Conquering a tough field of 493 players, Asher Conniff won his first WSOP bracelet and the top prize of $408,468 as a final ten filled with talent battled it out for the biggest part of the $2,047,800 prize pool. At the end of the night, one of the ‘best players never to win a bracelet’ had conquered Las Vegas and lived his poker dream.
| WSOP Event #1 $5,000 Champions Reunion Final Results: | |||
| Place | Place | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Asher Conniff | United States | $408,468 |
| 2nd | Halil Tasyurek | Turkey | $272,305 |
| 3rd | Yuzhou Yin | China | $188,342 |
| 4th | Jonathan Pastore | France | $132,545 |
| 5th | Terry Fleischer | United States | $94,936 |
| 6th | David Coleman | United States | $69,231 |
| 7th | Nenad Dukic | Serbia | $51,416 |
| 8th | Michael Acevedo | Costa Rica | $38,903 |
| 9th | Bryce Welker | United States | $29,999 |
| 10th | Aram Zobian | United States | $23,584 |
Zobian Flips Out
The previous evening’s play was supposed to end with a final table of nine, but such was Aram Zobian’s irresistible ability to bounce back from desperate situations that the night ended with ten still in seats. Zobian started well on the final day, but lost a coinflip to fall short again then tried to win it back from the same player, Jonathan Pastore. The Frenchman held pocket jacks, and Zobian’s ace-jack was unable to catch up, sending the American home with $23,584.
Terry Fleischer led the final nine players by some distance when they all sat down to play down to a winner at the same table, and with the blinds escalating, Zobian’s fellow American Bryce Welker moved all-in with king-queen. He couldn’t have timed his move worse, as Asher Conniff called it off with ace-queen and the hand that Doyle Brunson once said had cost him more money than any other won this time to send Welker home with $29,999 in ninth place.
Next to go was the Costa Rican player Michael Acevedo. He was short-stacked when he moved all-in with a suited jack-ten of spades but again the timing was off. David Coleman called with ace-king and while Acevedo flopped two spades, one of them was an ace. Acevedo missed both turn and river and exited for $38,903 in eighth place.
Coleman Left on the Rail
Serbia’s Nenad Dukic was the next player to leave, cashing for $51,416 in seventh place. He moved all-in with king-jack but lost to Terry Fleischer’s pocket nines and relinquished his stack in the process. Not long afterwards, Coleman was on the rail too for $69,231 in sixth place. All-in with ace-nine, Coleman lost to Conniff’s ace-jack to help Conniff boost his own chances of victory.
Terry Fleischer was the overnight leader but busted in fifth place for $94,936. All-in with ace-high, he was called brilliantly by Halil Tasyurek who had made trips, and the Turkish player – going for what would be his country’s third ever WSOP title – piled up some more chips at the American’s expense.
French player Jonathan Pastore missed the podium places by one spot when he won $132,545 in fourth place. His pocket fours were an ominous hand to be all-in and at risk with and Tasyurek took out another when his queen-jack hit a board of J-8-3-3-5 to reduce the field to three.
“Just to not have to think about trying to win one anymore is great!”
Tasyurek was on a roll, and he used those chips to defeat Yuzhou Yin in third place for $188,342. The Chinese player lost with ace-deuce against Tasyurek’s ace-nine to head home in third place, with Turkey’s finest now holding an imperious 6-to-1 chip lead.
Asher Conniff doubled up with a bit of fortune when his king-high beat Tasyurek’s ace-high and drew virtually level. When Conniff took the lead after hitting a flush, he called all-in pre-flop with pocket tens and was right to do so, Tasyurek’s jack-nine of diamonds needing to improve. The king-high board was clear for Conniff, however, and the American had the top prize of $408,468 and the first bracelet of the 2024 WSOP to join it.
Before the final day, Conniff had said on X, “Cool a** start to the WSOP, bagged 2 mil going to 80k for Day 3 in Event 1 with 10 people left – $400k to the winner let’s gooooo!”
After winning, Conniff simply said “Wow.” Eventually, PokerNews managed to prize some more from the first bracelet winner of the series.
“It’s incredible; just to not have to think about trying to win one anymore is great, and obviously the money, the experience. It’s awesome, I’m so happy. I think one of the advantages that I have is that I’ve been in live streams and spots before where people can see my cards and there’s bright lights, and it’s stressful. I’ve been here before, so I know what to do.”
Conniff certainly knew how to do it and became the 2024 World Series of Poker’s first bracelet winner. Congrats to him!