Daniel Negreanu Wins PPC at WSOP 2024 for Seventh Bracelet
Several poker players have earned their fifth bracelets this year at the World Series of Poker. Some did more, as John Hennigan won his seventh and Phil Ivey won his 11th. Daniel Negreanu now joins the club of players adding to their impressive career bracelet collections, as he won his seventh by emerging victorious at the Poker Players Championship.
The PPC
The Poker Players Championship is an important event on the WSOP calendar for many poker players.
It requires a $50,000 buy-in, the same price tag it’s had since it first appeared in 2006. That first year, it played as a HORSE tournament – the HORSE World Championship – and was the largest buy-in at the WSOP to that point. Chip Reese won that inaugural event for more than $1.7M. The tournament was immediately a must-play for high-stakes mixed game players, and Freddy Deeb won it the next year for more than $2.2M.
When Reese died late in 2007, the poker community and the WSOP wanted to honor him, so they added the Chip Reese memorial trophy to the winner’s take for the 2008 HORSE World Championship.
The tournament transformed over the years, becoming the Poker Players Championship in 2010 with several more games added, though the final table was No Limit Hold’em and filmed for television (in 2010 and 2011 only). The eight-game mix was a tournament that offered its players quite a long registration period, special meals and break accommodations, and a more relaxed playing environment with more space between the tables.
By 2015, the Poker Players Championship – or the PPC – was a ten-game mix, though interest in the tournament declined, and it reverted back to eight games in 2016. Only in 2021 did they add one more game to make it a nine-game mix.
Participation has varied through the years, and the memorial trophy faded from memory over time. But there have been some standout players who’ve won it multiple times.
- 2006 HORSE w/143 players: Chip Reese won for $1,716,000
- 2007 HORSE w/148 players: Freddy Deeb won for $2,276,832
- 2008 HORSE w/148 players: Scotty Nguyen won for $1,989,120
- 2009 HORSE w/95 players: David Bach won for $1,276,802
- 2010 8-Game 2/116 players: Michael Mizrachi won for $1,559,046
- 2011 8-Game w/128 players: Brian Rast won for $1,720,328
- 2012 8-Game w/108 players: Michael Mizrachi won for $1,451,527
- 2013 8-Game w/132 players: Matthew Ashton won for $1,774,089
- 2014 8-Game w/102 players: John Hennigan won for $1,517,767
- 2015 10-Game w/84 players: Mike Gorodinsky won for $1,270,086
- 2016 8-Game w/91 players: Brian Rast won for $1,296,097
- 2017 8-Game w/100 players: Elior Sion won for $1,395,767
- 2018 8-Game w/87 players: Michael Mizrachi won for $1,239,126
- 2019 8-Game w/74 players: Philip Hui won for $1,099,311
- 2021 9-Game w/63 players: Daniel Cates won for $954,020
- 2022 9-Game w/112 players: Daniel Cates won for $1,449,103
- 2023 9-Game w/99 players: Brian Rast won for $1,324,747
2024 PPC
The nine games that comprise the Poker Players Championship action are No Limit and Limit Hold’em, Razz, Deuce-to-Seven Lowball Triple Draw and No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw, Seven-Card Stud and Stud Hi/Lo 8-or-Better, Pot Limit Omaha and PLO Hi/Lo 8-or-Better, and Razz.
The no-reentry event brought in 75 players on the first day, though registration remained open. When played stopped that night, only 58 players still held chips.
Day 2 delivered a few more players, setting the final numbers as:
- Total entries: 89
- Prize pool: $4,249,750
- Paid players: 14
- Minimum payout: $102,299
- Winner payout: $1,178,703
Only 29 players survived Day 2, and the remaining players tightened up on Day 3 when down to just a few tables. With only 14 payouts available, play slowed as numerous players doubled until finally, Daniel Negreanu won a significant pot to eliminate Hal Rotholz on the money bubble.
Not long after they combined to just two tables, Maxx Coleman busted in 14th place and Phil Hui in 13th, both courtesy of Michael Mizrachi.
