WSOP 2024: Four Bracelets Won on Day of Drama, $50,000 PPC Kicks Off as Negreanu, Ivey and Arieh All Survive Day 1

Six WSOP bracelet events took place on Day 27 of the 2024 World Series, and four men won bracelets as the action ramped up in Las Vegas in events such as the $5k 6-Max NLHE And the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty, both of whom crowned new winners of the WSOP gold. In the $50,000 Poker Players Championship (PPC), there were strong starts for some of the biggest names in the game.

Santosh Suvarna Wins Epic Super High Roller for Career High Score

“HE’S THE NICEST GUY EVER IN POKER, WIN OR LOSE. HE’S SUPER CLASSY AND I’M OVER THE MOON FOR HIM.” ~ NIK AIRBALL ON SANTOSH SUVARNA

Indian player Santosh Suvarna has swept the high roller scene by storm over the past 12 months and in winning Event #55, the $250,000 Super High Roller, he has stamped his authority on the six-figure buy-ins events this series.

A busy day in the event saw 14 players return to action but only 12 cash as first Mikalai Vashaboinikau then Brian Kim busted to miss out on a payday and put the remaining dozen players in the money. After Jonathan Jaffe left in 12^th for $506,757, there was a collective groan around the arena as the 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey followed him in 11^th place for the same amount.

There was a surprise exit in 10^th as the overnight chip leader Adrian Mateos cashed for the same score when his Q♦ 10♣ was no good on a board showing 10♥ 8♠ 2♣  7♠ 10♦. Ben Tollerene had started the day winning a seemingly endless series of pots and he held J♥ 9♦ for a well-hidden straight that ousted the Spaniard and racked up a huge lead for the American online poker legend.

The final table began with Tollerene well in charge on 91 big blinds, with Austrian Matthias Eibinger closest to him on just 39 big blinds. Soon, nine became eight as Sean Winter bowed out for $550,878. Winter snap-called pre-flop with K♠ K♥ after Taylor von Kriegenbergh had five-bet shoved with Q♦ Q♣ but the board of Q♥ 9♦ 3♦ 6♦ 7♦ crushed Winter’s dreams, sending him to the rail with $550,878 instead.

After exits for Mikita Badziakouski (8^th for $629,407) and Jeremy Ausmus (7^th for $754,052), von Kriegenbergh himself lost out, as a board of K♣ 6♦ 3♥ 9♥ Q♦ was good enough for von Kriegenbergh to call off his stack, only to watch in horror as Tollerene turned over J♣ 10♦ for rivered straight. Von Kriegenbergh left with $945,219.

Charles Hook busted next for $1.23 million, before Austrian Matthias Eibinger slid out in fourth for $1.68m after losing a flip to Tollerene. At this stage, the American had 82.1 million chips, with Chris Hunichen (16.4m) and Suvarna (14m) way behind. Suvarna was on the edge of a heater, however, doubling through Tollerene before taking more off ‘Big Huni’. Hunichen, who won his first bracelet just the other day, fell two places short some time after, his K♠ 3♠ losing to Suvarna’s 10♦ 2♦ as ‘Texas Dolly’ survived a spade flush sweat from the flop against the Indian’s flopped two pair.

Huncihen collected another $2.39m for his efforts, multiplying his buy-in ten times over for by far the most successful year of his poker life but fell just short of glory. That arrived for Suvarna after he swiped the lead following a flopped straight then beat Tollerene’s two-pair with another flopped straight. Suddenly, Suvarna had a 10:1 chip lead and he didn’t drop the ball. Tolleren doubled once but soon after, Tollerene’s Q♦ 4♣ couldn’t hold when Suvarna’s 10♥ 7♣ hit a ten on the river and handed him his second WSOP bracelet, the first on American soil.

“I’m feeling very happy,” Suvarna said after his victory. “Every day I’m learning, I’m going deep in every tournament.”

Friend and fellow poker enthusiast Nik Airball was complimentary about Suvarna’s dedication and desire.

“He [came] here to win a bracelet,” he said. “He won a WSOP Europe bracelet, but he really wanted to take down one in the U.S. this summer. He’s the nicest guy ever in poker, win or lose. He’s super classy and I’m over the moon for him.”

Mo Haidary Takes 6-Max Crown in Emotional Victory

Australia’s Mostafa Haidary won the $5,000-entry Event #52, the 6-Max No Limit hold’em (NLHE) event, taking a top prize of $656,747 after beating Bernd Gleissner heads-up. Just four players came back to contest the event at its finale and Haidary was chip leader. The action moved very quickly early on as Haidary eliminated Brandon Schwartz, with the final four who had returned for the extended final day quickly reduced to three.

Schwartz said, “Let’s do it!”, calling off his stack pre-flop with 9♠ 2♠ and lost to Haidary’s J♥ 5♥ as the board came J♦ 8♠ 3♥ A♣ 6♥ to send the American home with a score of $206,606. Soon, three-handed play became a lopsided heads-up battle. Krasimir Yankov ran short and shoved pre-flop with A♠ 10♥, called by the German Bernd Gleissner with Q♦ 8♦. The board of 10♠ 9♠ 2♦ Q♣ 9♥ paid off Gleissner and Yankov, so dominate on previous days of the event, slid out in third for $300,293.

That pot gave Gleissner 12.65 million chips but he was still way behind Haidary on 28.2 million. Gleissner flirted with parity before Haidary moved even further ahead with two pair, before the final hand played out. All-in pre-flop with 3♠ 3♦, Gleissner needed to hold but couldn’t when Haidary’s A♦ 9♦ prevailed across a board of 9♠ 8♥ 5♠ 10♥ Q♣ to send Gleissner home with the runner-up prize of $437,821 as Haidary helped himself to the bracelet and $656,747.

