Franco Spitale Wins Millionaire Maker Event At The World Series Of Poker

Franco Spitale grabbed the win in the big Millionaire Maker tournament on June 27 in Las Vegas. The 54th event on the busy World Series of Poker schedule awarded a top prize worth $1,250,125 to the poker player from Argentina, and that vaulted his career earnings above $1.9 million.

“It’s still, it’s hard for me to believe it. You know, it’s too much. Really? I dreamed about this all my life. I promised my little girl, I have a daughter called Emma that the next trophy would be for her, so this trophy is for her,” said Spitale to reporters right after the win.

The $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event attracted a giant field, with 10,939 entries made during the course of three starting flights to build up a prize pool worth $14,603,565. The top 1,641 players took home at least $3,000 in prize money.

Day 2 welcomed back 2,381 players, and 315 of them advanced to day 2 after the money bubble burst earlier in the day. Day 3 whittled the field down to 45, and the penultimate day of play saw Spitale jump to the chip lead when the last six players remained.

The final day of play kicked off with Stephen Dauphinais taking over the lead after he eliminated Chalres Kersey in sixth place, and Harvey Jackson in fifth place. Justin Carey then took out Paul Saso in fourth place to take his turn with the chip lead as well before a long battle for third place took hold at the final table.

After some back-and-forth between the final three players, Spitale found his footing and first knockout punch on the last day when he busted Dauphinais in third place to take a slight chip lead into the final battle against Carey.

The stacks evened up for a bit, but Spitale eventually took back the advantage and pulled away as his enthusiastic collection of railbirds cheered him on. “They gave the energy to continue when things didn’t went that well, the rail was crazy,” said Spitale to thank his friends after the tournament.

The final hand saw Carey get all in with pocket deuces against the A-10 held by Spitale. The flop came down 10-5-2, all but ensuring Carey would double into the lead. But the turn and river came running aces to give Spitale a runner-runner full house to best his opponent’s flopped set.

His spirited rail broke out into a beer-soaked celebration with chants echoing around the tournament room. Carey also took home over a million, with the $1,001,170 he was awarded for the runner-up finish making up most of his career $1.3 million in earnings.

Final Table Results

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.

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Spenser Sembrat.

Most Viewed Articles