WSOP 2024: Daniel Negreanu Ends Wait for Bracelet, Wins Number Seven in Poker Players Championship Triumph

The triumph of one of poker’s biggest icons in one of the most prestigious tournaments in poker will be what the poker public remembers most from Day 31 of the 2024 World Series of Poker, but there were also a staggering 12 WSOP bracelet events in play on Thursday at Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas, with a total of six bracelets doled out and three new events on the docket.

Negreanu Records Sensational Seventh Bracelet With PPC Victory

For 10 years, eight months and five days, ‘Kid Poker’ was stuck on six. Daniel Negreanu won his first bracelet back in 1998, then earned three more in the 2000’s and two more in 2013, and most poker fans thought the race to the title of most bracelets earned would be a fight between Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu. But as Hellmuth expanded his 13 bracelets to 17 in that span, and Ivey’s nine turned into 11, Negreanu couldn’t break through, finding five runner-up performances but no bracelet from 2014 until the 2024 Poker Players Championship.

Today, that drought is over.

Negreanu now holds what could arguably be his crowning achievement in the poker world, a victory in Event #58, the $50,000-entry Poker Players Championship for $1,178,703 and his seventh career WSOP bracelet, moving him into a tie with John Hennigan, Men Nguyen and Billy Baxter for seventh all time in career bracelets. He reiterated the importance of this event to him in his interview with PokerNews, stating, “There is one event in the world I want to play more than any and I wanted to win more than any, and it’s this one.”

To earn the most prestigious bracelet in his ever-expanding coffers, he needed to finish the job at a final table of crushers; despite starting in second out of the final five, he was almost a fair distance back of Chris Brewer at the start of the final table. David Benyamine would fail to spin up his micro stack, falling in Razz when Bryce Yockey outdrew his 9-8-5 with a 9-8-3 on seventh street. Dylan Smith wouldn’t make it out of the Razz round either, as he was drawing dead going into seventh against Yockey’s 7-5-4 to bring the stacks nearly even three-handed.

Brewer slowly started to bleed down while Yockey and Negreanu battled for the chip lead. After losing a considerable chunk of his stack in 2-7 Triple Draw, Brewer tried to get sneaky with aces, choose to just call a raise from Yockey after a Negreanu button limp, and all three players saw a 10♥ 5♠ 3♠ flop. Yockey led for 600,000, Brewer raised to 2.3 million, and Negreanu tank-folded Q♣ 10♣. Yockey jammed for Brewer’s last 325,000 with J♠ 10♠ and the duo was off to the races. That race turned out to be over before the finish line, however, as the 7♠ made Yockey’s flush draw and left Brewer dead before the river could fall.

Yockey started heads-up with a 3:2 advantage in chips, one he quickly expanded to 5:2 in Omaha Hi-Lo. Negreanu hung tough, however, retaking the lead at one point before Yockey made a wheel in 2-7 Triple Draw, collecting quite a few bets from Negreanu before he folded on the river. A PLO hand a few hours later turned out to be pivotal hand of the match, as Negreanu jammed his last 5.125 million in with 9♦ 8♦ 4♣ 2♣ on a 7♥ 6♣ 2♥ flop, holding a pair, straight draw and backdoor club flush draw. Yockey was waiting with A♠ A♥ J♠ J♦ and called, and after the K♦ turn, looked primed to lock up his third WSOP bracelet. But fate had other plans and plunked the 2♠ on the river, making Negreanu trip deuces and surging him back into the chip lead.

The orbit of games would go by one more time before another PLO hand ended the tournament. Yockey got his last 6.1 million in on a 7♣ 10♣ 7♥ flop with 9♣ 6♠ 3♠ 2♣, a gutshot and a nine-high flush draw and was looking to improve against Negreanu’s A♦ Q♠ J♣ 7♠. It was Negreanu that improved instead on the Q♥ turn, rendering Yockey dead to the Q♣ river, and Negreanu yelled “Yo Adrian, we did it!” to his wife Amanda, referencing his beloved Rocky movies as he finally reached the pinnacle of his WSOP career to date.

Spitale Wins Memorable Final Hand and Maiden Bracelet in Milly Maker

A pair of millionaires were made at the final table of Event #54: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em, but Argentina’s Franco Spitale went one step further, earning $1,250,125 and his first WSOP bracelet (that he promised to give to his daughter, Emma) after starting the final day as chip leader and fending off a pair of aggressive foes in three-handed play.

Charles Kersey and Harvey Jackson started the day short and were the first two casualties of the final table, with Paul Saso joining them shortly after. The trio of Spitale, Justin Carey and Stephen Dauphinais were separated by under a single big blind at that point, and it took two more levels for Dauphinais to get whittled down to just over 12 big blinds, which went in with the K♠ J♠ over a Spitale limp. Spitale had set the trap with the A♠ Q♦, and a benign 5♥ 8♦ 10♠ 7♥ Q♠ runout left Spitale with a slight lead over Carey leading up to the exciting finale.

