There have already been six bracelets awarded in live events at the 2024 World Series of Poker Paradise festival, which amounts to just shy of half of the in-person tournaments on the schedule. There are also two online bracelet events included in the offerings for this year’s WSOP Paradise, which is running from Dec. 6-19 at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
The latest champion to emerge is China’s Lei Yu. He defeated a field of 363 total entries in the $5,000 no-limit hold’em deepstack event to earn $293,050 and his first gold bracelet.
This was the largest recorded score yet for Yu, topping the $134,125 he earned for winning a KRW 10,000,000 ($7,395) side event at the World Poker Tour Korea stop this spring for $134,125. Yu now has more than $805,000 in career earnings.
Yu also scored 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year points for this win. With two final tables and this one victory, Yu has surged up the rankings and into 393rd place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.
The $1.8 million prize pool for this tournament was paid out among the top 51 finishers. Plenty of big names ran deep, including 2024 WSOP) main event fifth-place finisher Boris Angelov (45th), Ana Marquez (41st), 2019 WSOP main event champion Hossein Ensan (40th), 2019 WSOP main event sixth-place finisher Zhen Cai (38th), bracelet winner Nick Maimone (20th), and 2022 World Poker Tour World Championship main event winner Eliot Hudon (10th).
High-stakes tournament regular Fahredin Mustafov finished sixth for $79,800. He was eliminated by Slovenia’s Blaz Zerjav. Brazilian online tournament crusher Bruno Volkmann (5th – $103,490) was the next to fall, with his A-6 being outflopped by the A-5 of Romanian bracelet winner Vlad Darie.
Despite scoring that knockout, Darie was soon making his way to the payout desk. His K-Q suited was unable to come from behind against the A-K suited of Rokas Asipauskas. Darie added $134,210 to his lifetime haul, which now sits at more than $4.6 million.
Zerjav made a straight against the top two pair of Asipauskas to end his run in third place ($174,050). He entered heads-up play with Yu holding the lead, but an early coin flip turned the tables. Yu’s pocket tens held against A-Q. Zerjav flopped a pair of queens but Yu backed into a queen-high straight to overtake the lead.
Zerjav was able to battle back out in front, but Yu doubled up again with K-Q besting A-8. The final hand saw all of the chips go in after a 8
65. Zerjav held 8
7 for top pair and an open-ended straight draw. Yu was ahead with AA
for an overpair and the nut flush draw. The 8 turn improved Zerjav to trip eights, but the 4 on the end gave Yu a winning flush. Zerjav earned $225,720 as the runner-up. He now has more than $1.7 million in lifetime cashes to his name.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Lei Yu | $293,050 | 1200 |
| 2 | Blaz Zerjav | $225,720 | 1000 |
| 3 | Rokas Asipauskas | $174,050 | 800 |
| 4 | Vlad Darie | $134,210 | 600 |
| 5 | Bruno Volkmann | $103,499 | 500 |
| 6 | Fahredin Mustafov | $79,800 | 400 |
| 7 | Gleb Tremzin | $61,530 | 300 |
| 8 | Archibald Seaton | $47,450 | 200 |
| 9 | Ezequiel Kleinman | $36,590 | 100 |
Photo credit: WSOP.