25K Fantasy Draft 2024

Mike Matusow, whose documentary was unveiled last night, started off at $1.

His final price came in at $11 after Team Negreanu conceded to Team Livingston, who got their third draft pick.

Team Livingston Picks

Player	Chips	Progress
Team Livingston	80 11	11

Jim Collopy became the second selection of Team Girl Dads going for $33, joining John Riordan.

Daniel Negreanu then nominated a player whom he's traditionally had on his team in Nick Schulman. Kid Poker didn't seem too interested in him this year as first letting some other teams bid him up, but then at the last minute bid $62. That inspired a few other bids but ultimately Schulman ended up on Team Negreanu once again, this year going for $66.

David Peters then went for $13 to Team AJ's Eagles (AJ Kelsall's first pick), followed by Dan Zack to Team NGNF for $20.

Team NGNF

Player	Chips	Progress
Team AJ's Eagles	187 13	13
Team Girl Dads	139 43	43
Team Negreanu	134 66	66
Team NGNF	20 50	50

Tags: Nick Schulman

Chance Kornuth was the next player nominated and Daniel Negreanu got in on the bidding for the first time but soon bowed out as bidding began to rise through the fifties into the sixties and ultimately to Team Livingston for $73, joining AJ Kelsall on the roster.

Phil Hellmuth, the league's all-time points earner, became the 18th player nominated in the 2024 $25K Fantasy Draft, but despite his strong performances over the past decade-plus, his price was slow to increase.

That said, it did inch up dollar-by-dollar to $72 as a winning bid by TheCoffeeBreakers.com, who selected their third player and left themselves just $5 to make their next five selections. That means they're relegated to five $1 picks, which likely won't happen until the tail end of the draft.

Team CoffeeBreakers.com

Player	Chips	Progress
Team Livingston	91 73	73
TheCoffeeBreakers.com	5 72	72

Tags: Chance KornuthPhil Hellmuth

Brian Yoon was the next player nominated and went to Team for $47 to Team Chingas, and then Bradley Ruben followed for $50 to Team Oz to join their previous selection of Jake Schwartz.

Dylan Weisman was then nominated and it seemed as if he might go for $1 before another big came in last second. That spurred a series of bids that saw his price start to rise through the teens, into the twenties dollar-by-dollar, jumps throughout the thirties and forties, and finally into the fifties settling on a winning bid of $59 by Team Baker.

Player	Chips	Progress
Team Chingas	153 47	47
Team Baker	141 59	59
Team Oz	91 68	68

Tags: Dylan Weisman

After drafting Chad Eveslage for $75, Team NGNF was back in the mix when Ren Lin became available.

Brett Hanks made it transparent that he wanted the GGPoker Ambassador on his side, and he eventually got his man after no other team wanted to beat his $55 bid.

Team NGNF Picks

Player	Chips	Progress
Team NGNF	70 55	55

After Jake Schwartz went to Team Oz for $41, Chad Eveslage became the 10th player nominated.

Another bidding war ensued in which teams went from $40 to $50 to $60 to $69. From there it was dollar-by-dollar between Team NGNF and a couple teams.

"$75 and we're out, I promise," Brent Hanks declared while placing said bid. Whether or not that would've been true will never be known as the $75 bid by Team NGNF proved enough to get the job done.

Player	Chips	Progress
Team Oz	159 41	41
Team NGNF	125 75	75

Tags: Chad Eveslage

The bidding for Josh Arieh began at $30, with Shaun Deeb immediately making it $31. Within a flash, the 2021 WSOP Player of the Year's price had broken the $70 mark.

TheCoffeeBreakers.com got their second pick of the evening after their $73 bid was unmatched.

TheCoffeeBreakers.com Picks

Player	Chips	Progress
TheCoffeeBreakers.com	77 73	73