Eight WSOP bracelet events took place on Day 36 of the 2024 World Series of Poker, as David Eldridge beat Brian Rast to the PLO High Roller title. On the day before the WSOP Main Event starts, three bracelets were won as five more events took place at Horseshoe and Paris in Las Vegas.

David Eldridge Beats Brian Rast to PLO Gold

In Event #73, the $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller event drew to a close with a thrilling heads-up battle between the six-time bracelet winner Brian Rast and David Eldridge. In the end, it was Eldridge who claimed his second WSOP title, coming from behind to defeat Rast and top the 476-entry event at the Horseshoe Las Vegas casino.

An exciting final day saw five players return, and after Juha Helppi busted in fifth place, Chinese player Yang Wang was eliminated in fourth place. Ethan Cahn busted in third place, and the Poker Hall of Famer Brian Rast went into heads-up with a better than 4:1 chip lead but was unable to claim his seventh World Series of Poker bracelet and the $2,246,728 top prize as Edlridge came back to win.

In the final duel, top set against bottom set helped Eldridge take the lead and while Rast did take the lead again, it was only by a thin margin, the big lead he began with never returning. Eldridge got himself into a 14:1 chip lead and rivered trip sevens to take the title. ‘Diamond Dave’, who won an online bracelet three years ago, was delighted to double his tally at the expense of such an experienced player.

“I’m feeling good. It was a long four days, but things worked out. This win doesn’t change anything. I’m just going to play the Main Event and then go home!”

Alcaide the King in Colossal Conclusion

Bulgarian player Martin Alcaide won the $400-entry Colossus Event #70 as he took home the $501,250 top prize and celebrated with his rail in style. The shallow stacks of the final table made it a thrilling conclusion to the event that had just under 20,000 entries and cost just $400 to play. With the average stack around 20 big blinds when the final table began, early eliminations for players such as Nicholas Richard and Trevor Brown saw Alcaide grow his stack.

Caleb Powell lost his stack in the next level, losing with to Ricky Andino’s when a painful board of sent Powell home with $86,800. Soon, six became five, as Bohdan Slyvinskyi lost out for $111,740 when couldn’t hold against Joel Vanetten’s , an ace on the flop dooming the former. Despite dominating the early stages of the final table, both Andino and Vanetten busted in quick succession next to leave play three-handed.

Brooks Floyd left in third place when his couldn’t overtake the belonging to Yujian Zhou, with an ace on the flop followed by a king too. The heads-up battle began with stacks almost level, but two big pots that went without showdown saw Alcaide grab a big lead of around 3:1. With Zhou calling off his chips with , Alcaide’s pre-flop shove with proved successful, and a clean board for Alcaide saw the Bulgarian take the title and over half a million dollars to the delight of his rail.

Sklar and Ghaneian Head to Final Showdown in Seven Card Stud

Just two players were left in the $10,000-entry Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Championship Event #74 as night fell in Las Vegas. Richard Sklar (5,530,000) and Arash Ghaneian (4,495,000) ended with chips after six others had fallen at the final table. Players such as Michael Rocco (8^th for $38,589) and Eric Wasserson (5^th for $88,686) busted before the latter stages, as Ghaneian dominated a lot of the play.

After a lengthy period of four-handed play, Hall of Famer Todd Brunson fell just short of the bracelet – and his second – when he cashed for $122,663. His exit was followed by that of Thomas Taylor as the Canadian fell in third place for $173,533. That left two and with both Sklar and Ghaneian guaranteed a minimum of $250,984 only one can become the champion from 167 entries and win the $376,476 top prize and the WSOP bracelet.

Tag Team Event Down to Three Tables

Event# 75, the $1,000-entry Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em event saw just 22 pairs of players remain in the latest exciting WSOP event, with the joint prize of $190,910 and two gold bracelets on the line. A total of 1,437 teams, were whittled down to just 292 at the start of Day 2, while Day 3 will begin with 22 teams chasing the bulk of the $1,264,560 prizepool.

At the close of Day 2, Team Perez (Joan Perez & Javier Rodriguez) led the way with 3,730,000 chips, with Team Hopkins (Joshua Hopkins & Charles Honkonen) close by on 3,305,000 chips, with Team Hall (Sheraton Hall & Malcolm Trayner) bagging up 2,545,000 to sit in third. With Jason Wheeler & Anthony Nardi (1,150,000) and Marcos Exterkotter & Henry Fischer      (1,440,000) both still present, it is sure to be a thrilling conclusion to the event when it plays out tomorrow in Las Vegas.

Naves Near the Line in Mystery Bounty Event

Brazilian player Tauan Naves leads the final day of the $10,000-entry Mystery Bounty Event #76, with a huge stack of 16.3 million, with Damarjai Davenport (10m) the closest behind the runaway chip leader. Plenty of big names remain in the final nine players, but stars such as Vladimir Minko (7.47m) and Robert Heidorn (1.97m) both have plenty of catching up to do if they are to challenge Naves as he bids to win a bracelet for Brazil and take home the $1,018,933 top prize.

Other Events Conclude on Day 36

Three other events played out on Day 36 of the 2024 WSOP, as Event #77 saw 468 players in total reduced to just 19 survivors in the $2,500 Big Bet Mix event. A top prize of $209,942 is being fought for by players such as chip leader Wing Liu (2,387,000), Alex Foxen (2,243,000), Chris Klodnicki (1,053,000) and Andy Black (756,000) among others.

In Event #79, the $50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha event saw 133 entries led by Floridian WSOP crusher Jason Mercier (1,575,000) on Day 1, with Jared Bleznick (1,470,000), Santhosh Suvarna (1,360,000), Michael Moncek (1,290,000), Bryce Yockey (1,135,000), David Benyamine (980,000), Jim Collopy (800,000), Richard Gryko (720,000), Noah Schwartz (705,000) and Isaac Haxton (665,000) all making it to Day 2.

Lastly, Event #78, the $1,000 Mini Main Event, saw a phenomenal 6,093 entries down to 486 by the close of play, with Indian player Paawan Bansal taking the chip lead with 2,825,000. With a marathon in progress in the event, the Mini Main will run in parallel to the $10,000 WSOP Main Event that starts tomorrow.

With thanks to PokerGO for their official WSOP photography. The 2024 World Series of Poker is available to watch exclusively on PokerGO. Subscribe today and watch all the drama play out in Las Vegas!