The late-night conclusion of the $1,000 No-LimitHold’emFreezeout saw the 82nd gold bracelet of the 2024 World Series of Poker awarded at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas. This two-day event attracted an impressive sum of 1,424 unique entries, generating a total prize pool of $1,253,120.
It was Aditya Agarwal who managed to beat this mammoth field to claim the first WSOP gold bracelet of this inaugural World Series event, alongside the first-place prize of $189,661.
Although this was a career-first bracelet win for Agarwal, it was certainly no accident, as he explained.
“I’ve been a professional, I think, for twenty years now. I’ll be turning forty this year, and I’ve played in the World Series every year since I was twenty-one!”
In addition, Agarwal humbly thanked the rail that supported him into the early hours of the morning.
“They’re more than my friends; they’re my students. I would like to give a shout-out to them. They have definitely helped me be the player I am. This feels good. It’s been a rough summer. So this definitely feels good.”
This freezeout tournament nested itself perfectly among the World Series schedule, so those whose fortune may have already run out in the Main Event could try their luck once more at bracelet glory.
Alternatively, those who didn’t fancy a break from the felt could potentially have found a bag on Day 1d of the Main Event and still had time to register this Day 1 late after the conclusion play. That was exactly the choice made by many players in the early hours of the morning, including the likes of Mike Holtz, David Peters, Dara O’Kearney, Frank Lagodich and more.
Although this gamble saw a few contenders’ $1,000 evaporate in only a few hands, the likes of Holtz (205th), O’Kearney (143rd), and Peters (76th) quickly converted their short stacks into additional WSOP cash on their already impressive poker resumes.
Notable names to run deep in this event included $25k Fantasy players Wing Po Liu, Chance Kornuth and James Collopy who crashed out in 61st, 32nd and 27th, respectively.
Kornuth seemingly dominated proceedings on Day 1, having bagged the third biggest stack in the room for the restart of play this afternoon. Kornuth’s experience in both high-stakes events and big-field MTTs allowed him to effectively pressure his opponents maintain his monster stack. However, it wasn’t to be for the American professional as Antonio Thompson became the beneficiary of Kornuth’s stack late into Level 24.
Kornuth’s finish was just eclipsed by Collopy’s exit in 27th place. Although he may have managed to navigate this large field, Collopy’s departure was unfortunately not on his own terms; his short stack was forced all in by the posting of the big blind, eventually seeing the remainder of his chips in the hands of Jiaze Li.
It took thirteen levels to whittle down the 214 players that returned to the felt this afternoon to a final table of ten. All remaining finalists had locked up a score of $12,639, but the first-place prize of $189,661 consumed the attention of both the players and their rails alike.
The dream of bracelet glory was quickly over for both Nick Kocman and Lucas Regier, who finished in tenth and ninth place, respectively. Both players got their money in as underdogs and couldn’t improve against either of their opponents; their final chips only served to aid the deep runs of both Suhail Khan and Lagodich, who claimed the remainder of their respective stacks.
The next to hit the felt was Robert Macri, whose short stack shove was quickly swallowed by the pocket kings of Agarwal, ending his deep run in eighth place.
It wasn’t long before Agarwal woke up with another premium holding as he faced a second short stack jam; this time Tengqi Zhan did the hard work for him, shoving his remaining chips straight into the ace-king of Agarwal to score back-to-back eliminations.
Lagodich came into the final table as one of the most decorated players left in the field, however, a river hero-call gone wrong saw Jesse Wigan’s straight send him to the rail in sixth place.
Lagodich registered this freezeout late last night after bagging Day 1d of the Main Event and seamlessly converted his ten big blind stack into the third WSOP final table of his career. Alongside a score of $48,313, Lagoditch earned himself a slightly earlier than-planned rest before returning to the felt in just a few hours to compete on Day 2d of the Main Event.
Both Agarwal and Wigan weren’t done on their rampage as each scored an additional tally on their knock-out charts, dispatching Alexander Holtz and Suhail Khan, respectively, in fifth and fourth places.
However, Agarwal came out on top in this race as Wigan became his next victim; a classic tournament flip saw Agarwal the victor and Wigan exit to the rail to trigger heads-up play.
A dominating chip lead saw heads-up play over in a matter of hands. Agarwal was behind preflop, but momentum was on his side; a rivered gutshot saw him take the last pot and the trophy.
Final Table Results
1 Aditya Agarwal India $189,661
2 Augusto Hagen Argentina $126,424
3 Jesse Wigan United Kingdom $90,584
4 Suhail Khan United States $65,731
5 Alexander Holtz United States $48,313
6 Frank Lagodich United States $35,975
7 Tengqi Zhan China $27,143
8 Robert Macri United States $20,754
9 Lucas Regier United States $16,085
10 Nick Kocman United States $12,639
