Seventh Wonder of Johnny World: Bracelet Seven for Hennigan
The 55th World Series of Poker is underway in Las Vegas, and several players have already won WSOP gold bracelets within the first week of action.
Everything kicked off on May 28 with players from around the world descending upon the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas properties. Very quickly, everyone got a feel for the newer parts of the layout, which includes more convention space dedicated to poker, and got into the poker summer camp groove.
The action heated up quickly, with more than $2M in the first WSOP event’s prize pool, big names making final tables, and a veteran of the game picking up his seventh gold bracelet.
Brief Results Overview
In just the first five days of the 2024 WSOP, there were big results.
- Event 1 ($5K Champions Reunion) = 493 entries / $2,047,800 prize pool
A new event pulled in nearly 500 entries for a prize pool that surpassed $2M. The final table was an international one, featuring players representing, Turkey, China, France, Serbia, Costa Rica, and the United States. In the end, experienced American poker pro Asher Conniff prevailed to capture his first WSOP bracelet and more than $400K.
- Event 2 ($500 Casino Employees) = 1,189 entries / $499,380 prize pool
There was a bit of controversy in this event due to some poker bloggers and semi-pros playing in the event since they also work for poker companies. There was some kerfuffle, but in the end, it was New Mexico poker dealer Jose Garcia who took it down for nearly $80K.
- Event 3 ($500 Kickoff) = 3,485 entries / $1,442,960 prize pool
Another new event for this year, the Kickoff brought in thousands of players for a freezeout. And as the final table played out, Daniel Willis of the UK won his first bracelet but denied Michael Wang his third piece of WSOP gold. Willis took home more than $175K for the win.
- Event 4 ($1,500 Omaha-8) = 928 entries / $1,238,880 prize pool
Attendance for this annual event was down this year from 1,143 entries last year, but Omaha Hi/Lo certainly has a dependable following. The lead-up to the final table featured players like Miami John Cernuto, who finished tenth in his pursuit of his fourth bracelet, and Jamie Kerstetter who exited on the final table bubble in ninth place. James Chen won the event to claim his first bracelet and nearly $210K.
- Event 5 ($1K Mystery Millions) = TBD
There were four flights of the Mystery Millions tournament, with the final flight rolling through Sunday, June 2. The WSOP won’t announce the final registration numbers until June 3, but the event is shaping up to be massive. Day 1A brought in 2,246 entries, with another 3,272 on Day 1B and 5,290 on Day 1C. The dinnertime tally for Day 1B soared past 7,400 entries, so that puts the grand total past 18,208. That surpassed last year’s 18,188 total and will push this year’s prize pool well past $4.5M.
- Event 6 ($25K Heads-Up Championship) = 64 players / $1,504,000 prize pool
The event, as usual, was capped at 64 players for the heads-up rounds, and it was exciting from the start. One of the most followed players was Faraz Jaka, whose poker coaching company is producing big results in the poker world. He made it all the way to the final round, but Darius Samual took it down in the end for $500K.
Hennigan Makes It Seven
Johnny “World” Hennigan has long been known as one of the poker greats, one of the old-school players who knows all of the games and thoroughly enjoys the art of the gamble. In fact, he’s been known to bet on just about anything in the world, thus the nickname.
Hennigan won his first WSOP gold bracelet in 2002, a demonstration of his ability to carry over his cash game skills to tournaments as the poker boom got underway. That bracelet was in HORSE, and the following bracelets were an example of his mastery of so many poker variations:
- 2002: $2K HORSE
- 2004: $5K Limit Hold’em
- 2014: $50K Poker Players Championship
- 2016: $10K Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball Championship
- 2018: $10K HORSE
- 2019: $10K Seven-Card Stud Championship
That led him to the $1,500 buy0in Dealers Choice tournament and its 21 game options, Event 7 at the 2024 WSOP. The Poker Hall of Famer entered the final day of play in the middle of the chip counts of the 10 remaining players, and quickly rose to the position of chip leader at the six-handed final table. He took 11.3M chips into heads-up play against Robert Wells and his 1.95M, and Hennigan won the tournament shortly thereafter in a hand of No Limit 2-7 Single Draw.
John Hennigan is the last player standing in Event #7: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice!
— WSOP - World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 2, 2024
The 7th event of the 2024 series was the right one for Johnny World 🌎 as it awards him his 7th gold bracelet!
Congrats John!!!#WSOP2024 pic.twitter.com/lvNi6vuZaE
Upon claiming victory, Hennigan discovered that he was only the ninth player in the history of the game to win a seventh WSOP gold bracelet. He commented on that fact to PokerNews: “It’s interesting to know, I guess, just like any other number. Very happy to win the tournament. I mean, to me, the best thing about winning the tournament is not losing it.”
Spoken like a true grinder, as Hennigan joined Billy Baxter and Men Nguyen as the only players currently holding seven bracelets.
Should Hennigan win another, he will be the only one with eight of them, chasing Johnny Moss’s position with nine. Only names like Hellmuth, Ivey, Seidel, Chan, and Brunson hover over him on the all-time bracelet list.
Stay Up to Date with WSOP
As the World Series of Poker continues in Las Vegas, stay in the loop with a running list of tournament entries, prize pools, and winners on our main WSOP page and live updates from the WSOP, courtesy of the PokerNews live reporting team.
*Feature photo credit: Hayley Hochstetler for PokerNews
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