2024 WSOP Latest Winners: Dario Sammartino Finally Wins Bracelet; Shota Nakanishi Near Win, Sean Ragozzini Goes Deep

The 2024 World Series of Poker has completed a month of games at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas with two-thirds of the coveted gold bracelets now claimed. Among them were Dario Sammartino who snapped the 12 year hunt, Elie Nakache at the 10K PLO Championship, Frank Funaro at the swingy 10K Super Turbo Bounty, Frank Spitale at the Millionaire Maker, and Mark Checkwicz at the inaugural 5K Seniors High Roller.

Among the Asia Pacific contenders, Japanese Short Deck specialist Shota Nakanishi nearly clasped his second bracelet with a runner up finish. Others going deep were Australia’s Sean Ragozzini and Malaysia’s Kabeelan Rajamurthy. 

2024 WSOP Latest Winners

Dario Sammartino Finally Scores A Bracelet After 12 Years at WSOP

For many years, the list of greatest players without a bracelet has featured the name Dario Sammartino. The Italian pro has climbed to the top of the all-time money list in Italy with an impressive $16 million in lifetime earnings. After hunting down the gold for twelve years, the moment finally arrived. Sammartino shipped the 2024 WSOP Event #61: $2,500 Mixed Stud 8/Omaha 8. In a post-game interview with WSOP,

”Oh, I feel so good and finally, after 12 years, I am so happy.”

This marks Dario’s 100th WSOP cash, his 24th appearance at a WSOP final table and his third time getting heads up for a bracelet, and as they say – “third time’s the charm.”

Event Recap

The 2024 WSOP Event #61: $2,500 Mixed Stud 8/Omaha 8 saw a 507 turnout, which was bigger than last year’s 460. The prize pool grew to $1,128,075 with 77 of the top survivors guaranteed at least $5,000.

Some of the big poker names that stood out on the registration list included the likes of Poker Hall of Fame inductees Erik Seidel and Todd Brunson, multiple WSOP bracelet winners Shaun Deeb, Benny Glaser, Scotty Nguyen, Mike Matusow, David “Bakes” Baker, Scott Clements, Chad Eveslage, Robert Mizrachi, Jeff Madsen, Denis Strebkov and Mel Judah to name a few.

Bradley Smith, who was last year’s champion of this event was also there to defend his title. Last year’s runner-up Nghia Le was also present to target a better result this year as a new champion.

On Day 3 / Final Day, the field dwindled to 2 tables quickly with the short stacks unable to make improvements. The two-table action slowed down a bit, but eventually the final 9 was formed after nearly 5 hours into the day.

The chips in play were quite evenly distributed with Italian pro Sammartino as a slight chip leader. As it trimmed to the last five, Jon Kyte had a commanding stack with over half the chips in play. Federico Ottenio ended his run at 5th place and four-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Madsen fell at 4th place along with his dream of a 5th bracelet. The three-handed match saw Kyte holding 60% of the chips in play with Sammartino and WSOP bracelet winner David Williams roughly sitting on the same stack.

Sammartino eventually eliminated Williams at 3rd place and had a slight deficit versus Kyte entering their heads-up duel. Sammartino found momentum after he won an Omaha hand with a full house and never looked The final hand was a Stud game, which saw the pair Kings of the Nordic Champion Kyte lose out to the Sammartino’s straight.

Norwegian Kyte earned $148,462 for his runner-up finish while Sammartino took home his first WSOP bracelet and the grand prize of $222,703.

Among the Asia Pacific contingent, tree-time WSOP bracelet winner Anson Tsang of Hong Kong managed to cash in at 39th while Japanese poker pro Dai Ishibashi was the top finishing Asian at 13th place. Australian WSOP bracelet winners Gary Benson and Joe Hachem finished in the money at 66th and 37th respectively.

Frank Funaro Rides The Swings to Capture Second WSOP Bracelet; Shota Nakanishi Finishes Runner-Up

The 2024 WSOP Event #57: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em attracted 486 entries from all over the globe, totaling up to a prize pool of a whopping $4,519,800. Japanese WSOP bracelet holder Shota Nakanishi was so ever close to winning his 2nd WSOP bracelet but his quest came to an end just one spot short, losing out on a heads-up duel to the champion Frank Funaro.

The event saw 486 entries create a prize pool of $4,519,800 with only the top 73 to cash in for at least $13,689. The action took an aggressive and frantic pace as many players wanted to win bounties as much as they could. It wasn’t until the 7th hour of play that the bubble burst, but play would still continue until only 9 remained to form a final table on Day 2.

