WSOP 2024 Day 16 Recap: Two First-Timers Win Bracelets, Phil Ivey and Jason Mercier Challenging for World Series Gold

The 16th day of action in the 2024 WSOP saw two new bracelet winners crowned champions in Las Vegas. In Event #29, Phil Ivey and Jason Mercier only have each other and Danny Wong standing between them and victory, while there were five other events in play at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas. 

Benton Unbeatable in Freezeout Final 

Just one year after he started playing poker, Evan Benton achieved a dream some are still battling towards after decades - he became a WSOP bracelet winner. The newbie won $412,484 in Event #28 as he outlasted 2,316 opponents that included Phil 'The Poker Brat' Hellmuth on his way to becoming champion. 

At the final table, Benton got the better of Balakrishna Patur heads-up, after the exits of players such as overnight chip leader Andres Gonzalez, the Spanish player disappointed to finish third for $201,518 after such a stunning set-up to the finale. 

Others to go close included popular American poker player Nick Maimone (7th for $64,202) and Nicolas Vayssieres (9th for $38,5170 but it was Benton's day and his celebrations at the close of the action told everyone how important it was to him. 

WSOP Event #28: $1,500 NLHE Freezeout Final Table Results

Bakovic Bags the Bracelet

A fast and furious final day in Event #30, the $600-entry Mixed No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack ended with another brand-new bracelet winner as Canadian Alen Bakovic beat Brian Keith Etheridge to the title and top prize of $207,064.  

With an amazing 3,351 entries this year, the bulk of a prize pool of $1,709,010 lay in front of 145 returning players on the final day, with Bakovic second-last of the final 24 players before roaring back to take the crown.

Bakovic, who told anecdotes to his tables all day, was rewarded for his good humor with good fortune as he outlasted a final table featuring Joseph Couden and Marcus Ruiz, Brian Keither Etheridge and Olegs Buiko making the final three players.

Heads up saw both Etheridge and Makovic hold the lead on numerous occasions but Bakovich ended with all the chips and was beaming from ear to ear as he took hold of his first-ever WSOP bracelet. 

WSOP Event #30: $600 Mixed Deepstack NLHE/PLO Results

Ivey and Mercier Close to Glory in Limit Championship

After over 12 hours of play, just three players remained from a starting field if 149 players after Day 2 of the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship in Event #29. Danny Wong (3,730,000) has the chip lead, but with Jason Mercier (2,955,000) and Phil Ivey (2,260,000) the two men who are trying to prevent him winning, anything is possible tomorrow from 4pm local time. 

With Phil Hellmuth on 17 bracelets, a win for Ivey would take him onto 11, clear of 10-time winners Johnny Chan, the late Doyle Brunson, and Erik Seidel. Wong would move onto two WSOP titles and if the returning Floridian Mercier was to win, it would take him onto seven WSOP victories, drawing him level with John Hennigan, Men Nguyen and Billy Baxter, with only Hennigan still active. 

Players such as Allen Kessler (10th) and Renan Bruschi (8th) fell short before the official six-handed final table began with British professionals Benny Glaser (4th) and Philip Sternheimer (6th) both departing before the close of play and the cliffhanger to end them all. 

Will it be Ivey, Mercier or Wong? We will find out tomorrow.

WSOP Event #29 $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship Final Table

Coleman on Course to End Bracelet Duck in Six-Max Event 

With 61 players starting the penultimate day of action in the $3,000 6-Max NLHE  Event #31, David Coleman has put himself in the best possible position to dominate his way to a final day victory and his first WSOP bracelet. The modern poker great, who has over $5 million in live tournaments alone, leads the final six with a mammoth stack of 24.3 million chips, as he bids to win the top prize of $516,135 and the all-important bracelet. 

On the penultimate day, 2024 WSOP Heads-Up Championship runner-up Faraz Jaka, Ian Steinman, Alex Foxen, Joseph Cheong, and the Season 1 Game of Gold champion Maria Ho all busted, with Ho losing a big flip with jacks against ace-king to again fall short of her own first WSOP title.

WSOP Event #31 $3,000 6-Max NLHE Final Table Chip Counts

Noori Nears Top Prize in Seven Card Stud 

Event #32 reached its final day as the $1,500-entry Seven Card Stud action saw nine survive to the last table of the event, headed by Michael Noori (2.31 million) Adam Owen (2.19m) and Richard Ashby (1.75m). With WSOP legends Brandon Shack-Harris (610,000) and Hal Rotholz (510,000) both still in their fighting, the race to the $113,725 top prize is on.

WSOP Event #31 $3,000 6-Max NLHE Final Table Chip Counts

Three Bracelet Events Begin on Day 16

Three other events began Day 1 flights on Wednesday as bumper fields continued in the 2024 World Series of Poker. In Event #33, the $600 PLO 8-Max Deepstack, 2,402 entrants were reduced to 361 players in the money places with just 95 making Day 2, including chip leader Natalio Pereira (2.24m) Maxx Coleman (1,810,000), David Mzareulov (1,350,000), Lee Markholt (850,000), Adam Levy (320,000), Nipun Java (220,000) and Michael Wang (170,000). 

In Event 34, the $2,500-entry NLHE Freezeout event, 18 levels of action, reduced a total field of 1,267 entries to just 192 players, with everyone remaining in the money. Joshua Wang (1,086,000) has the chip lead but poker stars such as Boris Angelov (750,000), Kristen Foxen (739,000) and Josh Arieh (710,000) will all be hoping that their experience takes them to Day 3 and the final showdown for the gold.

Finally, Event #35 ended after a mammoth opening day at the felt. Daniel Mayoh led the $1,500-entry H.O.R.S.E. field by a nose with 309,000, just a photo finish ahead of the wonderfully-named Bryan Jolly (307,000), with crushers David Bach (291,000) and Calvin Anderson (257,500) rounding out the top four and Scott Clements (217,000) inside the top 10. 

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