Latest 2024 WSOP News: Xixiang Luo Rides to Victory for China; James Obst, Scott Seiver, Sergio Aido Minted

The 2024 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas has crowned another four champions and the Asia-Pacific poker community tripled its tally for the summer thanks to the victories of James Obst from Australia and China’s Xixiang Luo. Furthermore, Spanish High Roller regular Sergio Aido has won his first bracelet while Scott Seiver has become the first two-time champion of this year!

Latest 2024 WSOP Winners

Xixiang Luo Denies Daniel Hachem To Win First Bracelet

Poker is becoming increasingly popular in China and there had already been several close calls during the ongoing festival in Las Vegas to increase the bracelet tally for the country to fourteen. This has now finally come true as veteran pro Xixiang Luo entered the winner’s circle thanks to his victory in Event #41: $1,500 Mixed: No-Limit Hold’em; Pot-Limit Omaha Double Board Bomb Pot (8-Handed).

It is the second trademark victory for Luo in the current year as he also won the 2024 APT Jeju Main Event with several other final table appearances to his name. The latest top prize of $270,820 comes with elite bragging rights for clinching what is a dream of poker enthusiasts all over the world. Fellow countryman Quan Zhou was also on the final table and finished in sixth place for $66,930 while another big story was denied.

Daniel Hachem, the son of WSOP Main Event winner Joe Hachem, reached his first WSOP final table and made it all the way to heads-up with Luo. However, the Chinese player had amassed a large stack at the start of the final and never looked back. Hachem came up just shy of victory and earned $180,541 for the efforts.

This brand new event on the schedule featured one bomb pot per orbit of Pot-Limit Omaha and Hold’em. A total of 1,312 entries resulted in a $1,751,520 prize pool with 197 players cashing for at least $3,011.

Jiaqi Xu, Ziyuan Wang, Yuanjun Lu and Steve Yea all collected the min-cash. Inside the top 100, Renji Mao earned $4,231 while fellow Chinese player Qiaonan Liu fell in 31^st place for $8,952. Dong Chen was denied a second title in 21^st place for $10,918 but the tournament finished with a happy ending for China nonetheless.

James Obst Doubles his Tally in $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship

Malcolm Trayner is no longer the only Aussie with a bracelet at the 2024 WSOP in Las Vegas, as James Obst notched up his second victory and did so in Event #42: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship. Poker’s mixed game elite came out to battle with 107 entries and 17 players took home a slice of the $995,100 prize pool.

Obst, a mixed game prodigy with millions in online cashes and several COOP titles under his belt, stepped away from the game for several years and changed the green felt for the tennis court before returning to the card game. He already had some final table runs after the return and his efforts finally paid off in a star-studded field. Among those who cashed were Brad Ruben, Chad Eveslage, Maksim Pisarenko, and Andrew Kelsall before Day 2 concluded with 11 remaining.

Alex Livingston was among those to fall short of the final table after with the two Brazilians Yuri Dzivielevski and Andre Akkari out soon after. Scandinavian poker legend Juha Helppi finished in sixth place for $46,084 and Robert Mizrachi was denied a second title for this summer when he bowed out in fifth for $61,190.

Heads-up saw Obst up against Paul Volpe, who already had three WSOP bracelets to his name. It was Obst who came out on top and he earned $260,658 while Volpe had to settle for $173,391. Expect both to be in contention again when the other high-stakes mixed game contests take place during the 2024 WSOP!

Scott Seiver Strikes Again for Sixth WSOP Bracelet

When Scott Seiver declared he was going to focus on tournaments this time and perhaps take a shot at the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard, this seemed somewhat unusual as he typically focuses on high-stakes cash games. However, he had already won a bracelet a couple of days ago and now made it two for the summer of 2024 in Event #40: $1,500 Razz.

A total of 547 players entered the tournament to produce a prize pool of $730,245 of which 83 spots were paid with at least $3,000. Two players from Japan cashed in this event and both made deep runs: Masafumi Iijima reached 19^th place for $5,340 and Akihiro Kawaguchi earned $23,349 for his sixth place.

Also on the final table were Ben Yu ($13,105) and Maxx Coleman ($45,117) but they were long gone when the coveted WSOP gold bracelet was placed in the middle of the table. Seiver’s heads-up opponent was two-time winner and mixed game specialist Brandon Shack-Harris, who could not stop the hot run of Seiver and settled for a consolation prize of $94,247. Seiver’s second triumph in as many weeks came with a top prize of $141,374 and he vaulted into first place of the POY standings.

Sergio Aido earns $50,000 High Roller title

Spanish poker pro Sergio Aido has been around for a decade on the live poker circuit and his cashes have now surpassed more than $21 million. He comes fresh off two second-place finishes in the 2024 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Jeju including a runner-up spot in a $50,000 High Roller, but this time he was not denied in the Horseshoe Event Center. The victory was rewarded with a payday of $2,026,506, the largest score in his live poker career so far.

It was a large field of 177 entries in Event #39: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (8-Handed) that Aido needed to overcome, with plenty of poker superstars in contention. The top 27 finishers all earned at least $101,724 but unfortunately, no Asian player finished in the money this time.

Only 13 players returned for the final day and among them was also UFC announcer Bruce Buffer, who delivered the shuffle up and deal before taking a seat. The professional hype-man made several pay jumps with big names such as Artur Martirosian, and Martin Kabrhel all departing prior to the final table. Defending champion Leon Sturm bowed out in ninth place before Buffer exited in eighth for $212,423.

Jesse Lonis continued his hot run of the last few years with a fifth place for $496,293 and Adrian Mateos was eliminated next, sending his chips over to Aido and taking home $681,554. Online legend Viktor “Isildur1” Blom was seeking his first gold bracelet but succumbed in third for $951,727 to leave Chance Kornuth and Aido to battle for the bracelet. Kornuth had the chance to win a fourth career title but Aido’s flopped full house with six-nine suited spelled the end for Kornuth, who notched up a $1,351,000 score.

*Article by Christian Zetzsche