Giuseppe Pantaleo Wins World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Las Vegas Main Event

The $500,000 guarantee placed on the 2024 World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Las Vegas $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event was more than doubled thanks to a 669-entry turnout. The top 101 finishers earned a share of the $1,013,535 in total prize money that was paid out, with $192,831 going to eventual champion Giuseppe Pantaleo.

“Yeah, this feels very good because the last five years have been pretty bad in tournaments for me. I’m just very happy to get the weight off my shoulders and have some success,” Pantaleo told WSOP reporters after coming out on top. “Honestly, I didn’t even want to play tournaments anymore. I’ve been playing more cash and just to be slow and steady to make some money because the tournament grind, you never know when you’re gonna win them, so it does feel good to put in the work and get rewarded.”

This was the third career WSOPC ring for the Las Vegas resident, who originally hails from Germany. His previous two came in online events. The 2018 WSOP $1,000 tag team event champion now has more than $2.2 million in recorded tournament earnings after this latest victory.

This event featured three starting flights and then two more days of action. There were still 12 players in contention when the final day began, with Pantaleo sitting atop the chip counts when cards got back in the air. By the time the official final table was set, he sat in a virtual tie for the lead with Peter Hengsakul.

The first two eliminations went to Hengsakul. He won a pair of preflop coin flips against 2019 WSOP Main event seventh-place finisher Nicholas Marchington (9th – $17,838) and Blaise Ingoglia (8th – $22,565) to pull away from the pack.

Two-time ring winner Kevin Calenzo’s run ended in seventh place ($28,900) at the hands of Italy’s Mario Colavita. Jonah Labranche then overtook the lead during six-handed action, winning a big pot with a turned straight against two pair for Hengsukal.

A preflop cooler spelled the end of Baurzhan Akimov’s tournament. His pocket jacks were unable to come from behind against the pocket kings of Hengsakul, who made kings full by the turn to lock up the hand. Akimov earned $37,466 as the sixth-place finisher.

Pocket kings failed to hold up for Harvey Alegado in a battle of the blinds. After the money went in preflop, the A-8 of Labranche improved to a pair of aces on the turn to send Alegado to the rail in fifth place ($49,158).

Hengsakul’s A-Q won a flip against the pocket threes of Colavita (4th – $65,271) to narrow the field to three contenders. Pantaleo endured some swings to his stack during three-handed action but was able to move into the lead in time for the next knockout. His K-J held up against the K-6 suited of Labranche (3rd – $87,689) to set up the heads-up showdown for the ring.

Pantaleo held 14,000,000 to Hengsakul’s 6,000,000 to start. Pantaleo then added to his lead in the early going. In the final hand, Hengsakul got all-in with J10 facing the A7 of Pantaleo. The board ran out Q429Q to see Pantaleo’s ace-high earn the pot. Hengsakul cashed for $119,182 as the runner-up, the fourth-largest payday on his tournament resume.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo provided by WSOP.

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