WSOP 2024: Schulman Shines En Route to Fifth Career Bracelet in $25k High-Roller (2024)

The WSOP was in full swing on Tuesday, as eight different bracelet events were in action. Three WSOP gold bracelets were doled out, the first to one of the biggest and brightest personalities in the game today, another for a big field event, and the final one for a “Big” Omaha event. In addition, a trio of smaller buy-in tournaments kicked off during Day 15 of the 2024 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas.

Schulman’s Fantastic Flip Leads to $25k High Roller Victory

There were 19 high-rollers left to tango in Event #26: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (8-Handed), and it took just under eleven hours to whittle the field down to a familiar champion. Nick Schulman, who already boasts one of the most iconic WSOP winner’s photos of all time, added to an already impressive resume with a win over Noel Rodriguez, good for $1,667,842 and his fifth WSOP gold bracelet. In addition, Schulman becomes the 50th member of the $20 million dollar club in lifetime tournament earnings on Hendon Mob, just below 2015 WSOP Main Event champ Joe McKeehen.

The final 19 were all guaranteed a $62,737 payday, and for Joey Weissman, Krasimir Yankov and Morten Klein, that would be all they’d walk away with. From there, Kevin Rabichow, Dan Smith, Jared Bleznick and Dario Sammartino all managed pay jumps before succumbing short of the official final table.

With eight players left, Schulman and Rodriguez played one of the most familiar scenarios in poker for nearly half the chips in play. Rodriguez was in the small blind with and opened to 700,000 at 100,000/200,000/200,000, and Schulman woke up with the in the big blind and three-bet to 2.5 million. Rodriguez chose a four-bet shove for 10.5 million effective and Schulman snapped it off. Rodriguez, who only had Schulman covered by 500,000, could only watch as a runout sent Schulman the massive pot. “Everyone who’s played poker tournaments has a lot of residual trauma…and holding there was amazing.” Schulman said to PokerNews about the most dramatic hand of the final table.

Despite being left with just 2.5 big blinds, Rodriguez managed to play the short stack to perfection over the next four hours, outlasting heavy hitters like Shaun Deeb and Ben Heath to get to heads-up with a chance at revenge against Schulman. It took exactly one hand for the match to end, however, as Rodriguez got it in with bottom pair and a flush draw against Schulman’s top pair. Rodriguez bricked out the turn and river, and Schulman joined the five-timers club with a dominating performance that may be the final nudge needed for his entrance into the Poker Hall of Fame, which he’ll be eligible for next year.

Winters Ices the Competition in Gladiators of Poker

It was destined to be a quick Day 3 for the 14 players remaining in Event #20: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold’em, as chip leader Simon Britton returned with a stack of just 27 big blinds. A sprint to the finish saw Stephen Winters, who started the day second in chips, besting Britton in heads-up play to earn his first WSOP gold bracelet and a $401,210 payday.

No bracelet winners returned for the final day of action, ensuring someone would be taking home their maiden piece of WSOP gold. By the time the final table was reached, Britton laid claim to the first nine-figure chip stack of the tournament, but Winters busted Mario Lopez and Caleb Levesque to swiftly retake the lead. Both players would find a few bumps in the road before the hand of the tournament developed.

With four players remaining, current chip leader Quang Vu jammed under the gun for 166 million effective with the blinds at 5 million/10 million/10 million, putting the remaining three players at risk. Brendon Herrick called off his last 88 million on the button, and after Britton folded the small blind, Winters called off his 149 million chip stack as well.

Vu’s was in dire shape against the of Herrick and the of Winters, and despite the flop giving him a gutshot and the turn giving him another gutshot, Vu couldn’t find any help on the river, which eliminated Herrrick and sending nearly two-thirds of the chips in play to Winters. Vu would hit the rail a few hands later, and Britton couldn’t overcome a 5:1 chip deficit in heads-up play when he turned two pair at the same time Winters turned a king-high straight.

Christ Rises to Victory in Big O

Poker legend Sam Farha and mixed-game aficionado Nathan Gamble both headlined the final 20 returning for Day 3 of Event #27: $1,500 Big O, but Michael Christ used his mantra of “play bad and get lucky,” as he told PokerNews, and managed to navigate the highs and the lows of Big O to earn his first WSOP gold bracelet and a $306,884 payday on his first recorded cash at the WSOP.

