Week at 2024 WSOP: Negreanu Wins the PPC for his 7th Bracelet
4 minutes
Last Updated: June 29, 2024
Although there is plenty more excitement to come at the 2024 World Series of Poker with the Main Event around the corner, the last week was easily the most exciting one we’ve had thus far.
Of course, Daniel Negreanu stole the show with his epic triumph in the prestigious $50,000 Poker Players Championship. With this win, Kid Poker upped his bracelet count to seven and added a win in one of the toughest tournaments in existence to his poker biography.
This wasn’t the only big story, though. The Indian high roller Santhosh Suvarna surprised everyone with his triumph in the $250,000 Super High Roller, outlasting many of the best players in the world on his way to victory.
Dario Sammartino finally managed to pick up a gold bracelet as well. Most will agree that a WSOP triumph was long overdue for the Italian pro who has been otherwise dominating the world of tournament poker.
Daniel Negreanu’s WSOP Drought Comes to an End
Daniel Negreanu is easily one of the best tournament players in the world. Kid Poker has proven his skills time and time again, and yet his WSOP bracelet count has been stagnant at six since 2013.
Despite his best efforts and strong determination, Kid Poker came short of winning another WSOP event time and time again for over a decade. In that period, he finished a runner-up six times, adding insult to injury.
Just a few days ago, Negreanu finally managed to break the vicious circle, and he did so in style, winning his seventh bracelet in the Poker Players Championship, one of the most prestigious tournaments in existence.
It took five long days of battling in nine different poker variations against some of the best players out there. The road to victory was not an easy one by any means, but that makes the result that much sweeter.
Negreanu had to outplay and outlast the likes of Phil Ivey, Michael Mizrachi, and David Benyamine. His final opponent was Bryce Yockey, a man with two WSOP bracelets and a master of mixed games.
Things could have easily gone wrong at many points. But, for the first in over a decade, everything fell into place for Negreanu, and he went all the way.
It was truly an amazing moment, with Kid Poker cheered on by his wife Amanda and a rail consisting of his friends and long-time supporters. The win was long overdue, but at least it came in a tournament that Daniel has often described as his favorite WSOP event.
Indian Amateur Stuns the Pros
Santhosh Suvarna has become known to the wider poker audience for his escapades in the highest stakes cash games around. What some fans may not know is that Suvarna is no stranger to tournaments, and he’s actually had quite a bit of success playing in big buy-in events.
The $250,000 WSOP Super High Roller attracted a fairly small field of just 75 entries. However, that small field was jam-packed with what we can describe as poker's best and brightest.
There was hardly a name on that list of participants that any person even semi-interested in poker wouldn’t know, as the likes of Phil Ivey, Justin Saliba, Jason Koon, Jonathan Jaffe, and the online legend Ben Tollerane took their seats.
No matter how good you are, these are not the kind of players you want to see around you at a poker table. There were no soft spots or easy money in this lineup.
Santhosh didn’t let any of this get to him, though. One pot at the time, he managed to find his way to the final table and, eventually, to the heads-up skirmish with Tollerane.
There was no doubt who was the more experienced player in this battle, but Suvarna ran well in a couple of crucial spots to seize control of the match and eventually pick up the last of his opponent’s chips.
With this win, Santhosh secured his second WSOP gold and picked up $5.4 million in cash, which will no doubt come in handy in his future high-stakes battles.
A Long Overdue Win for the Main Event Runner-Up
There are some players that you simply can’t believe don’t have a WSOP bracelet. Up until a few days ago, Dario Sammartino was in that group.
The Italian pro with over $16.5 million in live winnings has many great accomplishments, but his claim to fame came with his runner-up finish in the 2019 WSOP Main Event.
Despite a big payday of $6,000,000, it was a bitter-sweet moment for Sammartino after coming so close to not only winning his first WSOP bracelet but doing so in the biggest tournament in the world.
It would take another five years, but Dario finally found his big breakthrough in the $2,500 Stud 8/Omaha 8 event, coming out on top of the 507-player field.
For this, he took home over $220,000 in prize money, but perhaps more importantly, he got the proverbial monkey off his back, picking up his first WSOP gold.
It was an exciting week at the 2024 World Series of Poker, but the best part is still in front of us. On July 3, the Main Event will get underway, and players will once again begin their long and difficult journey to the most coveted of all final tables in all of poker!