus could do was watch on and wonder what might have been.

Neves Dominates Final Day in Monster Stack for a Million

Portuguese player Pedro Neves dominated the final day’s play in the $1,500-entry Monster Stack Event #38, where the final six of his opponents fell to Neves on his way to winning the top prize of $1,098,220. Heading back into play with a huge lead, Neves used it to devastating effect, busting every single one of his challengers.

Just seven began the final day, and Tim Reilly was the first player to bust, claiming $188,660 and he was followed to the rail by Brian Roff in sixth for $244,137. Neves continued to wield the axe, wining when dominating or simply coinflips, such as his elimination of Jerry Maher in third place for $550,920. Heading into the final battle with a 4:1 chip lead, Aaron Johnson hit a straight as he hoped to double up. Instead, Neves made a flush on the river and with that card, he had the title and his first WSOP bracelet.

Neves began play with almost half of the chips in play, but although he made it look easy, it wasn’t.

“Every one of my friends thought that I already won it, but there was so much work to do today,” said Neves after victory. “It was a difficult night, but I was focused, and I think I played my best game.”

Vitch Victorius in PLO Bracelet Event

Christopher Vitch won his third WSOP bracelet as he took down the $1,000-entry PLO Event #48 for $262,734. At a final table that was led by PokerStake player David Prociak before it kicked off, the overnight leader initially dominated, taking most of German high-roller Chris Frank with a full house. Chris Vitch soon began to build momentum, however, and as he and Prociak dove-tailed the lead, the other players fell away.

That was, until Prociak himself busted in third place, losing when his wrap was unable to overtake Thomas Taylor’s pocket kings. The Canadian Taylor only had 25% of the chips in play heads-up, however, and it was a flush that undid him, as he made a queen-high flush on the river only to lose to Vitch’s king-high flush.

After the event, Vitch declared himself ready to play the rush, saying: “I’m excited that I have a win under my belt, but I have plenty more events to play.”

That’s dedication for you – no days off!

Peter Park’s Spidey Senses Prove Correct in Super Turbo Bounty

Peter Park won $240,724 and the gold bracelet in the single-day WSOP Super Turbo Bounty NLHE event. With the highest-ranked player to have previously won a WSOP bracelet being 11^th-placed Quinn Do, the final nine were all firing for a debut bracelet. Joe Kuether lost to Jose Rodriguez’s better hand and that set something of a pattern for the final stages, as Julio Novo, Zhigang Yang and Rodriguez himself all lost to premium hands along the way.

Park’s rise to prominence was running along parallel lines to Mark Dube, who also flew up the leaderboard. With three left, Dube had two-thirds of the chips in play, but a double-up for Park through Dube when A♠ J♠ beat Q♦ 9♥ was pivotal and while Dube’s A♠ J♦ got lucky to eliminate Adria Diaz’s A♦ K♣, a couple of hands into heads-up play, Park got the lot. First, 10♦ 9♣ won against Dube’s K♣ 3♦ to double-up, Q♦ 4♦ was no good for Dube when Park’s A♠ 3♣ held to win him the event and the biggest top prize of his poker career so far.

H.O.R.S.E. Championship Final Refuses the Final Fence

The $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship, also known as Event #45, had a controversial conclusion to its fourth day of action as five players became two before the heads-up pair of Maksim Pisarenko and Mike Leah decided that they wanted to return at another time to conclude the heads-up battle for the bracelet.

While not unprecedented for the final two to come back the next day, there was surprise in Las Vegas as the Canadian Leah (5,145,000) ended play chasing Pisarenko (5,720,000) with the bracelet on the line. Leah, who won his only WSOP bracelet in the Asia-Pacific series 10 years ago, would be looking for his first WSOP win on North American soil, while Pisarenk could cap his recent rise to prominence with his first WSOP title anywhere.

Players to miss out on what became the penultimate day of the event (presumably) included overnight chip leader Benny Glaser (5^th for $93,094), Steve Zolotow (4^th for $128,863) and Lawrence Brandt (3^rd for $183,049).

Seniors Championship Sees Henry the Star

Day 2 of the $1,000-entry Seniors Championship saw 1,558 players reduced to 208 hopefuls, with Day 3 on the horizon and a confirmed top prize of $677,326 to the winner on the following day. The bubble burst on Day 2 of this event, with Canadian player Nathan Henry (2,900,000) at the top of the leaderboard at the close of play, with Marc Wolpert (2.35m) and the two-time bracelet winner Mark Seif (2.3m) his closest rivals.

Other players who bagged chips included 2024 bracelet winner Magnus Edengren (1,700,000), the former world champion Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer (615,000), and Main Event finalist Scott Lazar (530,000).

Hoy Heading for Victory in Freezeout

Ben Hoy (7.3m) bagged by far the biggest stack in the $3,000-entry NLHE Freezeout event on Thursday night as players such as Uri Reichenstein (4.48m) and Maxx Coleman (4.1m) both made the final 13 players in this three-day event. With 188 players kicking off on Day 2, the chase to claim the $523,195 top prize began in earnest as players such as Martin Zamani (126^th), Punnat Punsri (36^th) and Sami Bechahed (29^th) all crashed out along the way.

Shack-Harris Aiming to Seal the Deal in Razz

Event #50, the $10,000 Razz Championship saw Day 2 close with just one fewer player in contention. Brandon Shack-Harris (1,554,000) led the remaining dozen players, with 54 at the start of play reduced to two tables among which hides our latest bracelet winner.

Shack-Harris leads from (George Alexander (1,178,000) and Ren Lin (945,000) with the leader hoping for bracelet number three to deny either of those men their first. Shack-Harris came second in the $1,500 Razz event which took place earlier this week but with John Racener (381,000), Phil Ivey (215,000) and Daniel Negreanu (161,000) all low in chips but rich in experience, will be taking nothing for granted ahead of the third and final day.

Two More Events Kick Off

Two other bracelet events began on Day 24 of this year’s WSOP, with Events #52, the $5,000 6-Max NLHE event, reducing 709 entries reduced to 231 players on Day 1. The Winamax player Julien Sitbon (520,500) leads the way, with other stars such as Krasimir Yankov (500,000), Damian Salas (337,000), Bin Weng (310,000) and Upeshka De Silva (294,500) all hunting him down.

In the $3,000 Nine Game Mix Event #53, Richard Ashby leads with 465,000 chips as he bids to win his second bracelet this series and third lifetime. Australian player Antonio Seremet (433,500) is Ashby’s closest challenger but other legends of the game Yuri Dzivielevski (251,000) Koray Aldemir (200,000), Brian Rast (195,000), Adam Friedman (188,000), and Robert Mizrachi (184,000) are some of the 55 players who survived from 379 total entries.

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!

This article originally appeared on PokerStake.com