Reaching the Final Table
Of the dozen remaining players, Day 4 started with Chris Brewer holding a sizeable chip lead with David Benyamine and Phil Ivey in a distant second and third. Negreanu was third-last on the leaderboard. But Negreanu started strong and collected chips quickly.
Jeremy Ausmus busted Mizrachi in 12th place, and Johannes Becker did the same to James Obst in 11th. Renan Bruschi had been struggling and finally exited in tenth place, courtesy of Phil Ivey.
Meanwhile, Negreanu had dropped back to a short stack, doubling through Brewer to stay alive and then taking from Becker and Brewer.
Bryce Yockey eliminated Joao Vieira in ninth place, after which the final eight gathered at the “unofficial” final table. Dylan Smith, Ausmus, and Brewer held the top stacks, with David Benyamine, Ivey, and Yockey on the shorter side. Negreanu had climbed into fourth chip position by the dinner break, and Ivey had soared to second.
Split pots and lots of chip movement took them to the first break after dinner without any further eliminations, and Brewer ultimately busted Becker in eighth place. And in a turn only possible in the wild swings of some mixed games, Smith ousted Ivey in seventh place.
The final table is set in the $50K Poker Players Championship. Chris Brewer, Daniel Negreanu, Bryce Yockey, Dylan Smith, and David Benyamine are all eyeing the bracelet.
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 27, 2024
Coverage starts today at 3 P.M. PT on PokerGO. pic.twitter.com/jMDKhnNNmk
Finally, Benyamine and Brewer sent Ausmus to the payout desk in sixth place.
Five for Final Table
The chip counts at the beginning of Day 5 were:
- Chris Brewer = 10,425,000 chips
- Daniel Negreanu = 7,675,000 chips
- Dylan Smith = 4,000,000 chips
- Bryce Yockey = 3,700,000 chips
- David Benyamine = 850,000 chips
It didn’t take long for Negreanu to tangle with Brewer and take over the chip lead via a Razz hand. In that same game, Yockey was able to eliminate Benyamine in fifth place and then Smith in fourth place. Yockey took chips from Negreanu in a PLO hand, and though the latter took some back, Brewer got his hands on those chips via Limit Hold’em.
The last three players exchanged chips, eventually nearly evening the stacks. Quite a few rounds and games played out before Brewer finally got the last of his chips all-in with pocket aces in NLHE. Yockey challenged with J-T of spades on a T-5-3 flop, the latter two cards of which were spades. The turn brought another spade for the flush, and Brewer accepted third place.
Daniel Negreanu and Bryce Yockey heads-up in the $50K PPC. pic.twitter.com/SnqgQoH3yk
— David Salituro (@DavidSalituro) June 28, 2024
Heads-up play started with these counts:
- Bryce Yockey = 15.75M chips
- Daniel Negreanu = 10.95M chips
Yockey took the first pot in Seven-Card Stud and climbed to 19M chips in a subsequent hand…but Negreanu put a stop to that. He bluffed Yockey in a LHE hand and started to mount a comeback. However, every time Negreanu got close, his opponent increased his chip lead. Finally, when NLHE came back around, he took a pot that put him in the chip lead by one million chips.
The two then exchanged the lead over the course of the next hours of action. Finally, Negreanu took a big Stud pot to climb over 21M chips and took more in an O-8 hand. Yockey doubled in O-8 to 3.9M, but then came Pot Limit Omaha. On a flop of T-7-7 with two clubs, Negreanu bet big with A-Q-J-7, and Yockey called with 9-6-3-2 with two clubs. A queen on the turn gave Negreanu the win with a full house.
Final 2024 PPC Results
- 1st place: Daniel Negreanu (Canada) $1,178,703
- 2nd place: Bryce Yockey (USA) $768,467
- 3rd place: Chris Brewer (USA) $519,158
- 4th place: Dylan Smith (USA) $363,914
- 5th place: David Benyamine (France) $265,054
- 6th place: Jeremy Ausmus (USA) $200,896
- 7th place: Phil Ivey (USA) $158,719
*Feature photo credit: Omar Sader for WSOP