“I’m so happy!” Haidary eulogised afterwards to PokerNews. “My plans for the moment are to play more poker and celebrate with my wife and kids who are back home. I’m appreciative to be here. We have a great poker scene. There are a lot of great players in Australia and I’m lucky to be one of them.”

Haidary credited three big bluffs previously in the event where he was virtually all-in on the turn on a trio of occasions, surviving each time, as pivotal. He had a positive attitude from the moment he faced the final day.

“I just woke up this morning and said I’m as close as it gets to winning. Everything went smoothly so it was great.”

Moulder Makes Mixed Triple Draw Champion

Patrick Moulder took down the $2,500-entry Mixed Triple Draw event, winning heads-up against the Canadian Ian Chan at the all-North-American final table. After big-hitters Anthony Hu (7^th for $19,106) and Shaun Deeb (6^th for $26,033) went close, Chad Eveslage was the player left with the most experience, but his elimination in fifth was key, as Moulder took out the three-time WSOP champion in A-5 Triple Draw after Eveslage had lost a couple of key pots in Badugi.

Entering heads-up with slightly fewer chips than Chan, Moulder managed to get into the lead without cards going to showdown before a hand of A-5 Triple Draw went his way. Shortly after, the bracelet and $177,045 top prize was his.

“It means so much to me,” Moulder confessed in the aftermath. “My goal coming into the summer was to make one final table. I got to one early in the summer and got knocked out right away, [so] it was nice to have a long Day 3 and get across the finish line. I didn’t take anything for granted. I was excited as we kept getting closer and closer, and I caught a lot of good cards when we were three and four-handed, which is key to winning a tournament.”

Funaro Finishes Off Super Turbo in Style

Frank Funaro claimed his second WSOP title as the only two former bracelet winners from nine finalists in Event #57 ended up battling for the bracelet. Day 1 of the $10,000-entry Super Turbo Bounty event saw Phil Hellmuth ousted in a monumental hand against Scottish poker pro Ludovic Geilich before the Poker Brat exploded upon his exit. Day 2 was a lot more serene, as the nine remaining players raced to a turbo conclusion.

After Aaron Johnson busted first, Geilich joined him on the rail after his A♥ 4♦ unluckily fell to Aliaksei Boika’s K♥ Q♠, a king on the flop doing the damage. Others were more fortunate with their chips on the line, Michael Rocco doubling up with aces,  then Steve Buell using them to take out Antoine Saout. Exits for Buell himself and Boika followed before the overnight leader Oliver Weis fell in fourth for $199,342. Rocco was busted in third when his 7♥ 7♠ was shot down by Shota Nakanishi’s A♠ 7♣, an ace landing on the flop to usurp the American’s hand, but heads-up, the Japanese professional couldn’t overcome Funaro.

Despite beginning the final duel with a 3:1 lead, Nakanishi lost with the best hand to double up Funaro before the American increased his chances further with a superb king-high call after Nakanishi bluffed with seven-deuce. A massive double with Q♠ J♦ against the Japanese player’s Q♥ 3♥ followed then Funaro got lucky, his J♦ 6♦ shoved, Nakanishi calling with the superior A♣ 9♠. A board of J♠ 6♣ 4♥ J♣ 4♠ gave Funaro a full house by the turn and his supporters went wild.

“This is my best poker moment. I feel like I’ve been close in a lot of these, and it feels really good to finally get one done. I tried to embrace the madness and got really lucky. I was short, I rounded it up, and then I was short again. It was a swinging Super Turbo. The table was full of professionals; it wasn’t the easiest final table. But luck was on my side. There were a lot of tough spots, and they all went my way. And I thought I played relatively well, all things considered. I’m very grateful.”

Obst On Top in Poker Players Championship

Australians continue to have a roaring 2024 WSOP, with James Obst top of the remaining 58 players in this year’s $50,000 Poker Players Championship, otherwise known as Event #58. Having already won a WSOP bracelet this summer, Obst busted Dzmitry Urbanovich during Day 1as he topped the end of day leaderboard on 1,208,000 chips.

Others to reach the top five included former PPC winner Phil Hui, who racked up 733,000, while Aaron Katz (1,192,500) is Obst’s closest immediate challenger. Further down the top 10, however, the list of names in contention with above average chips read like a Who’s Who of poker, as Gus Hansen (652,500), Phil Ivey (567,000), Chino Rheem (567,000) and Daniel Negreanu (543,000) all made a profit on their starting stack.

There is a long way to go until even the money bubble in this highly prestigious event, let alone the top prize and Chip Reese trophy that will be on the line with the WSOP bracelet. Some big names to bag on Day 1 included John Hennigan (523,500), Michael Mizrachi (489,000), Josh Arieh (477,000), John Racener (414,000) and Viktor Blom (389,000), who will be hoping to go two places further than his third-place finishes in both the $50,000 and $100,000 WSOP High Roller events earlier in June.

Finally, Event #54, the $1,500-entry Millionaire Maker event saw the 2019 WSOP Main Event winner Hossein Ensan piled up a stack of 315,000 chips on Day 1c of the event as Chris Dilts (462,750) took the chip lead on a day where 2,381 players battled down to the close of play. With 10,939 total entries in the event, others to make the cut included Jared Jaffee (260,000), Adam Hendrix (229,500), Joseph Cheong (197,000), Upeshka De Silva (170,000), Ren Lin (149,500), Toby Lewis (74,500), and Yuval Bronshtein (40,500).

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