In the final hand, Carey limped in on the button for 4 million, and Spitale raised to 14 million. Carey then jammed for 98 million effective, and Spitale called it off with A♣ 10♠. With more than two-thirds of the chips in play in the pot, Carey found the 10♥ 2♦ 5♥  flop to send his rail into a frenzy. Spitale needed runner-runner to earn the bracelet at this point, and lo and behold, the A♥ hit the turn to breathe new life into the man with a rail screaming “Messi!” Spitale found another ace from space on the A♦ river, and he dropped to his knees much like Messi would after celebrating a goal, earning himself a shower of beer and the adoration of one of the more animated rails seen so far at the WSOP, along with more than a million bucks and his first piece of WSOP gold.

Jazayeri Finally Earns First Bracelet in Super Seniors

Despite holding a WPT championship back in 2012, a WSOP bracelet had eluded Sean Jazayeri during a poker career that’s been in gear since 2009. Event #59: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold’em finally saw Jazayeri break back through, notching his first career bracelet along with $368,025, his second biggest career payday to date.

11 players returned for the final day of play, and when the official final table of nine was reached, Yucel Eminoglu had a monster lead over the rest of the field, sitting with almost a third of the chips left in play. Despite most of the remaining players wielding short stacks, it took the better part of two levels for the dam to break, as three players fell in quick succession near the end of Level 33. Eminoglu then busted Felix Barriga in a massive flip before dispatching Gary Fisher as well, and after Naelic Minaya fell in fourth, Eminoglu took care of Paul Runge to command a solid chip lead of more than double Jazayeri’s stack heading into heads-up action.

The talkative and confident Eminoglu found his first major bump in the road shortly into heads-up, doubling Jazayeri up when his Q♣ 10♥ failed to improve against the A♠ 4♠. Jazayeri then made a flush and picked up a sizable pot off Eminoglu to leave him short. Jazayeri would jam a few hands later with the A♥ 10♥ and get called by Eminoglu’s A♠ 8♥. Jazayeri would end up with the stone nuts on a Q♥ 4♥ 3♦ A♦ 6♥ runout to eliminate Eminoglu and send the title of most Super Senior and a WSOP gold bracelet to Jazayeri.

Boi Plays Comeback Kid to Earn $3k NLHE Gold

For most of the tournament, including the final day of action in Event #60: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em, Paolo Boi of Italy spent his time nursing a short stack. The patience in navigating one of poker’s more anxiety-inducing scenarios paid massive dividends, as he topped the 1,773-entrant field for his first WSOP bracelet and $676,900 in prize money after denying poker pro Noel Rodriguez in heads-up play.

Only 13 players returned for the final day of action, but Chris Klodnicki (12th – $37,580) was one of four players who failed to make the official final table of nine. Vanessa Kade and Noel Rodriguez were the most well-known players to make the final table, but Kade started the final table short and never gained any traction before falling in eighth place. When the field fell down to the final five, a very lengthy five-hour battle began with no eliminations and a plethora of lead changes. Boi at one point held just five big blinds, but battled back and eventually took the chip lead when he caught an all-in bluff from Justin Belforti with the nut flush. That bustout led to two more eliminations in short order, and Boi and Rodriguez began heads-up with Boi enjoying a 6:1 chip lead.

Rodriguez would manage one double before the final hand, where Boi raised to 1.8 million on the button with blinds at 400k/800k, and Rodriguez made the call. Rodriguez check-raised a 2 million chip bet from Boi on a J♦ J♥ 3♣ flop to 4.8 million, and Boi stuck around with a call. Rodriguez fired another 5.6 million on the 6♠ turn, and Boi called again. The K♠ completed the board, and Rodriguez jammed for 16.7 million. Boi, who would be down to just over 15 million if he called and lost, mulled it over before calling with 10♣ 10♦, and it would prove to be the best call of his life, as Rodriguez was bluffing with the Q♣ 9♦.

Lowball 2-7 Single Draw Title Goes to Funkhouser

David Funkhouser already had one sweat for a bracelet this summer, finishing in fourth in the $1,500 Double Board Bomb Pot Mix event, but made his second final table count as he picked up a victory in Event #63: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw for $123,314 and his first WSOP gold bracelet in one of the “purest” forms of poker offered over the summer.

The final six players returned with France’s Michel Leibgorin in command, and after Tzu Peng Wang’s elimination in sixth, the two remaining WSOP bracelet winners fell back-to-back, with Ali Eslami out in fifth and Owais Ahmed, who started the day as a micro stack, able to ladder up to fourth before bowing out. The final three traded chips for a while before Charles Tucker three-bet shoved with 10-6-4-2-X in the small blind, but after opting to draw one, he saw that he could only hit a three to win as Funkhouser held 10-6-5-3-2. A nine provided no relief for Tucker, and he busted in third.

