Straight flush keeps poker superstar in contention for 7th WSOP title

Las Vegas Review-Journal

5 months ago

Professional poker player Daniel Negreanu in a high roller six handed no-limit hold’em e ... — Professional poker player Daniel Negreanu in a high roller six handed no-limit hold’em event during the first day of the World Series of Poker at Horseshoe Las Vegas on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt

Phil Ivey competes during the final table of the $10,000 buy-in Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship Six-Handed event at the Horseshoe hotel-casino on Thursday, June 13, 2024, on the Las Vegas Strip. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Daniel Negreanu remains in the mix for another World Series of Poker bracelet.

The popular poker pro is one of five players standing in the prestigious $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship at Horseshoe Las Vegas. The tournament was halted early Thursday morning and resumes at 2 p.m. Thursday. The final table will be streamed on subscription service PokerGO.

The winner of the event, which features a rotation of nine poker variants, earns $1,178,703 and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

Negreanu sits second in chips with 7.635 million (19 big bets) after making a late-night charge up the leaderboard. At one point during nine-handed play, the Las Vegas resident had the short stack and was nearly out of the tournament before he fought back.

With six players left, Negreanu won a massive pot against Bryce Yockey during Omaha High-Low in one of the final hands before play was stopped. Yockey made a full house on the turn, but Negreanu hit a one-outer and made a straight flush on the river to scoop a pot worth 4.5 million chips.

Negreanu is seeking his seventh career WSOP bracelet, which are awarded for tournament victories, and first since 2013. This is Negreanu’s ninth cash of the 2024 WSOP.

High-stakes professional Chris Brewer leads the Poker Players Championship with 10.465 million chips (26 big bets). Dylan Smith (4.03 million, 10 big bets), Yockey (3.67 million, nine big bets) and David Benyamine (900,000, two big bets) also stand in Negreanu’s path.

“It’s exciting. I’ve just been really fortunate and had a lot of good runouts,” Brewer told WSOP.com. “I’m not going to try to think about it too much either way and just hope that keeps happening.”

Phil Ivey was eliminated in seventh place ($158,719) after holding the chip lead at one point during eight-handed action. He was seeking another bracelet after winning the 11th of his career this month to move into second on the all-time list.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.