Throughout the day, Nakanishi just flew under the radar. His name didn’t pop up among the big chip counts in the early part of the day, but he did make a good run collecting 4 bounties leading up to the bubble.

The focus on the event was on 17-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who was tearing up the field and ranking among the chipleaders. Meanwhile, Nakanishi just grinded away and eventually finding himself among the top 5 chip leaders entering into the last 3 tables of 27 players.

Nakanishi played aggressively and put his stack to good use to collect bounties from the likes of Aleks Dimitrov, Martin Jacosbon and also doubling up from the bigger stacks, allowing him to make the final table of 9 for Day 3.

Nakanishi began Day 3 at third from the bottom of the leaderboard with 13 blinds to his name, but played some smart and aggressive poker to keep him from avoiding elimination.

With 4 players remaining, Nakanishi was among the shortest stacks, but the tide turned his way as he was pivotal in the elimination of Oliver Weis and Michael Rocco to force a heads-up showdown with Funaro.

Both Funaro and Nakanishi were targeting their second WSOP bracelet, but Funaro would get the better of Nakanishi in the end.  Nakanishi earned $406,658 for his runner-up finish and the biggest payout so far in his career. Funaro claimed the grand prize of $612,997 and his second WSOP bracelet while Nakanishi earned $408,658 for runner-up and his largest WSOP career cash. This bumped up Nakanishi’s total live earnings to over $800K. In a post-win interview with Funaro,

“I tried to embrace the madness and got really lucky. I was short, I rounded it up, and then I was short again. It was a swinging Super Turbo. The table was full of professionals; it wasn’t the easiest final table. But luck was on my side. There were a lot of tough spots, and they all went my way. And I thought I played relatively well, all things considered. I’m very grateful.”

Apart from Nakanishi’s runner-up finish, other Asian players who scored well in this event were Chinese poker pros Yang Wang (27th), Yingcong Chen (33rd), Yungsheng Sun (35th) and Guofeng Wang (59th). South Korean poker pros that also did well were Steven Yea (34th) and Jangkyu Lee (41st). WSOP bracelet winner Pete Chen of Taiwan managed to squeeze in the money at the last spot in 73rd.

Franco Spitale Wins First Bracelet and Seven Figures at Millionaire Maker; Another Deep Run for Sean Ragozzini

Event #54 of the WWSOP is called Millionaire Maker because at the end of it all, the crowned champion will be walking away a millionaire. With a record-breaking field of 10,939 entrants paying up the $1500 buy in, the event managed to build a prize pool of $14,603,565 with a top prize of $1,250,125 and a WSOP bracelet awarded to the champion.

By Day 2, the huge field was cut to 2,381 players. Going into Day 3, the field was drastically reduced to 315 players, and Day 4 played down to the final table with only the top 6 advancing to the Day 5 / Final Day. Franco Spitale of Argentina started as the chip leader and hours later, claimed his first WSOP title, gold bracelet, and a career high seven digit payout. In a post-game interview with WSOP, Spitale shared,

“It’s still, it’s hard for me to believe it. You know, it’s too much. Really? I dreamed about this all my life. I promised my little girl, I have a daughter called Emma that the next trophy would be for her, so this trophy is for her.”

Final Table Rundown

Charles Kersey was the first to go out when he pushed his short stack all-in with AJ, losing to the pocket Tens of Stephen Dauphinais. Harvey Jackson was the next casualty who was also eliminated by Dauphinais at 5th place. Paul Saso then got eliminated at 4th place by Justin Carey. Shortly after, Spitale knocked out Dauphinais in 3rd place.

Carey had a slight chip lead entering the heads-up showdown but Spitale was quick to gain momentum to shift things in his favor as he slowly chipped away at the stack of Carey. The final hand saw Carey’s pocket twos go up against the A-10 of Spitale. Carey took the lead on the flop when he hit a set while Spitale hit his 10. Carey was poised to double-up but a sick runner runner aces gave Spitale a full house to knock out Carey in 2nd place. Despite missing the gold, double circuit ring winner Carey went home also a millionaire with a career high $1,001,170 payout.

Asia – Pacific players who made a deep run in this event included Sean Ragozzini in 12th place. This was Ragozzini’s seventh series cash and third consecutive five-figure payout. Other placers were Jun Hao Wu of Singapore at 31st, India’s Ankit Ahuja at 50th, and Chong Yu of China at 66th.

