Darius Samual Wins World Series of Poker $25,000 Heads-Up Championship

Darius Samual got here into the 2024 World Series of Poker with simply eight recorded match cashes to his title, and no prior final-table finishes. The British businessman took a threat early within the sequence, placing up round half of his poker bankroll to enter the $25,000 buy-in heads-up no-limit maintain’em championship.

The gamble paid off massive, as Samual went on to prime the sphere if 64 entries to earn $500,000 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

“I basically put 50 percent of my bankroll on one tournament. I really wanted to go for it and this payout is like 95 percent of my poker money now. I took a shot! I think I was the only one who didn’t care about the bracelet, I only cared about the money,” Samual advised WSOP reporters after the occasion had completed.

After this victory, Samual now has $585,000 in complete match earnings. He additionally secured 504 Card Player Player of the Year factors and 300 PokerGO Tour factors for the win.

Samual got here out on prime in six consecutive one-on-one matches to safe the bracelet, going through James Chen, Ian Matakis, Matthew Wantman, John Smith, Artur Martirosian, and Faraz Jaka.

In his penultimate match, Samual squared off once more Martirosian, the 2021 European Poker Tour Sochi champion and two-time bracelet winner and have become the primary participant to e book a spot within the finals. The match concluded when Samual three-bet shoved excessive of Martirosian’s button min-raise for almost 34 massive blinds efficient with AOk. Martirosian known as with A10. The board got here down 6Ok63J and Samual’s kings and sixes earned him the knockout. Martirosian earned $180,000 for making it to the ultimate 4. He now has greater than $16.8 million in recorded match earnings to his title. He additionally collected 294 POY factors, bringing his complete on the yr to 1,747. He now sits in 78th place within the 2024 standings offered by Global Poker.

Moments after Samual booked his spot within the finals, Jaka completed off the opposite semifinal match. He had roughly a 5:1 lead when the ultimate hand was dealt. Jaka known as a button shove from Nikolai Mamut for simply over 16 massive blinds with AJ and located himself forward of OkQ. Neither participant improved on a ten-high runout and Jaka’s ace was sufficient to finish the match. Mamut grew his profession earnings to $685,000 with this deep run.

Samual jumped out to an early lead within the ultimate match because of successful an enormous pot with a turned flush in opposition to Jaka’s prime pair of kings. The two went on to battle for almost three hours, with Samual forward by means of most of the conflict. Samual had prolonged his result in roughly a 3:1 benefit earlier than Jaka gained a traditional preflop race with A-Ok going through pocket queens. Jaka flopped aces up and held to double again to just about even.

Samual was in a position to pull again out in entrance in time for the ultimate hand of the match. Jaka min-raised to 240,000 from the button with A6. Samual, who sat with 5,970,000, three-bet shoved holding OkQ. Jaka known as all-in for 3,630,000 complete after lots of thought. The flop got here down AOkQ to present Jaka prime pair, however Samual made kings and queens to take the lead. The 7 on the flip left Jaka in want of assist with just one card to come back. The 3 modified nothing and Jaka was eradicated in second place, incomes $300,000 for his robust displaying. The 2023 WSOP $1,500 shootout winner now has almost $7.8 million in profession earnings, with over $2.3 million of that coming from his 75 cashes in bracelet occasions.

Here is a have a look at the payouts and rankings factors awarded on this occasion:

Visit the Card Player 2024 World Series of Poker web page for schedules, information, interviews, and the most recent occasion outcomes. WSOP protection sponsored by Global Poker.

Photo credit: WSOP / Hayley Hochstetler.