It didn’t take long for the final hand to develop, one that had nearly all the chips in play involved in it. Funkhouser raised to 400,000 on the button with the big blind at 160,000, and Leibgorin three-bet to 1.11 million. Funkhouser four-bet shoved for 5.21 million effective, and Leibgorin called and drew one. Funkhouser chose to pat his 9-8-7-6-4, and Leibgorin needed to catch a nine, seven, five or four with his 8-6-3-2 draw to leap to a massive lead. Instead, he found paint with a king and had to settle for a runner-up performance, while Funkhouser’s pat nine was good enough for his first taste of WSOP gold.

Moen Makes it Happen, Takes Deepstack Title

Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack brought back 238 hopefuls vying for a coveted WSOP gold bracelet, and a twelve-hour grind saw Christopher Moen spin it up from a 10 big blind stack at the start of play to earn his first WSOP gold bracelet, outlasting the likes of Nick Guagenti, Lexy Gavin-Mather, and former WSOP Main Event champ Koray Aldemir in the process.

The final table of nine all sat with fairly short stacks after the lengthy journey to reach it, which is when Moen went to work, having a hand in the elimination of the next six players before Thomas Juess dispatched Cody Chung in third. Moen had a 2:1 chip lead going into the final showdown, but with blinds already huge, it didn’t take long for the stacks to get in, with Kuess choosing to go with his 10♦ 9♣ on a K♣ 10♥ 2♠ 8♦ board. Unfortunately for him, Moen had him drawing dead with K♠ 10♠, rendering the A♣ river moot, and Moen parlayed a dominating final table performance into his first WSOP gold bracelet.

International Flair Atop $10k PLO Championship

By the time registration closed in Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship (8-Handed), a total of 811 entrants took their shot at earning a piece of PLO immortality. The top six of the final 48 players all hail from outside the US, with Great Britain’s Jonathan Bowers heading to Day 3 with 3,300,000 and the chip lead.

France’s Elie Nakache (2,795,000) and Israel’s Uri Reichenstein (2,630,000) round out the top three, while Sweden’s Niklas “Lena900” Astedt (2,300,000), the Netherlands’ Nino Pansier (2,020,000) and Finland’s Eelis Parssinen (1,965,000) all hold healthy stacks. Jim Collopy (53rd – $27,471), Kahle Burns (60th – $24,646), John Hennigan (67th – $22,569) and Benny Glaser (99th – $20,099) all managed to secure a cash once the bubble was burst by Marcello Del Grosso’s elimination.

Shimamoto Takes Command in $600 PokerNews Deepstack

From a field of 60 players who started Day 3 of Event #62: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship, only five will return for the final day of action, with Branden Shimamoto wielding 56,400,000 for the chip lead, a whopping 94 big blind stack and a healthy lead over Luke Varrasso’s 42,000,000 chip stack. Harrison Ashdown (30,900,000) and Hector Berry (23,800,000) all have plenty of play left in their stacks, while Darryl Fish (5,200,000) has plenty of work to do in order to earn his first career bracelet. Kenny Huynh (9th – $28,064), Ray Henson (12th – $17,533), and Danny Gonzales (35th – $9,229) were a few of the notables who earned a payday before play ended for the day.

Nathan Leads, Jordison Lurks in Seniors High Roller

From a field of 161 returning players in Event #65: $5,000 Seniors High Roller, just ten will return for Day 3 action, with Kevin Nathan in front with 7,300,000 in chips, good for 91 big blinds when action kicks off tomorrow. Bruno Lopes (6,535,000) is the only other stack over five million, while Angela Jordison (1,890,000) has some work to do to earn her first WSOP gold bracelet after her kings ran into the aces of Nathan right before the end of play. Farzad Bonyadi (18th – $22,202), Keith Lehr (32nd – $15,682), and Daniel Fuhs (44th – $13,582) all made deep runs but ultimately fell short of the final table.

Three More Events Cap Off Mammoth Day

Event #67: $500 Salute to Warriors saw 4,517 players hit the felt, with just 678 of them making it through the day. Bob Bobberts (1,401,000) leads the field at day’s end, with David Gallimore (1,324,000) right on his heels. Jamie Gold (482,000), Will Berry (430,000), and Stanley Lee (228,000) all managed to make it through to Day 2 action.

Phil Ivey headlines the remaining 335 players in Event #68: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em, as a field of 2,229 saw their numbers reduced considerably by the end of play. Andrew Chang holds the chip lead with 1,020,000, while Ivey’s 719,000 is good for sixth place. Andre Akkari (553,000) and Brian Yoon (512,000) also bagged massive stacks while searching for their next pieces of WSOP gold.

And finally, the twelfth event of the day, Event #69: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better, had a total of 611 players prepare to split some pots. Jon Turner leads the remaining 157 players with a stack of 329,000, narrowly edging Denis Strebkov (327,500) and Christian Roberts (321,500) for the lead. Phil Hellmuth (161,000) is alive for his quest for bracelet number 18, along with David ‘Bakes’ Baker (158,500) and John Holley (148,000).

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