Gamble and Farha both managed to spin their stacks for a while, but ultimately fell in 15th and 11th, respectively. Right after Farha’s elimination, Christ had his aforementioned lucky moment with his tournament life on the line and binked a six-outer on the river against Day 2 chip leader Tomoki Matsuda in a monster pot to race to the chip lead.

The final table of eight lost the Allen Kessler approved (and adorned) John Bunch first, before Christ finished off Matsuda, Damjan Radanov, Eduardo Lezcano and Dylan Lindsey to steamroll to a 3:1 chip lead against Matthew Beinner in heads-up action. There would be no miracles for Beinner, as he saw his stack grind away to nearly dust before Christ flopped a low and rivered top set to earn his first piece of WSOP gold.

Wong Leads, Ivey Lurks in Limit Triple Draw Championship

A total of 24 new entries joined the 65 players who made it through Day 1 of Event #29: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship, bringing the total field to 149 players. Danny Wong leads the remaining 13 players at day’s end, with Jason Mercier and Benny Glaser the only other players to bag over a million. Heavy hitters Philip Sternheimer, Phil Ivey and Justin Saliba sit with comfortable stacks, while PokerStake’s own Allen Kessler bagged a stack in the middle of the pack.

Yuri Dzivielevski, Chad Eveslage, Brian Rast and John Monnette were a few of the big names who fell short of a cash, while Jerry Wong couldn’t pull off a miracle comeback from a single 1k chip on the bubble. A total of 23 players ended up in the money, and Marco Johnson, Day 1 chip leader Naoya Kihara and Eric Wasserson managed to earn a piece of the prize pool before departing.

Gonzalez Laps the Field in Freezeout

Day 2 of Event #28: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em saw 215 players return to action, but just 22 bag up chips for the final day. Andres Gonzalez managed to bag a hefty 7,015,000, over 2.5 million more than second-place Nicolas Vayssieres. Established pros Mukul Pahuja, Nick Maimone and Scott Stewart all sit in the top 10, while Blake Bohn and Ebony Kenney both have playable stacks for the race to the bracelet.

It wouldn’t be a WSOP proper without a tilted Phil Hellmuth bustout, and much like Adam Levy before her, Ruiko Mamiya and her queen-ten became the target of Hellmuth’s ire. Mamiya called a raise from a short-stacked Hellmuth, then floated a small flop bet with backdoor straight and flush draws. The turn was checked through, and Mamiya hit a queen on the river. She put Hellmuth in for his last few blinds, and Hellmuth called it off with only the ace of spades shown. He stood up, and after a few f-bombs, gave an (almost certainly insincere) “Very nice hand,” and mucked his hand, eliminated in 48th place for $9,007. Brett Apter, Ray Henson, and Kathy Liebert were some of the other notables who managed a payday before day’s end.

Three More Bracelet Events Get Underway

A trio of lower-stakes affairs rounded out the Tuesday schedule at the WSOP, with Event #30: $600 Mixed: No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha DeepStack (8-Handed) the cheapest option on the docket. Stephen Scuderi leads with 2,735,000 over the 3,351-entry field, with Daniel Negreanu (960,000) alive and healthy and Charlie Dawson (1,415,000), Matt Glantz (1,110,000), Kevin Gerhart (1,090,000) and Josh Reichard (755,000) all part of the 145 players remaining to fire it up on Day 2.

Short-handed lovers got their fix with Event #31: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em, and it found a total of 1,230 entries in its midst. Jake Ripnick earned honors with a chip-leading 2,680,000 stack, while Maria Ho (630,000), Joseph Cheong (370,000), Faraz Jaka (325,000) and Ian Steinman (95,000) all managed to survive for Day 2 action. Just 61 players made it through to the second day, with Martin Kabrhel, Bin Weng and Mark Ioli all earning a slice of the prize pool.

The final event on tap was more of an old school affair, as Event #32: $1,500 Seven Card Stud saw 406 players pony up a buy-in, and Jeffrey Lo entered the clubhouse with 267,000 and the chip lead. Ren Lin (229,000) lurks close behind, while Adam Friedman (153,000), Ari Engel (124,000), Brandon Shack-Harris (116,000) and Mike Matusow (79,000) all managed to earn a bag to Day 2.

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