John Fauver Triumphs In First-Ever World Series of Poker $10,000 Big O Championship EventWest Virginian Overcomes 332 Entries To Scoop $681,998 and His First Bracelet |
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The $10,000 buy-in Big O championship made its debut at the 2024 World Series of Poker, drawing 332 entries in it’s inaugural running. After three days of five-card pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better action, John Fauver emerged victorious as the first-ever champion. The West Virginian earned $681,998 and his first gold bracelet for the win.
Before taking down this new championship event, Fauver’s previous top score had been a seventh-place showing in a $15,000 buy-in event at this year’s PokerGO Tour PLO Series for $49,800. With this big win at the WSOP, he now has more than $881,000 in total tournament earnings to his name.
In addition to the money and the hardware, Fauver was also awarded 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his second title and fifth final-table finish in POY-qualified tournaments this year. With 1,904 points he has climbed to 74th place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.
Fauver also earned 682 PokerGO Tour points, enough to climb to seventh place on the PGT season-long leaderboard.
The third and final day of this event began with 19 players remaining, with each guaranteed at least $25,430 for surviving to that point. The top 50 players made the money in this event, with big names like four-time bracelet winner Mike Matusow (31st), two-time bracelet winner Yuval Bronshtein (30th), two-time bracelet winner Justin Saliba (28th), two-time bracelet winner Tom Koral (27th), Matt Glantz (24th), five-time bracelet winner Adam Friedman (18th), three-time bracelet winner Ryan Hughes (17th), three-time bracelet winner Anson Tsang (14th), bracelet winner David Benyamine (9th), bracelet winner Danny Wong (8th), Michael Rocco (7th), and two-time bracelet winner Dylan Weisman (5th) all running deep.
Farid Jattin, who finished runner-up in the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha event earlier this summer, placed fourth for $217,783 in this tournament. The Colombian also earned 600 POY points for his fifth final-table finish of 2024. He moved into 16th place in the rankings thanks to his strong showing in this event.
Four-time bracelet winner Calvin Anderson knocked out Nitesh Rawtani (3rd – $311,747) to enter heads-up play with 8,425,000 to Fauver’s 11,500,000. That lead was extended ahead of the final hand.
Fauver limped from the button for 200,000 total with K
K
Q
J4
and Anderson raised to 600,000 holding AAA106 in the big blind. Fauver called and the flop came down K97. Anderson bet pot and Fauver moved all-in with his set of kings. Anderson called and improved to a ten-high straight on the 8 turn. He also picked up the nut-flush redraw and outs to a low. The river brought the 8, though, giving Fauver kings full of eights and a scoop, with no low possible.
Anderson was awarded $454,668 as the runner-up finisher. He now has more than $6.7 million in lifetime tournament earnings.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | John Fauver | $681,998 | 1,200 | 682 |
| 2 | Calvin Anderson | $454,668 | 1,000 | 455 |
| 3 | Nitesh Rawtani | $311,747 | 800 | 312 |
| 4 | Farid Jattin | $217,783 | 600 | 218 |
| 5 | Dylan Weisman | $155,065 | 500 | 155 |
| 6 | Alfred Atamian | $112,573 | 400 | 113 |
| 7 | Michael Rocco | $83,359 | 300 | 83 |
| 8 | Danny Wong | $62,985 | 200 | 63 |
Visit the Card Player 2024 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest event results. WSOP coverage sponsored by Global Poker.
Photo credits: WSOP / Rachel Kay Winter.
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