With just one day left to play in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise festival all eyes were on the $26K Super Main Event, as a whole anthology of different stories played out under the lights of the TV table.
Comeback kings, comeback queens, all-time greats and internet upstarts - the showpiece event delivered truly enough drama to justify the months we’ve spent getting excited about it.
You can read all about the exciting conclusion to the WSOP Super Main Event in Matt Hansen’s article.
Marcelo Aziz, left, and Yinan Zhou were the last two players in the Super Main Event.But as Yinan Zhou and Marcelo Aziz duelled for the $6M prize and the WSOP bracelet, elsewhere in the Atlantis Resort there were other scores to be settled, including Phil Hellmuth chasing down his 18th winner’s bracelet, and Daniel Negreanu his second of 2024.
Hellmuth goes close in the GGMillion$
In any other place, in any other week, a $10K WSOP tourney with over 500 entrants would be a headline act. Playing in the shadows is not Phil Hellmuth’s style - and if he had his way he of course would have been still throwing some moves over in the Super Main - but when there’s the possibility of winning a record-extending 18th WSOP bracelet, he’ll play where he needs to play.
Last night that was in the $10K GGMillion$ NLH Championship, a multi-flight tournament that got off to a slow start but built to a crescendo as 46 of 532 entrants came back for the final day.
Among those running deep enough to still be in action on the last day of the series were former WSOP champion Hossein Ensan (40th, $26,920), 2024 breakout star Jesse Lonis (26th, $32,660), and UFC star Colby Covington (10th, $70,930).
Bracelet #18 will have to wait for Phil Hellmuth.When the final table came together it was WSOP GOAT Phil Hellmuth who understandably drew the crowds, but this time Hellmuth was unable to add another bracelet to his overflowing jewelry drawer, bouncing out in a respectable 8th place for $130,830. Dutch pro Johannes Straver took down the $807,430 and his first WSOP title.
$10K GGMillion$ - final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannes Straver | $807,430 |
| 2 | Jon Vallinas | $622,340 |
| 3 | Fabian Niederreiter | $479,890 |
| 4 | Arthur Conan | $370,040 |
| 5 | Wookuk Lee | $285,340 |
| 6 | Abdelhakim Zoufri | $220,030 |
| 7 | Rui Neves | $169,660 |
| 8 | Phil Hellmuth | $130,830 |
Negreanu goes closer in the Closer
The GGMillion$ finale, like the Super Main Event, came about after days of play had reduced a big field to a small one. But what about those players still in The Bahamas, still looking for action, but who didn’t manage a deep enough run in these longer events?
That’s why tournament series so often feature a ‘Closer’ - a one- or two-day tourney that drops the curtain on the series, giving players one last chance to score a big win and end their trip in the black.
Yesterday’s conclusion of the WSOP $5K Closer - a turbo bounty event - ended with an absolute murderer’s row of elite pros, with a final table that featured Samuel Mullur, Shaun Deeb, Ren Lin, Nick Schulman, Arkadiy Tsinis, Santhosh Suvarna and Daniel Negreanu.
The final table, and friends, in 'The Closer'.Stacks got short, and Schulman got pumped. The popular player and commentator personally eliminated every player at the table, with the exception of Daniel Negreanu, who lost a big hand to Lin and was left with pocket change, which Lin mopped up shortly afterwards. Negreanu’s 4th place finish wasn’t quite the win he needed to get out of the hole for the series, but there are worse ways to end the year than with a WSOP final table.
Ending 2024 with a second WSOP bracelet was Nick Schulman, who adds this to the $25K High Roller bracelet he won in Las Vegas in June, for a career total of six, and counting.
$5K The Closer Turbo Bounty - final table results
| Place | Player | Prize (excluding bounties) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Schulman | $145,000 |
| 2 | Ren Lin | $110,000 |
| 3 | Arkadiy Tsinis | $84,600 |
| 4 | Daniel Negreanu | $65,200 |
| 5 | Santhosh Suvarna | $50,800 |
| 6 | Shaun Deeb | $39,400 |
| 7 | Samuel Mullur | $30,500 |
| 8 | Meir Meystel | $23,400 |
Also playing out on the final day of what’s been an incredible and memorable WSOP Paradise was the $1M Super Saver Invitational - a bracelet event with free entry for various package winners and players in the Super Main Event. The win went to Brazil’s Pablo Silva, who won his first WSOP bracelet along with $200,000.
Thanks and goodnight from PokerOrg Instant
Our team has been in The Bahamas for the entire series, grabbing big names in the spotlight as well as peeking into the darkest corners to bring you the real sights and sounds from the tournament floor and the wider Atlantis Resort.
As we do at live events, we’ve been filling the Instant Live page with the best stories, clips, interviews and interludes we can find. Be sure to come back to the feed for our next live event, but in the meantime, we’ll always have…
Proof of our commitment to showing poker players something new:
Chance Kornuth reflecting on going from $8 satellites to $500K buy-ins:
The hot topic of the time-bank/bathroom debate:
Liv Boeree telling us why she REALLY plays this game:
And of course, that moment Daniel Negreanu accidentally exposed the loving and supportive atmosphere in which we work:
Until next time, goodbye from Paradise - and happy holidays!
Images courtesy of Tim Ash/WSOP
