The Euro 2024 soccer championships kicked off in Germany on Friday. But close to 6,000 miles away, over in Las Vegas, Nevada, two Europeans were stealing the limelight on another long night of World Series of Poker (WSOP) action.
Antonio Galiana, representing Spain, and Johan Guilbert, of France, were the last two of 1,267 entries in the $2,500 NLH Freezeout. With close to $440,000 on the line for the champion, plus a first bracelet, these two went head-to-head for hours, and they didn't mess around.
Galiana won what is arguably the pot of the WSOP so far (see 'Hand of the day' below), and then went on to take down the title too, besting the man best known as the online cash-game beast 'YoH ViraL'. And while Galiana will surely point to the career-best score and only the 16th bracelet won by a Spanish player as the most significant aspects of the triumph, the rest of the poker world will remember his audacious all-in bluff on a five-club board that turned the tables of the heads-up battle. It was a truly sensational hand, detailed in full below.
The Spaniard was leading the final 13 players who returned to play to a champion today, and he took top spoils from a Europe-heavy final. In addition to Guilbert, whose second place earned him $292,927, there were also seats at the final for Ireland's Eoghan O'Dea, the UK's Patrick Leonard, France's Romain Lewis and Finland's Juha Helppi. Jeremy Ausmus was the only American in the top five. He finished third, for $209,258.
Four for Hui as mixed games titan rules again
With four cashes already from this year's WSOP, Phillip Hui is clearly a man in decent form. But the player from Hollywood, FL, improved significantly on each of those previous results late on Friday night/Saturday morning when he ground through an 835-entry field to land the title in Event #35: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
The performance earned Hui a fourth career bracelet after previously winning a $3,000 Omaha Hi/Lo title in Vegas in 2014, a €2,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event in Rozvadov in 2019, a $1,500 PLO event in Vegas in 2022, and -- biggest of them all -- the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship, also in 2019.
With a resume like that, it's clear to see that Hui is a mixed games sensation, and this latest result further underlines the obvious. It landed him another $193,545, and denied Australia's Daniel Mayoh what would have been a first bracelet.
They were the last two standing from another tournament that played into the early hours, with the potential for an unscheduled fourth day becoming ever more likely as the hours ticked by. But despite entering heads-up play with a 10-to-1 deficit, Hui remained confident and clawed it back to win -- in fact claiming that big deficits represent something of a comfort zone.
"When I won my first bracelet in 2014 in the O8, I was 16:1 down heads-up and came back," Hui told WSOP reporters. "When I won the PPC I was down 4:1 and then when I won the PLO [in 2022] I literally never had over 20 big blinds until I got heads-up."
Hui becomes the 72nd player in WSOP history to pick up a fourth bracelet.
Every seat a phenom in $50K
Phenoms young and old headed to the tables on Friday for Event #39, whose $50K buy-in is the highest of the WSOP so far. It won't retain that title for long, with a $100K tournament scheduled to start on Tuesday and a $250K a few days later, but this was our first chance to see a tightly-concentrated field of the elite.
Registration remains open through Day 2, but already there have been 134 entries, 10 more than the equivalent tournament last year that finished with a debut title for Leon Sturm.The German returned to defend his title and bagged the 40th biggest stack overnight. His 475,000 was 47 big blinds at the end of the day.
However, it's Japan's breakout superstar Masashi Oya who leads the way this time, with 1.57 million chips. Oya recorded his first ever tournament cash in December 2021, but already has more than $8 million in documented earnings, the most of any Japanese player. Johannes Straver, in second place, is a hotly rated Dutchman, primed for the game by his friend and mentor Jans 'Graftekkel' Arends. And third placed Alex Kulev also fits the mould of young hotshot: he's already the Bulgarian No 1, coming off a $2.6 million score at the most recent Triton Super High Roller Series stop in Montenegro.
Naturally, it's not just the young tyros. Phil Ivey, Viktor Blom, Adrian Mateos, David Peters, Andrew Lichtenberger and Ike Haxton are in the top 20, and the rest of the field is a who's who as well. They play Day 2 on Saturday and finish it off on Sunday night. First prize will be pushing $2 million.
Double champ coming soon?
Even before his victory in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship event earlier in the series, Scott Seiver would have been comfortably rolled to play the $50,000 NLH High Roller. However, Seiver passed up the chance to bathe among fellow sharks in that one and opted for a seat in the $1,500 Razz, where he's a very big fish in less fearsome waters.
Seiver duly bagged a top-two stack at the end of the day, with only countryman Andrew Kerstine ahead of him. There has yet to be a two-time champion this year at the WSOP, but Seiver seems well placed to change that, with another 2024 bracelet winner John Racener also alive, in 16th spot. They'll play through Day 2 on Saturday and a final on Sunday.
