Day 38 of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was marked by the $10K Main Event fever. Over 830 players joined Day 1B in their quest to become poker’s world champion. By the end of the day, approximately 616 survived to return to Day 2abc, with George Dolofan (314,000) ending as chip leader. Matthew Sabia (297,400) and Patrick Hagenlocher (270,300) finished Day 1b in the podium positions.
The legendary ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel put himself in a strong position heading into the second day by accumulating 183,600 in chips and positioning himself among the top stacks of the day.
Day 1A of the main event kicked off on July 3 with the announcement of ‘Shuffle-up & Deal’ by the reigning champion Daniel Weinman. Over 916 entries showed up for the first of the four starting days and USA’s Joshua Feiger ended the day as the chip leader, bagging 311,900 in chips.
Day 1c begins at 12:00 p.m. local time on July 5, while Day 1d starts at the same time on July 6. The Day 1c survivors will join those who made it through Day 1a and Day 1b for Day 2abc on July 7, while Day 1d players will qualify for Day 2d on July 8.
Georgios Skarparis Wins WSOP 2024 Mini Main Event For $554,925 & First Bracelet
Among other highlights of the day were the victories of Germany’s Daniel Perkusic and Georgios Skarparis from Cyprus. While we have already covered Daniel Perkusic’s winning story in a separate article this morning, here we delve into the historic win of Georgios Skarparis, who fulfilled his promise to his students and won his first bracelet. He overcame a massive field of 6,076 contenders in Event #78: $1,000 Mini Main Event at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, claiming a substantial $554,925 and his maiden gold bracelet.
This event ran for three days and generated a massive $5,346,880, which was finally shared by the top 912 players. Among the cashers were several Indians, including the veteran poker pro Paawan Bansal who finished 46th for $12,587, marking his sixth cash at the ongoing series. He was followed by his compatriots Varun Iyer (91st – $5,483) and Yudhishter Jaswal (110th – $4,760).
Final Day Action
The third and final day of the event saw only 5 players return with Kyle Williamson leading them in chips. The first to fall was Dirk Bruns of Germany, who exited in fifth place when his big slick failed to surpass pocket eights.
He was followed by Kyle Williamson from Ohio, who started Day 2 as the chip leader but could not go all the way, ultimately falling to Georgios Skarparis in fourth place for $208,444. His big slick failed to beat queen-jack of Georgios Skarparis on a jack-high board, ending his mini main event dream. He was soon followed by Mikhail Zavoloka from Russia, who finished third, earning $276,695.
The heads-up duel lasted just five hands. On the final hand, Skarparis raised to 10,000,000 and Italy’s Barbaranelli moved all in from the big blind. Skarparis called holding Ac 9s against Ah 3d. The board ran out 5h 7h 7d 10c 2c and Barbaranelli was eliminated in second place after an amazing run.
WSOP 2024 Event #78: $1,000 Mini Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | Georgios Skarparis | $554,925 |
| 2 | Alexandre Barbaranelli | $369,994 |
| 3 | Mikhail Zavoloka | $276,695 |
| 4 | Kyle Williamson | $208,444 |
| 5 | Dirk Bruns | $158,191 |
| 6 | Joshua Prager | $120,950 |
| 7 | Kaihung Hu | $93,171 |
| 8 | Stefan Widmer | $72,316 |
| 9 | Hunter Frey | $56,557 |
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Image Credit: WSOP & PokerGo
