WSOP 2024: Sergio Aido Takes Chance for First Bracelet, Scott Seiver Wins Sixth as First Double Winner in Series

An epic day of action in the 2024 World Series of Poker saw Sergio Aido start his WSOP run with a first gold bracelet and Scott Seiver put his Hall of Fame chances even greater with his second bracelet of the 2024 WSOP. No-one else has won two events and in Event #40, the $1,500 Razz, Seiver went wire-to-wire to claim gold and make poker history. With four other events in action the WSOP drama came thick and fast at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas.

Aido Strikes Gold in High Roller for $2m Payday

Spanish player Sergio Aido won his first-ever WSOP bracelet after he conquered a final table packed with talent. Winning over $2 million up top, Aido got the better of his fellow top professional Chance Kornuth, denying the American his fourth WSOP title as Aido instead won his first.

When the final table began, Aido’s stack of 83 big blinds dwarfed everyone else’s, apart from Jesse Lonis, who was hanging onto the Spaniard’s coattails with 63 bigs. Leon Sturm was much shorter and the German became the final table’s first victim when he shoved pre-flop with K♣ J♣ and ran into Aido’s K♠ K♦. The board of Q♦ 10♥ 8♦ 6♣ 4♥ flirted with giving Sturm a straight but the fifth and final card to complete it didn’t arrive on turn or river and he left with  a score of $165,849.

Out next was Bruce Buffer as the entertainment legend lost in eighth for $212,423 when his A♥ K♥ couldn’t catch Jonathan Jaffe’s K♠ K♦ with the money going into the middle pre-flop again. Soon, Aido took out another, this time Johannes Straver. The Dutchman cashed for $276,987 in seventh place when his Q♠ J♥ was dominated to defeat by Aido’s A♦ J♠. Aido now had the outright lead from the overnight leader Viktor Blom and took out Jaffe next for $367,577. A♠ 4♠ was simply slain by Aido’s K♠ K♣ as once again the at-risk player flopped a straight draw but missed on the turn and river.

Jesse Lonis fell from grace to leave in fifth for $496,293. All-in with A♣ J♣, he was desperately unlucky to lose to Blom’s J♠ 10♠ as a board of 8♥ 8♠ 5♠ 10♦ 10♣ flopped the Swede a flush draw then gave him a runner-runner full house instead. Soon, play was three-handed, as Adrian Mateos missed out on the chance to win his fifth bracelet. It was his fellow Spanish pro Aido who took him out, as Mateos’ Q♦ 8♦ lost to Aido’s K♠ 7♠ after a board of 7♥ 6♣ 4♥ 7♦ 8♠ came to reduce four to three, Mateos cashing for $681,554.

With Aido (31,7m) and Blom (16.6m) both way ahead of Chance Kornuth on just 4,775,000 chips, the ‘chances’ didn’t look good for the last remaining American player. But he battled back and at several pots that never went to showdown, almost levelled with the Swedish phenom. On a flop of 7♦ 5♠ 4♣, Blom got his chips in with two-pair 7♠ 4♠ but incredibly he was behind. Kornuth had three-bet shoved with 7♣ 5♣ and held to go into the heads-up battle for the gold with only marginally less than his Spanish opponent, Blom heading to the rail with $951,727.

One ill-time bluff gave Aido a healthier chip lead early in the heads-up match before a flop of 9♦ 6♦ 6♣ saw Aido check-call with 9♠ 6♠. Kornuth had bet with J♣ 9♣ and on the 2♣ turn, Aido bet, and Kornuth called. A 3♥ on the river saw Aido use two time extension chips before moving all-in, and Kornuth went into the tank, also using several time chips to think before making the call and losing all of his chips.

Seiver Makes in Two in ‘24 in Razz Romp

Scott Seiver told everyone how determined he was to win multiple bracelets when he landed his first of this series and fifth overall just last week. A week on, Seiver has become the first player in 2024 to win two WSOP bracelets in different events, seeing off Brandon Shack-Harris heads-up to claim a stunning sixth WSOP title.

This time, the win was in Razz, as Seiver got the better of Brandon Shack-Harris heads-up to take the title, his second of the summer as he looks to press his current lead into a Player of the Year crusade, desperate to see his flag adorning the walls of the Horseshoe in Las Vegas.

After Maxx Coleman lost out in fourth, Brandon Shack-Harris couldn’t build a stack to topple Seiver as after the German player Ingo Klasen lost to Seiver, Shack-Haris had only 500,000 chips. Seiver was never going to miss an open goal like that and sealed victory quickly to win the top prize of $141,374.

“I really, truly want to win Player of the Year this year,” Seiver told PokerNews afterwards. “I’m going to do as much as I can to make that happen.”

Luo Leads Bomb Pot with Aussie Hachem Chasing

WSOP Main Event 2005 winner Joe Hachem’s son Daniel ended Day 2 of Event #41, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em & Pot-Limit Omaha Double Board Bomb Pot event in second place with just 16 players remaining in Las Vegas. Chinese player Xixiang Luo (4,265,000) ended a little ahead of Hachem (4,065,000), with Luo’s fellow countryman Quan Zhou (3,875,000) not too far behind either.

Wit just 167 players out of 1,312 entries starting the second day fo action in this event, other big names have survived too, with David Funkhouser (2,735,000), William Kopp (2,075,000) and Dejuante Alexander (1,550,000) all inside the top ten. Others such as John Riordan, Shaun Deeb, Dario Sammartino, Patrick Leonard, Benny Glaser, and Ari Engel all busted on the penultimate day of the tournament.

Lang Leads Seven Card Stud Championship

In the $10,000-entry Seven Card Stud Championship, Event #42 saw just 11 players survive to the final day, with Mike Lang (1,189,000) leading from other big names such as three-time WSOP bracelet winner Paul Volpe (923,000), Brazilian online poker crusher Yuri Dzivielevski (801,000) and potential first-time winner and heads-up specialist Kane Kalas (414,000).

Two More Bracelet Events See Busy Day 1s

Two other WSOP bracelet events began or continued with a Day 1 on Day 20 of the 2024 WSOP, with Event #43, the $1,500 Mixed Omaha event, welcoming successful players like Phil Hellmuth (121,500), Benny Glaser (121,000), Shaun Deeb (132,500) and Ari Engel (87,500), all of whom managed to make Day 2 behind a top three of Dylan Lambe (317,000), Joshua Adcock (309,500) and Jonathan Cohen (296,500). Stars such as Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Matt Glantz, David Williams and Calvin Anderson didn’t make the cut.

In the third and final flight of Event #38, the $1,500 Monster Stack, Day 1c saw an incredible 3,468 entries, 1,147 of those making Day 2. survivors. French player Julian Millard-Feral (651,500) was the chip leader, with strong showings from stars such as Brian Yoon (415,500), Jeremy Ausmus (382,000), Chris Hunichen (279,000), Timur Margolin (276,500), Mustapha Kanit (206,500), and Barry Greenstein (146,000) behind him.

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