Action was picked up on a 10♣5♥Q♦ board. Josh Arieh led out for a bet in early position for 2,200 and was called by a player in middle position.
Both players checked the 3♥ on the turn.
After the 10♦ hit on the river, Arieh bet out 5,000 and was called.
Arieh quickly showed AxJx10x6x3x for a full house, tens full of threes. The player in middle position mucked their hand, giving the pot to Arieh.
Level: 3
Blinds: 200/300
Ante: 300
Here's a name you'd better start learning the rest of the summer — Darius Samual. That isn't a household name in poker yet, but it will be soon.
The poker player from England entered the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) with less than $100,000 in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob. Twelve days into the series, there's an argument to be made that he's one of a few "players to beat" regarding WSOP Player of the Year.
And, here's what's really crazy — Samual gambled half his poker bankroll in one event just to get to this point.
Action was heads up to the river of a completed board showing 8♣J♥5♦6♦7♣, and Derek Raymond leading out from the small blind for 4,000.
James Chen took some time in middle position before sliding out a call.
Raymond showed A♣Q♦9♣8♠2♣ for a straight and the nut low, scooping the pot as Chen mucked.
A player in the hijack opened to 700, and when action folded to Mike Matusow in the big blind, he made the call.
The flop came 9♦3♠J♠ and Matusow lead out for 700, which was called by the hijack.
Both players checked on the 2♦ turn.
The river brought the A♠ and Matusow bet the pot for 2,900. The hijack laid his hand down and Matusow showed K♠6♠ for the nut flush as he took in the pot.
A sizeable pot had already been built when the dealer turned over the river of a 7♥10♠K♥Q♠A♥ runout.
Action was on Nick Guagenti in the hijack, who tossed out a bet of 3,000.
After some consideration, the small blind's cards hit the muck and Guagenti raked in the pot.
The $25K Fantasy league is off to a hot start with seven of the 19 teams over 100 points as of June 4. Most of those were thanks to a handful of draftees hitting field bonuses in Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions, which attracted 18,409 entrants and became the sixth-largest poker tournament of all time.
PokerNews has been tracking $25K Fantasy players in our live updates, and has even made it simple to follow the action by tagging all players with a $25K Fantasy badge. That allows you to utilize our chip count filter option to follow only those players (just tick the $25K Fantasy badge); what’s more, each blog will have a “$25K Fantasy” tab that if you click all you will see are hands played by $25K Fantasy players.
As a result, we can capture some of the biggest, best, and most game-changing hands involving the $25K Fantasy roster. Here are five from the first week of action in the 2024 WSOP.
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 200
Three-way action to the 8♥K♣7♣ flop saw Jeff Madsen slide out a bet of 2,500.
Both opponents quickly mucked, and Madsen added some chips to his stack.
button in Safari
