Only six hopefuls remained at the start of Day 3 of Event #9: $1,500 Limit Hold’em at the 2024 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. In the end, only one remained; Nick Guagenti proudly raised up the gold bracelet, earning himself the lion’s shares of the $591,405 total prize pool.
Heads up was no short affair as Joseph Brodsky put up a tremendous fight despite going into heads up with a three-to-one chip disadvantage. Brodsky and Guagenti had an excellent rapport, conversing often and showing appreciation for each other. Brodsky well surpassed his previous best cash of $8,101.
Guagenti cut his teeth years ago playing $5/$10 Limit Hold’em, and it was evident he was comfortable throughout the three days of this competition. Guagenti finished Day 1 above average and bagged the lead by the end of Day 2. He only relinquished the lead shortly to Brodsky and George Chen for short stints at the final table.
Many notable professionals were thwarted along the way in this event, including the likes of Jesse Sylvia, Ronnie Bardah, JJ Liu, Daniel Negreanu, Josh Arieh, Ryan Hansen, Kenny Hsiung, Benjamin Scholl, Robert Como, Renan Bruschi, and Michael Coombs.
“I’m only here to win bracelets,” was Nick Guagenti’s response when asked how he felt and what this win meant to him. According to him, Guagenti has an online bracelet, but the live one had eluded him for about 20 years, and you could see the relief and joy written on his face.
When asked what he would be doing to celebrate, Guagenti said he might have some dinner but then jump straight into the next tournament. When asked if he would be making a run at Player of the Year, he said, “I mean, I was planning on playing 50-55 events this summer regardless. I mean, I could still end up stuck on the Series despite this win, so I’ll be playing.”
Guagenti was the second player drafted in the 25K Fantasy Draft to win a bracelet (John Hennigan was the first in the $1,500 Dealer’s Choice). Guagenti earned a tremendous 54-point score for Team Baker, which puts their team into third place, behind Team Land and Team The Dinkers. Guagenti has been playing mixed games since he was a teenager and recommends people learn the HORSE variants as a stepping stone to learning all the other games.
Guagenti might be the first and only player to have two of the lead floors in the industry kiss him on the cheek in the winner’s photo. Just another example of the amount of respect and appreciation others in the poker industry have for the way he presents himself.
When asked what makes Limit Hold’em special, Guagenti laughed and said, “It’s fast. The pace of it is much faster than the other games. It’s kind of automatic and robotic.”
Greg Wohletz and John Kim made the unofficial final table, and neither was able to get any traction and fell one after the other.
Abdulrahim Amer came into Day 2 with the chip lead and ran deep to finish in seventh, just before the end of the day. He played surgically the entire tournament but he continued to run into hands just a pip or two better than him to lost momentum.
Bradley Carter found himself on the rail in sixth place after making a flush in hand against Juha Helppi, only to discover the Finn had made a higher flush, before a short-stacked Qinghai Pan busted to Guangenti and finished in fifth.
Popular two-time bracelet winner and all-around poker pro Helppi fell in fourth place, when his single pair was squashed by the two-pair of Chen.
Chen was in contention throughout the three days but eventually fell in third when his queens couldn’t hold against Guagenti.
Brodsky approached PokerNews late at the end of Day 2 to say he wanted the team to let him know how he was still in the tournament. Well, he fought his best until the very end but wasn’t able to surpass his final opponent.
Final Table Results
1 Nick Guagenti United States $121,074
2 Joseph Brodsky United States $80,717
3 George Chen United States $54,708
4 Juha Helppi Finland $37,880
5 Qinghai Pan United States $26,807
6 Bradley Carter United States $19,400
7 Abdulrahim Amer United States $14,363
8 John Kim United States $10,886
