For the first time ever, the WSOP ran a $10,000 Big O Championship. This Omaha variant saw the first-ever official event last year with the $1,500 Big O which got 1,458 entries and was won by Scott Abrams.
This year saw the return of that event and the addition of a $10,000 Big O Championship event which got 332 entrants to create a prize pool of $3,087,600. This ensured that the final 50 players in the event would get a payout of $20,306 while first place would take home a prize of $681,998.
After all was said and done, it was John Fauver who became the inaugural winner of the event for his first ever WSOP bracelet.
“It’s pretty cool that this is the first time this tournament has ever run,” the new champion said beaming. “It really doesn’t even feel real yet. Ask me tomorrow if it has set in.”
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Fauver’s Hendon Mob prior to this win today sat at $251,061. With this newest cash and title added to his burgeoning resume, his lifetime total now sits at $933,014 and nears the $1 million mark. “It’s really nice,” he continued to talk about what to do with the new cash “it’s a nice house.”
The West Virginia native primarily focuses on all five-card variants of poker. “I like five-card, because you get to gamble. Everyone has a shot, and in general it is a very fun game. High or split-pot.”
“I was short the whole time, and I was just trying to survive,” Fauver mentioned on the final table play. When four-handed began he was by far the shortest stack. “I found a couple spots, where the cards fell perfect for me. Kept me at a playable stack and then it just kept working out for me.”
Fauver now stands alone as the one and only champion of the $10,000 Big O event.
Final Day Action
The final day saw action fly pretty quickly out the gate as it took under four hours to go from 19 to 8 players left. Bracelet winners fell like Adam Friedman (18th-$25,340), Ryan Hughes (17th-$25,340), and Anson Tsang (14th-$30,800).
The final player to fall before the final table was set was French bracelet winner David Benyamine. He and Farid Jattin both flopped a queen-high straight and got it in on the flop, but the turn brought Jattin a flush and he took a monstrous chip lead into the final table, while the old school poker legend finished in ninth place for $48,582.
Old school legend David Benyamine finished just shy of the final table
Final Table Action
Danny Wong has had quite the summer at the WSOP 2024. A little over a week ago, he made the $1,500 2-7 triple draw final table and just a few days ago, he finished runner-up in the $10,000 2-7 triple draw championship to Phil Ivey, who won his 11th bracelet.
Wong came into the final table as the shortest stack, but managed to hang around and survived through some quartering and doubling. His final chips went into the center when his ace-king-ten-seven-two, could not improve against Jattin’s king-ten-ten-seven-two and the WSOP bracelet winner exited the tournament in eighth place for $62,985.
After that, the pace of eliminations picked up significantly. Next to go was Michael Rocco, who’s run came to an end in seventh place. Rocco had a rough start to the final table after a massive all-in confrontation with John Fauver saw him go from quartering to quartered. Rocco had got his ace-ten-eight-four-three all in against Nitesh Rawtani’s ace-king-four-four-three, and the board looked good for Rocco until the river paired up Rawtani’s king to have him scoop. Rocco adds another final table to his 2024 WSOP resume and he collected $83,359 for his efforts.
Within a couple of hands, Alfred Atamian was all in and at risk against Jattin. Atamian held aces with eights and a six preflop against Jattin’s kings with a ten-nine-five. He was in prime shape to double up at the expense of the chip leader Jattin, but the flop gave Jattin kings full of sevens and the river improved him even further to quads. Jattin took another stack to add to his massive chip lead and Atamian ended his run in sixth place for $112,573.
Dylan Weisman has already had a significant WSOP already, winning his second bracelet, today he added another WSOP final table to his already stacked resume. His deep run came to an end also at the hands of Jattin as he got in his final chips with top pair, top kicker on a ten-high board against Jattin’s full wrap. The full wrap came home on the turn and Jattin took the pot while Weisman collected $155,065 for his fifth place finish.
At this point, Jattin held 60% of the chips in play while Calvin Anderson, Nitesh Rawtani, and Fauver held the other 40% between the three of them. Just when it looked like Jattin was going to extend his lead, Fauver doubled up through him four times, while also taking sizable pots off of him. Eventually it was Fauver who held the chip lead and Jattin who fell to the shortest stack while Rawtani and Anderson filled up the middle of the pack.
Two-time bracelet winner Calvin Anderson finished in second
Eventually the time came for Jattin as he drifted even further down the counts. He defended his big blind with eight-six-four-three-two and flopped a pair of sixes to go with against Anderson who held ace-king-ten-four-three to flop second pair. The turn ten brought Anderson three tens to lock up the pot and Anderson rose up to second in chips while Jattin, just one week after his runner-up finish in the $5,000 PLO event, took home $217,783 for his fourth place finish.
After that, the chip breakdown saw Fauver in front, Rawtani in second and Anderson in third. A massive pot saw a shift in the bottom of the chip counts as Anderson overtook the second place spot while Rawtani fell to the bottom. Anderson and Rawtani clashed once more, this time the players getting all in before the flop, with Anderson holding ace-queen-jack-five-four and Rawtani holding ace-jack-ten-seven-two. The flop put Rawtani way in front with bottom two and a flush draw, but the runout came favorable to Anderson as he made a better two pair and low to scoop Rawtani and end his run in third place for $311,737.
The heads-up match began with Fauver holding a slight lead over Anderson, but it quickly grew into 2:1 then a 3:1 lead as Fauver put on maximum pressure. The final hand came quickly in the heads-up match as Anderson got in his final chips with aces and a gutshot against Fauver’s top set. The turn gave Anderson the gutter to put him in the lead, but the river paired the board once more to give Fauver kings full and the two competitors shook hands as Fauver was crowned champion while the two-time WSOP bracelet winner Anderson was eliminated in second place for $454,688.
This ends PokerNews coverage of this event, but be sure to stay tuned as we bring you all the action for the rest of the World Series of Poker.