If not Seiver or Racener, how about Dylan Weisman? The PLO expert, hot from victory in the $1,500 PLO event, sits third of 19 left in the $10,000 Big O Championship. Four-time champion Calvin Anderson tops the counts, and despite his pedigree, Weisman will be the man to watch. He's in the form of his life, particularly in Omaha, and this five-card hi/lo variant seems to be just to his liking as well. The tournament will play to its winner on Saturday.
Photo of the day
Hand of the day
An absolute doozy from the heads-up stage of the $2,500 No Limit Freezeout, which has set poker Twitter on fire. Pulling off a bluff like this in your local casino's daily $100 is one thing; doing it while heads-up for a WSOP bracelet is something else entirely. But Antonio Galiana and Johan Guilbert went to war, essentially both unarmed, with Galiana's guts winning the day. It left the man known as 'YoH ViraL' going viral for the wrong reasons.
Stacks were all but even – 23 million for Guilbert to Galiana's 21.5 million – and both players essentially had junk: 
for Guilbert and 
for Galiana. But first rule of hold'em: it's not what you've got that's important.
Guilbert limped the button and Galiana checked, taking them to a flop of 
. Neither of them had a club so they both checked. The 
turn, followed by two more checks, suggested this hand would fizzle out. And the 
river did little to change the impression.
However, things were just getting started.
Galiana bet 900,000 attempting to pinch the pot. (Blinds were 200K/400K at this stage.) Guilbert wasn't buying it. He raised to 1.95 million. Guilbert correctly reasoned that Galiana didn't have a club. But Galiana correctly reasoned the same right back of his opponent. He put in a three-bet, to 6.3 million.
Guilbert remained motionless. Until he reached for his chips again and stuck in a four-bet to 10 million. This was arguably already the best bluff of the WSOP so far. But it was almost immediately beaten into second place. Galiana had only one thing he could do if he wanted to win a pot that had already ballooned to 20 million chips. And he found it. Galiana jammed!
"What did you do?" Guilbert said, double-checking what had just transpired. Galiana told him that he was all-in and Guilbert quickly folded.Galiana flipped his cards, showed his seven high, and successfully bluffed his opponent off the chop – and put himself in the history books as bluff-maker extraordinaire.
Watch the hand play out below.
Tweet of the day
Andrew 'LuckyChewy' Lichtenberger finally reveals the secret of his success.
Video of the day
It's not at the top of the Martin Kabrhel controversies league table, but a game of footsie with Chance Kornuth required some TD intervention during the $50K on Friday. Is this the start of legroom-gate?
The day in numbers
5
...as in five-bet shove. The number of bets it took, with seven high, for Antonio Galiana to push Yohan Guilbert out of a crazy heads-up pot. See 'hand of the day' above.
12
Spanish players who have won WSOP bracelets, with Antonio Galiana joining their ranks on Friday. Adrian Mateos has four, Carlos Mortensen has two, but no other Spanish player has more than one.
2,359
Entries on Day 1A of the $1,500 Monster Stack, which got started on Friday. With two more flights starting on Saturday and Sunday, the key point about that 2,359 number is that it will be the smallest of these opening days.
Coming up on Day #19
Ka-boom! Bomb pots make their WSOP debut on Saturday as Event #41: $1,500 Mixed NLH/PLO Double Board Bomb Pot gets started. In the main, this is a fairly conventional NLH/PLO mix, with the game switching every eight hands. However, the first hand after the game change is a Double Board Bomb Pot, requiring every player to put in a certain amount of money and voluntary betting action only beginning after the first three cards of two flops are on the table. You need to win both boards to scoop and one board to chop. Or, more likely, hitting no boards will mean you get to watch a chunk of your stack heading elsewhere.
The $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship also begins on Saturday, along with Flight 1B of the $1,500 Monster Stack and a $500 NLH PKO online event.
Meanwhile, two bracelets will be awarded to winners of the $800 No Limit Deepstack and the $10K Big O Championship.
