Nick Yunis has cashed for tens of millions of {dollars} on the stay event poker circuit, however up till this week all of his largest scores had are available shut calls. Whereas he had a number of six-figure windfalls on his resume, they’d all are available occasions the place he fell simply wanting the title. That each one modified when the Chilean participant emerged victorious from a discipline of 361 entries within the 2024 World Poker Tour bestbet Scramble $5,000 buy-in no-limit maintain’em most important occasion.
After securing the win so as to add his identify to the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, Yunis collected a career-high payout of $315,791. He now sits with almost $2.1 million in recorded scores to his identify.
“I nonetheless can’t consider it. I’m like, ‘Am I dreaming?’ I’ve been taking part in for therefore lengthy and I all the time wished to perform this… a significant title,” Yunis informed WPT reporters after popping out on high. “I’m grateful to God, to my supporters, my household that’s watching. My spouse couldn’t come due to the child, however I do know they’re extraordinarily completely satisfied for me and I’m simply over the moon.”
This victory additionally added 1,200 Card Participant Participant of the Yr factors to Yunis’ tally. This was his second POY-qualified rating of 2024, having gained a $1,100 buy-in facet occasion on the WPT Seminole Onerous Rock Poker Showdown again in April for $34,005 and 264 factors.
This event ran from Nov. 15-19 at bestbet Jacksonville. It featured a $1 million assure that was surpassed by greater than $642,000 by the point registration closed. The highest 46 finishers made the cash on this occasion, with large names like bracelet winner Raj Vohra (forty first), 2024 WPT Seminole Onerous Rock Poker Showdown most important occasion winner Josh Reichard (thirtieth), 2015 WSOP most important occasion champion Joe McKeehen (seventeenth), WPT champion and three-time bracelet winner Tony Dunst (sixteenth), bracelet winner Francis Anderson (eighth), and T.Ok. Miles (seventh) all working deep.
The ultimate day started with three-time WPT champion Eric Afriat out in entrance of the remaining six contenders, having added to his lead when his Ok-J outran Miles’ A-Q within the remaining hand of day 3. Afriat prolonged his benefit even additional when Dion Jagroo moved all-in with a gutshot straight draw on a queen-high flop. Afriat known as with pocket jacks and held by the river to remove Jagroo in sixth place ($71,000).
A few orbits after that knockout, Nicholas Funaro went for a multi-street bluff with 9 excessive in a battle of the blinds. He raised each the flop and switch in place, then moved all-in when checked to on the river with a remaining board of Q
8
5
A
Ok. His opponent, Yunis, made the decision with 85 for 2 pair. Funaro might solely produce 93, which meant that he was heading house with $93,000 because the fifth-place finisher. Funaro, the youthful brother of two-time bracelet winner Frank Funaro, now has $776,480 in profession event earnings.
An analogous hand led to the downfall of Joe Jordan on this occasion. He additionally tried a multi-street bluff in opposition to Yunis, who this time had an excellent stronger hand with a flopped full home. Jordan shoved the river with king excessive and obtained a snap name from Yunis’ fours full. He was left with only a handful of huge blinds, and was quickly all-in with Ok-4 suited trailing A-6 for Yunis. Neither participant linked with a double-paired runout and ace excessive despatched Jordan packing in fourth place ($123,000).
Yunis overtook the lead early in three-handed play, successful an enormous pot with a rivered king-high straight to edge forward of Afriat. Yunis then pulled off a river bluff shove to pressure Afriat off the perfect hand, leaving the Afriat brief within the course of. Afriat was effectively positioned to attain a much-needed double up when he received all-in with OkOk main the 99 of latest WPT Prime Playground championship winner Yunkyu Tune. The board got here down 97653 and Tune’s high set despatched Afriat house only a few-spots shy of incomes a record-tying fourth WPT title. For now, Darren Elias stays the tour’s solely four-time most important occasion champion.
Heads-up play started with Yunis holding roughly a 2:1 chip lead over Tune. The 2 agreed to a deal at one level that redistributed the remaining prize cash a bit, setting apart $33,000 and the title to play for, which included a $10,400 seat into subsequent month’s WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. Because of this, Yunis locked up not less than $282,791 whereas Tune secured $252,059.
Tune managed a double-up after getting fairly brief, however was nonetheless at an enormous chip drawback. He slid down to simply over 11 large blinds forward of the ultimate hand. Yunis shoved from the button with Ok3 and Tune known as with Ok5 from the large blind. The flop got here down OkJ4 to offer each gamers high pair. The 7 flip added a flush draw to Tune’s outs for one more double up. The river introduced the three to enhance Yunis to kings and threes, bringing the event to an in depth.
This runner-up displaying gave Tune his largest payday but, rising his profession event earnings to greater than $1.4 million. He additionally earned 1,000 POY factors for what was his tenth final-table displaying of the 12 months, together with his aforementioned WPT Prime triumph in Canada in October. With 4,804 complete factors, Tune is now ranked twenty third within the 2024 POY race offered by International Poker.
Here’s a take a look at the payouts and POY factors awarded on the remaining desk:
Place
Participant
Earnings
POY Factors
1
Nick Yunis
$315,791
1200
2
Yunkyu Tune
$252,059
1000
3
Eric Afriat
$165,000
800
4
Joseph Jordan
$123,000
600
5
Nicholas Funaro
$93,000
500
6
Dion Jagroo
$71,000
400
Photograph credit: WPT / Katerina Lukina.
