After multiple near misses at the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Michael Rocco has finally broken the bracelet curse at the ongoing series in Las Vegas. The 34-year-old narrowly missed out on the bracelet, finishing third in the 2024 WSOP Event #21: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em and Event #57: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty in the series. However, the frustration seems to have gone off now as he finally strikes gold in Event #94: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship (6-handed) after beating 502 entries to win his first bracelet and a $924,922 payday. This marked his second live title of 2024 and took his live tournament earnings to a whopping $7,137,887.
In an interview with Pokernews during the final day of this event, Rocco revealed that he has purchased a farm and wants to spend more time cultivating crops than playing poker in future.
WSOP 2024 Event #94: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship Quick Recap
This event ran over the course of three days and generated $4,668,600. The top 76 finishers made the money, with 2013 WSOP main event champion Ryan Riess (48th), 2021 WSOP main event champion Koray Aldemir (41st), 2015 WSOP main event champion Joe McKeehen (35th), two-time bracelet winner Joao Simao (29th), Viktor Blom (12th), two-time bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (11th), bracelet winner James Chen (10th) , and four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos (5th) making deep finishes.
The final day of this event began with 28 players remaining, with Rocco was in seventh chip position. He started gaining the momentum during the unofficial final table of seven when he outlasted Fahredin Mustafov (7th – $104,465) and Egor Procop (6th – $142,316).
Adrian Mateos (5th – $198,261) was the next to fall, with his pocket nines being unable to hold against the A-9 of two-time bracelet winner Alexandre Reard, who took down this event in 2023. Reard continued his domination as his pocket tens bested the A-6 suited of bracelet winner Aram Zobian (4th – $282,302) to narrow the field to three. Reard then made two-pair over two-pair to bust Aleks Dmitrov (3rd – $410,657) to extend a sizable chip advantage into heads-up against Michael Rocco.
Heads-up saw Reard holding 23,100,000 against Rocco’s 8,700,000 stack. Reard, who was looking for back-to-back victories in this event, unfortunately could not go all the way, with his pocket eights being unable to beat Rocco’s pocket sevens. Rocco flopped a set and held from there to double into the lead.
Finally, it was all over with Reard min-raising to 500,000 on the button with Qs 5s. Rocco defended with 4s 3d. The flop opened Qd 5h 4c and Rocco check-called for 500,000. The turn was 3s and Rocco checked. Reard bet 900,000 with queens and fives. Rocco check-raised all-in and Reard snap-called. . The 3h appeared on the river, giving Rocco a winning full house for his first bracelet win.
WSOP 2024 Event #94: $10,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | Michael Rocco | $924,922 |
| 2 | Alexandre Reard | $610,013 |
| 3 | Aleks Dimitrov | $410,657 |
| 4 | Aram Zobian | $282,302 |
| 5 | Adrian Mateos | $198,261 |
| 6 | Egor Procop | $142,316 |
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Image Credit: WSOP
