A dramatic day at the felt in Las Vegas saw nine WSOP events in action as Robert Mizrachi, Caleb Furth and Timothy Murphy each grabbed bracelet gold and the $25,000 High roller kicked off for an exciting Day 1. Some of the best poker players in the world attended the Horseshoe and Paris casinos on Thursday… but who won what?

Robert Mizrachi Wins Dealer’s Choice for Fifth Crown

The $10,000-entry Dealer’s Choice Championship was concluded on Thursday inside an hour as Robert Mizrachi sealed a brilliant bracelet win for his fifth WSOP gong. Mizrachi led from Michael Martinelli in second place and Japanese player Ryutaro Suzuki in third place before Mizrachi took the bulk of the Japanese player’s chips in 2-7 Triple Draw. In the next hand, Michael Martinelli took out Suzuki and heads-up was underway.

Mizrachi’s now 2:1 chip lead was important, and he used the momentum he had to pressure Martinelli into losing more of his stack. Mizrachi, scenting blood, went for the kill in Pot Limit 2-7 Triple Draw and it was all over, the American winning his fifth gold bracelet and the top prize of $333,045.

“I’m playing my best game right now — probably better than ever,” Mizrachi told PokerNews after the event’s conclusion. “I’m so happy. I just want to focus and be there for my family and hopefully good things will happen. I like Pot Limit, because you can control the pot against a weaker player. He can’t really put pressure on you pre-flop, so you can see more flops and you can really control things post-flop.”

Furth Grabs His First in PLO Omaha Hi-Lo

‘You number one, me number two’

Caleb Furth took home his first-ever WSOP bracelet after he won the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event in Las Vegas. Winning the $265,361 top prize, Furth’s win came after 14 players were whittled down to just one on the final day. Heads-up, Jiyang Gan trailed by 6:1 in chips but battle back to almost level before Furth regained control and seized the win with a rivered full house crucial to his chances.

“I feel good,” Furth told reporters after completing his victory. “The win mostly means $265,000! I’m pretty happy about the money. I hope there’s more to come. I’m going to be playing a bunch of PLO tournaments this summer.”

Furth was full of praise for his heads-up opponent, who he said he’d played cash with a lot in the past.

“I have nothing but love for Jiyang,” he said. “When we were at the final two tables, he actually came up to me and said, ‘You number one, me number two’, and that’s how it worked out. With 14 left, he said that to me. And he was probably eighth in chips (at that point).”

Declare it and it shall happen… Furth took first and Gan might consider naming himself the winner next time!

Murphy’s Law as TJ Takes the W

The Event #17 field of 310 that came back on Day 2 of the $800 NLHE Deepstack saw James Calderaro with the overnight lead and six-time WSOP bracelet winner Shaun Deeb challenging, but after both those men busted outside the top 50, it was unknown player Timothy ‘TJ’ Murphy who won the fifth-ever WSOP event he played to land the top prize of $368,977.

Murphy had a lot of momentum when the final table kicked off, and used his stack terrifically to make heads-up with around 64% of the chips in play against Raymond Mancini. The final hand was a sickener for the latter as Murphy’s queen-high straight beat Mancini’s turned ten-high straight when a ten landed on fourth street.

“Not bad for my fifth WSOP tournament, huh?!” yelled Murphy, before adding: “Thanks for that ten, dude.” to the dealer.

Afterwards, Murphy told reporters he was ‘looking at maybe doing a second trip’ to come back to Las Vegas later on in the summer. “I can afford the Main (Event) now, so I might do that,” he said. “I’m playing well and running well, obviously, so it would be a shame for it to go to waste.”

Ochana Leads in 8-Max NLHE Event #16

Eddie Ochana leads the final seven players in the $5,000-entry Event #16, the 8-Max NLHE event. His 14.1 million chips is ahead of Alexander Queen’s 8,865,000 and Brent Hart’s 8,360,000 and dwarfs everyone else’s stack, with no-one other than his two closest challengers having more than a quarter of Ochana’s stack.

Missing out on the top prize of $660,284 were poker legends such as Kenny Hallaert (39th), Ian Matakis (37th) and Brian Rast (24th), with 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel also heading home after a horrific one-outer straight flush came in on the river to deny the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner progress.

Derkowski In Charge on $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Final Day

Big names like Phil Ivey, Scott Ball and Erick Lindgren all exited after the penultimate day’s play in the latest PLO WSOP offering, with Polish player Grzegorz Derkowski chip leader on 9.68 million chips with one more session to decide a winner. Dylan Weisman (5,970,000), Greek player Andreas Zampas (4,000,000) and Chino Rheem (3,010,000) all made the final day hoping that they can spring a shock result.

Marco Johnson at the Summit in $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship

A total of 133 players were reduced to 14 on Day 2 of the Limit Hold’em Championship, with players such as Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Shaun Deeb, and Eli Elezra all on the rail. Johnson, who piled up 1,100,000 by the close of play leads Anthony Marsico (985,000) and Justin Kusumowidagdo (880,000), with Andrew Kelsall (310,000), Dan Shak (295,000), Nick Schulman (245,000), and John Racener (210,000) all still in the hunt for the $308,930 top prize.

Brandon Wilson Tops $25,000 6-Max NLHE Leaderboard

The $25k High Roller Event #21 saw 216 entries on Day 1, with registration still open on Day 2 to players who have fired only one – or no – bullet(s). With over $5 million up for grabs already, 76 bagged a Day 2 stack, with Brandon Wilson (1.38 million) leading from Michael Jozoff, (1,127,000), Rainer Kempe (858,000), Michael Rocco (790,000), Justin Saliba (767,000), and Justin Bonomo (715,000), with Chance Kornuth (412,000), Phil Ivey (411,000) and Daniel Negreanu (126,000) all surviving.

Out on Day 1 were Adrian Mateos (both bullets), Stephen Chidwick, Espen Jorstad and Koray Aldemir among others.

Two Other Bracelet Events Close Play for the Evening

Two other bracelet events took place on Day 10 of the 2024 WSOP. Event #20, the $300 buy-in ‘Gladiators of Poker’ event saw 124 make it to Day 2 from 3,792 entrants, with Caleb Levesque (3.14 million) ahead of Mystery Millions’ $1m bounty puller DJ Buckley (1.23 million).

Event #22 closed play for the night, with the $1,500-entry Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw event seeing 574 entries, with 157 players advancing to Day 2. Bradley Maltz (385,000), Carol Fuchs (218,500), Nathan Gamble (202,000) Benny Glaser (201,500), Tom Franklin (186,000) and Lawrence Brandt (184,500), all had memorable days at the felt.

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!