Nick Yunis Wins 2024 World Poker Tour bestbet Scramble Championship

Nick Yunis has cashed for millions of dollars on the live tournament poker circuit, but up until this week all of his largest scores had come in close calls. While he had several six-figure windfalls on his resume, they had all come in events where he fell just short of the title. That all changed when the Chilean player emerged victorious from a field of 361 entries in the 2024 World Poker Tour bestbet Scramble $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event.

After securing the win to add his name to the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, Yunis collected a career-high payout of $315,791. He now sits with nearly $2.1 million in recorded scores to his name.

“I still can’t believe it. I’m like, ‘Am I dreaming?’ I’ve been playing for so long and I always wanted to accomplish this… a major title,” Yunis told WPT reporters after coming out on top. “I’m thankful to God, to my supporters, my family that’s watching. My wife couldn’t come because of the baby, but I know they are extremely happy for me and I’m just over the moon.”

This victory also added 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year points to Yunis’ tally. This was his second POY-qualified score of 2024, having won a $1,100 buy-in side event at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown back in April for $34,005 and 264 points.

This tournament ran from Nov. 15-19 at bestbet Jacksonville. It featured a $1 million guarantee that was surpassed by more than $642,000 by the time registration closed. The top 46 finishers made the money in this event, with big names like bracelet winner Raj Vohra (41st), 2024 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown main event winner Josh Reichard (30th), 2015 WSOP main event champion Joe McKeehen (17th), WPT champion and three-time bracelet winner Tony Dunst (16th), bracelet winner Francis Anderson (8th), and T.K. Miles (7th) all running deep.

The final day began with three-time WPT champion Eric Afriat out in front of the remaining six contenders, having added to his lead when his K-J outran Miles’ A-Q in the final hand of day 3. Afriat extended his advantage even further when Dion Jagroo moved all-in with a gutshot straight draw on a queen-high flop. Afriat called with pocket jacks and held through the river to eliminate Jagroo in sixth place ($71,000).

A couple of orbits after that knockout, Nicholas Funaro went for a multi-street bluff with nine high in a battle of the blinds. He raised both the flop and turn in position, then moved all-in when checked to on the river with a final board of Q85AK. His opponent, Yunis, made the call with 85 for two pair. Funaro could only produce 93, which meant that he was heading home with $93,000 as the fifth-place finisher. Funaro, the younger brother of two-time bracelet winner Frank Funaro, now has $776,480 in career tournament earnings.

A similar hand led to the downfall of Joe Jordan in this event. He also attempted a multi-street bluff against Yunis, who this time had an even stronger hand with a flopped full house. Jordan shoved the river with king high and received a snap call from Yunis’ fours full. He was left with just a handful of big blinds, and was soon all-in with K-4 suited trailing A-6 for Yunis. Neither player connected with a double-paired runout and ace high sent Jordan packing in fourth place ($123,000).

Yunis overtook the lead early in three-handed play, winning a big pot with a rivered king-high straight to edge ahead of Afriat. Yunis then pulled off a river bluff shove to force Afriat off the best hand, leaving the Afriat short in the process. Afriat was well positioned to score a much-needed double up when he got all-in with KK leading the 99 of recent WPT Prime Playground championship winner Yunkyu Song. The board came down 97653 and Song’s top set sent Afriat home just a few-spots shy of earning a record-tying fourth WPT title. For now, Darren Elias remains the tour’s only four-time main event champion.

Heads-up play began with Yunis holding roughly a 2:1 chip lead over Song. The two agreed to a deal at one point that redistributed the remaining prize money a bit, setting aside $33,000 and the title to play for, which included a $10,400 seat into next month’s WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. As a result, Yunis locked up at least $282,791 while Song secured $252,059.

Song managed a double-up after getting quite short, but was still at a big chip disadvantage. He slid down to just over 11 big blinds ahead of the final hand. Yunis shoved from the button with K3 and Song called with K5 from the big blind. The flop came down KJ4 to give both players top pair. The 7 turn added a flush draw to Song’s outs for another double up. The river brought the 3 to improve Yunis to kings and threes, bringing the tournament to a close.

This runner-up showing gave Song his largest payday yet, growing his career tournament earnings to more than $1.4 million. He also earned 1,000 POY points for what was his 10th final-table showing of the year, including his aforementioned WPT Prime triumph in Canada in October. With 4,804 total points, Song is now ranked 23rd in the 2024 POY race presented by Global Poker.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credits: WPT / Katerina Lukina.