Brandon Wilson is the new ‘end boss’ of high-stakes poker tournaments at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood. The Illinois native has won four high roller events at the South Florida venue in the past 16 months, with those victories accounting for his four largest career scores. Wilson has accrued more than $1.9 million with these four title runs, making up the majority of his nearly $2.7 million in total earnings.
The most recent triumph saw Wilson outlast a field of 85 entries in the WPT Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open $25,500 buy-in event to lock up the trophy and the top prize of $602,900. This narrowly surpassed the $601,800 he earned for winning the same event at the SHR Poker Showdown festival this spring for his top score.
His two other high roller wins were in a pair of $50,000 buy-in events. He earned $362,780 as the champion of that super high roller at the SHRPO last August, then successfully defended that title this year for another $346,775.
This win came with 672 Card Player Player of the Year points for Wilson. This was his third title and fifth final-table finish of the year. With 1,704 total points, he now sits in 292nd place in the 2024 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.
This event more than doubled its $1 million guarantee, with $2,099,500 paid out among the top 12 finishers. The bubble burst on day 1, with Brian Luo (12th – $54,500), two-time bracelet winner Jans Arends (11th – $54,500), and six-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (10th – $60,300) all being eliminated inside the money.
The final day began with nine players remaining and Wilson at the top of the chip counts. Two-time bracelet winner Jesse Lonis was the first to fall, earning $60,300 for his 22nd final-table finish of the year. He was also awarded 56 POY points, strengthening his claim on the second-place spot on the 2024 POY leaderboard. He now trails top-ranked Adrian Mateos by 1,416. Lonis has now accrued over $6.6 million in to-date POY earnings.
Matthew Frankland (8th – $69,800) and Kristen Foxen (7th – $84,300) soon followed. This is the latest in a long list of big accomplishments for Foxen this year. In July she finished 13th in the World Series of Poker main event for a career-best score of $600,000. In October she captured her record-extending fifth WSOP gold bracelet, taking down an online $1,000 six-max event to extend her advantage as the winningest female player in the history of the series. She also sits in second place on the female all-time money list with $9.3 million to her name. Only Vanessa Selbst ($10.9 million) has cashed for more.
Frequent high-stakes competitor Carlos Chadha bowed out in sixth place ($106,500). He was then joined on the rail by Frank Funaro (5th – $140,100), who won his second career WSOP bracelet this summer by taking down a $10,000 super turbo bounty no-limit hold’em freezeout event at the series. Funaro is now approaching $4.5 million in lifetime cashes on the circuit after this latest strong showing.
2022 WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino main event champion Michael Jozoff set a new personal live tournament high score by finishing fourth for $191,700. This was his second-largest score yet, trailing only the $259,371 he earned for a ninth-place showing in this year’s $100,000 buy-in at the WSOP. He now has over $2.3 million in career cashes.
Shannon Shorr finished fourth in this event, earning $272,600 for his efforts. The two-time bracelet winner increased his lifetime haul to just shy of $14.4 million. This was his 11th final-table finish of the year. The 448 points he secured moved him into 65th place in the POY rankings heading into the final few weeks of 2024.
Justin Chu held the lead early in the heads-up match, but Wilson was able to pull ahead in time for the final hand of the tournament. Wilson limped in for 50,000 total from the button with 3
3
and Chu raised to 200,000 from the big blind with JJ
. Wilson limp-shoved and Chu called all-in for around 25 big blinds. Wilson surged ahead on a 643 flop, but Chu picked up plenty of outs when the 7 rolled off on the turn. The river brought the 4, though, improving Wilson to threes full to bring the tournament to a close. Chu earned $402,000 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Brandon Wilson | $602,900 | 672 |
| 2 | Justin Chu | $402,000 | 560 |
| 3 | Shannon Shorr | $272,600 | 448 |
| 4 | Michael Jozoff | $191,700 | 336 |
| 5 | Frank Funaro | $140,100 | 280 |
| 6 | Carlos Chadha-Villamarin | $106,500 | 224 |
| 7 | Kristen Foxen | $84,300 | 168 |
| 8 | Mathew Frankland | $69,800 | 112 |
| 9 | Jesse Lonis | $60,300 | 56 |
Photo credits: SHR Poker Blog.