WSOP Day #18 gallery
Results
Event #34: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antonio Galiana | $439,395 |
| 2 | Yohan Guilbert | $292,927 |
| 3 | Jeremy Ausmus | $209,358 |
| 4 | Juha Helppi | $151,592 |
| 5 | Romain Lewis | $111,222 |
| 6 | Joshua Reichard | $82,702 |
| 7 | Patrick Leonard | $62,334 |
| 8 | David Goodman | $47,632 |
| 9 | Eoghan O'Dea | $36,908 |
Full results on WSOP
Event #35: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phillip Hui | $193,545 |
| 2 | Daniel Mayoh | $129,052 |
| 3 | David Avina | $89,485 |
| 4 | Christian Gonzalez | $63,114 |
| 5 | Kevin Cote | $45,291 |
| 6 | Xixiang Luo | $33,078 |
| 7 | Daniel Strelitz | $24,595 |
| 8 | Bryan Jolly | $18,625 |
| 9 | Thanhlong Nguyen | $14,368 |
Full results on WSOP
Ongoing events
Event #36: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack (final 9)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timur Margolin | 44,350,000 |
| 2 | Michael Allen | 31,400,000 |
| 3 | Vaughan Machado | 16,225,000 |
| 4 | Jeremy Chen | 14,900,000 |
| 5 | Francisco Riosvallejo | 14,650,000 |
| 6 | Adam Hendrix | 14,200,000 |
| 7 | Agharazi Babayev | 13,500,000 |
| 8 | Joseph Couden | 12,850,000 |
| 9 | Cole Uvila | 8,500,000 |
Event #37: $10,000 Big O Championship
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calvin Anderson | 2,385,000 |
| 2 | John Fauver | 2,125,000 |
| 3 | Dylan Weisman | 1,700,000 |
| 4 | Michael Rocco | 1,640,000 |
| 5 | Tomasz Gluszko | 1,515,000 |
| 6 | David Benyamine | 1,350,000 |
| 7 | George Parublev | 1,050,000 |
| 8 | Farid Jattin | 1,035,000 |
| 9 | Ryan Hughes | 925,000 |
Full chip count on WSOP
Event #39: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Masashi Oya | 1,570,000 |
| 2 | Johannes Straver | 1,467,000 |
| 3 | Alex Kulev | 1,338,000 |
| 4 | James Chen | 1,120,000 |
| 5 | Artur Martirosian | 1,015,000 |
| 6 | Philip Sternheimer | 965,000 |
| 7 | Brandon Wilson | 945,000 |
| 8 | Sergio Aido | 937,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 10 | Phil Ivey | 888,000 |
| 11 | Viktor Blom | 866,000 |
| 14 | Adrian Mateos | 844,000 |
| 18 | Isaac Haxton | 740,000 |
| Every other player too |
Full chip count on WSOP
Event #40: $1,500 Razz
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Kerstine | 288,500 |
| 2 | Scott Seiver | 274,000 |
| 3 | Iman Alsaden | 248,500 |
| 4 | Shannon Stangis | 233,000 |
| 5 | Victor Ramdin | 230,500 |
| 6 | Jon Turner | 226,500 |
| 7 | Eugene Park | 224,500 |
| 8 | Scott Silverman | 212,500 |
| Notables | ||
| 12 | Frank Kassela | 195,500 |
| 16 | John Racener | 178,000 |
| 23 | Brandon Shack-Harris | 158,000 |
| 26 | James Obst | 151,000 |
| 33 | Mike Gorodinsky | 141,500 |
Full chip count on WSOP
Bracelet winners
- Event #1: $5,000 Champions Reunion – Asher Conniff (USA)
- Event #2: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em – Jose Garcia (USA)
- Event #3: $500 Kickoff No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout – Daniel Willis (UK)
- Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-Handed) – James Chen (USA)
- Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions - Malcolm Trayner (Australia)
- Event #6: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship – Darius Samual (UK)
- Event #7: $1,500 Dealer's Choice – John Hennigan (USA)
- Event #8: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha (8-Handed) - Bryce Yockey (USA)
- Event #9: $1,500 Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Nick Guagenti (USA)
- Event #10: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship - Scott Seiver (USA)
- Event #11: $1,500 Badugi - David Prociak (USA)
- Event #12: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em - Simeon Spasov (Bulgaria)
- Event #13: $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship - Robert Mizrachi (USA)
- Event #14: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No Limit Hold'em - Thibault Perissat (France)
- Event #15: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better - Caleb Furth (USA)
- Event #16: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Brent Hart (USA)
- Event #17: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack - TJ Murphy (USA)
- Event #18: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha - Dylan Weisman (USA)
- Event #19: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship - John Racener (USA)
- Event #20: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold'em - Stephen Winters (USA)
- Event #21: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (6-Handed) - Brek Schutten (USA)
- Event #22: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw (6-Handed) - Aaron Cummings (USA)
- Event #23: Event #23: $1,500 SHOOTOUT No-Limit Hold'em - Dan Sepiol (USA)
- Event #24: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship - Sean Troha (USA)
- Event #25: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Handed - Daniel Vampan (USA)
- Event #26: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Nick Schulman (USA)
- Event #27: $1,500 Big O - Michael Christ (USA)
- Event #28: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em - Evan Benton (USA)
- Event #29: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship (6-Handed) - Phil Ivey (USA)
- Event #30: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack - Alen Bakovic (Canada)
- Event #31: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed - Nicholas Seward (USA)
- Event #32: $1,500 Seven Card Stud - Richard Ashby (UK)
- Event #33: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack (8-Handed) - Alex Manzano (Chile)
- Event #34: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout - Antonio Galiana (Spain)
- Event #35: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Phillip Hui (USA)