Mark Checkwicz Takes Down Inaugural 5K Seniors High Roller NLH

680 seniors aged 50 and older signed up for the inaugural Event #65: Seniors High Roller No-Limit Hold’em. The three-day freezeout tournament generated a prize pool of $3,128,000 with the top 102 players guaranteed a minimum payout of $10,000. Day 1 played 15 40-minute levels with the field thinned down to 161. On Day 2, the players fought through 10 60-minute levels with only 10 players to return to Day 3.

On the third day and a total 27 hours of play, Mark Checkwicz outlasted everyone to win his first WSOP gold bracelet in and the first place prize of $573,876. In a post-game interview, Checkwicz shared,

“Listen, I’m gonna tell you exactly what it means. I promised my wife, she’s a school teacher, she’s been a school teacher for twenty-four and a half years, she’s got nine more years to work. I promised her if I won this tournament, I would buy her a year more of retirement. She now has eight years more to work! It’s awesome.”

Within an hour the shortest stacked Judith Bielan was eliminated at 10th place and the final table was formed. Final table action played for nearly 10 hours with the ultimate showdown between Checkwicz and Arie Kliper of Israel going back and forth for 3 hours.

The final hand saw both players put their chips all-in on the turn with a board of and a turn . Kliper showed with a mid-pair and a flush draw while Checkwicz revealed to show a flopped straight. The river improved Kliper to two-pair, but it wasn’t enough as he was eliminated at 2nd place for a payout of $382,581. Meanwhile, Chechwicz earned a champion’s payout of $573,876 and a WSOP gold bracelet.

Elie Nakache Wins First Gold At 10K PLO Championship

Usually at the final days of the World Series of Poker, the names biggest stars dominate the bracelet race. However, in the case of The $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, the last 5 players who came back on the final day had never tasted success on the grand stage of poker. Whatever placed they finished, it would be the biggest cash-out of their careers, and of course, whoever topped them all would have a WSOP bracelet to match.

There were a total of 726 entries that created a $6,751,800 pot. Of the 726 hopefuls, only 122 players would be guaranteed a minimum payout of $20,099.

10 60-minute levels were played on Day 1 with the field reduced to 245 players. USA’s James Chen, who won his first WSOP bracelet earlier this series at Event #4: $1500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, was the chip leader at the end of Day 1 but fell in Day 2 at 52nd place.

The shorter stacks had a hard time recovering on Day 3 and eliminations were becoming a trend in the first levels of the day. At the end of another 10 levels, the field was drastically reduced to 5 players to fight for it all on the 4th and final day.

Joshua Adkins was a commanding chip leader with 169 blinds and far away at second was Elie Nakache with 59 blinds. The shortest stacked Oshri Lahmani had to contend with 4 callers when he pushed all-in and got eliminated at 5th place. Within the next hour Manh Nguyen and Jonathan Bowers bowed out at 4th and 3rd place respectively.

Adkins had a 3:1 chip advantage over Nakache entering heads-up battle. However, Nakache turned on the aggression  to perfect timing as he overtook Adkins in less than an hour of heads-up play. Nakache went on to extend his lead with Adkins scoring just one significant pot to keep him alive. Eventually, Nakache’s nut straight  knocked out Adkins, who called an all-in thinking his top pair would be enough. Adkins won $880,621 for his runner-up finish and was the first time he had ever cashed in a WSOP event.

Nakache took home a life-changing $1,320,945 and his first WSOP bracelet as the $10,000 PLO Champion. Prior to this win, Nakache’s biggest cash was only $15,000 for a 1302nd place finish in the 2023 Main Event.

“I think he had the image of me that I wasn’t an aggressive player. I think that was useful. But in heads-up, it’s not the same. We have to play. So I played, and it worked. The key is just a lot of aggression, and that’s how I play heads up.”

Some of the Asian players who did well in the event included Kabeelan Rajamurthy of Malaysia (12th). Xixiang Luo, who had won the 2024 WSOP Event #41: $1,500 Mixed NLH/PLO Double Board Bomb Pot, sought for his second bracelet but only managed a 58h place finish. Other WSOP bracelet holders from Asia who failed to add more jewelry but made it in the money were  Tong Li of China (75th), Danny Tang of Hong Kong (77th), Ka Kwan Lau of Hong Kong (104th) and Naoya Kihara (121st). Other notable cashes were India’s Kunal Punjwani (89th) and Thailand’s Pakinai Lisawad (112th).

*Article by JJ Duque