Daniel Negreanu Wins 2024 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship For Seventh Bracelet

After more than a decade without a win at the World Series of Poker, legend of the game Daniel Negreanu finally broke through to secure his seventh WSOP gold bracelet.

The victory was especially monumental for the 49-year-old Poker Hall of Fame member, as it came in one of the toughest and most prestigious tournaments of the year: the WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship. The Canadian pro defeated a field of 89 entries in the nine-game mixed affair to earn $1,178,703 and the long-awaited hardware.

“This is the tournament,” said Negreanu after coming out on top. “This is the one where all the best players show up. The structures are very long. It’s a real grind and to stay, meant to be sharp for five days. When you win this tournament, you earn it and there’s no fluking the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.”

With this win, Negreanu became just the 10th player in poker history to have won seven or more WSOP bracelets.

“I got to be honest, having six was kind of embarrassing for me, really,” Negreanu told Card Player when asked about finally capturing his seventh. “It’s just like I’ve played so many tournaments and I only have six and [Phil] Ivey has 11 and all this stuff, and I’m like, ‘Whoa, I have too many second-place finishes.’ So this feels like it changes things up. Maybe now I’ll just go on a run and win a couple more before the series is over.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever played better. I talk about playing above the rim… I mean, you can play at the rim and that’s good, but if you really want to be a elite, you have to play above the rim,” Negreanu shared when asked about his feelings on his performance in this event. “There were some things I did, a couple of razz pots in a row that were super important. Back to back eights, you’re broken down after losing one and then to have it happen right again and still make the right decision. I know that I played top notch and I executed my strategy really well.”

Before this win, Negreanu’s last bracelet came in at the 2013 WSOP Europe in a €25,000 high rolller. It was 3,899 days between that victory and this one. He now has two bracelets in mixed games (this and the 2003 S.H.O.E.) and five bracelets in hold’em events. His first bracelet came in the 1998 $2,000 pot-limit Omaha event. He then won the $2,000 limit hold’em in both 2004 and 2008. His first no-limit hold’em bracelet came in the 2013 WSOP Asia Pacific main event. Later that same year came his previously mentioned high roller victory.

Negreanu now has $52,972,918 in career tournament earnings, which is good for seventh place on poker’s all-time money list. More than $22.5 million of that total has been earned through Negreanu’s success at the WSOP.

This was Negreanu’s third title and 11th final-table finish of 2024. The 816 Card Player Player of the Year points he was awarded as the champion were enough to move him into 13th place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker. Negreanu is chasing his third POY title, having already earned the honor in 2004 and 2013.

Negreanu also earned 700 PokerGO Tour points for the win. With 1,645 total points, he is now the top-ranked player on that high-stakes-centric leaderboard.

The 89-entry turnout for this year’s running of this prestigious event resulted in a prize pool of $4,249,750. The top 14 finishers made the money, with big names like two-time bracelet winner Maxx Coleman (14th), four-time bracelet winner Phil Hui (13th), five-time bracelet winner and three-time champion of this event Michael Mizrachi (12th), two-time bracelet winner James Obst (11th), three-time bracelet winner Joao Vieira (9th), and bracelet winner Johannes Becker (8th) all running deep.

Phil Ivey was the first to be knocked out at the official final table of seven, earning $158,719 for his efforts. The 11-time bracelet winner lasted late into day 4, but eventually was sent to the rail when his 9-7-6-5-4 ran into the 8-7-6-5-3 of Dylan Smith in no-limit deuce-to-seven single draw. The 47-year-old Poker Hall of Famer now has $45,874,407 in career earnings.

Six-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus soon followed Ivey to the payout desk. He got chopped up by two-time bracelet winner Chris Brewer and David Benyamine in Omaha eight-or-better, earning $200,896 for his efforts.

The fifth and final day of play began with Brewer in the lead and Negreanu in second chip position. The first two eliminations came right away. Benyamine, a bracelet winner from France, had his 9-8-5-3-2 outrun by the 9-8-4-3-2 of two-time bracelet winner Bryce Yockey in deuce-to-seven triple draw lowball. Benyamine was awarded $265,054 as the fifth-place finisher.

Dylan Smith, just a month removed from a fifth-place finish in the World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown main event, placed fourth in this event. He also ran into Yockey, who made a 7-5-4-2-A in razz to eliminate Smith (4th – $363,914).

Three-handed play lasted a few hours, with Brewer spending most of that time as the short stack. He eventually got the last of his chips in with AA on a 1053 flop facing J10 for Yockey. The turn brought the 7 to give Yockey a flush and a lock on the hand. Brewer cashed for $519,158 as the third-place finisher. He now has nearly $24.6 million in career earnings after this latest strong showing in a high-stakes event.

Heads-up play began with Yockey holding 15,750,000 to Negreanu’s 10,950,000. The two battled for over three hours, with plenty of swings along the way. Both players held the lead multiple times. Negreanu was all-in and at risk at one point in pot-limit Omaha with a straight draw and a pair of deuces against two overpairs, aces and jacks, for Yockey. The turn changed nothing, but a deuce on the river gave Negreanu trips and a double into the lead.

The final hand of the night also came in pot-limit Omaha. Negreanu raised to 750,000 on the button with AQJ7 and Yockey called with 9632 from the big blind. The flop came down 1077 and Yockey checked. Negreanu bet 600,000. Yockey check-raised to 3,550,000 and Negreanu moved all-in. Yockey called for 6,100,000 total.

Negreanu had trips for the lead, but Yockey had flush and straight draws. The Q on the turn gave Negreanu sevens full, leaving Yockey drawing dead. He cashed for $768,467 as the runner-up, the largest score of his career. The recent $5,000 pot-limit Omaha champion now has more than $5.9 million in total earnings.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded in this event:

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.

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