Intensive care unit nurse Brek Schutten got here inside one spot of turning into a World Series of Poker bracelet winner in 2022, ending second within the $50,000 buy-in no-limit maintain’em eight max occasion. The 36-year-old healthcare employee and poker participant from Grand Rapids, Michigan waited precisely two years earlier than he discovered himself heads-up for a WSOP title once more. This time round he got here away with the {hardware}, popping out on prime within the 2024 WSOP $25,000 no-limit maintain’em six-max occasion to earn a career-best payday of $1,405,641 and his first bracelet.
“I got second to Jake Schindler and just had those regrets ever since,” Schutten told WSOP reporters after coming out on top. “Certain hands go through your mind all the time and you never know if you’re going to get back to a high roller final table, let alone heads-up, let alone win the thing.”
This was the second seven-figure rating for Schutten, who cashed for $1,261,095 because the champion of the 2021 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $3,500 buy-in principal occasion. He now has greater than $5.3 million in profession earnings to his identify regardless of not being a full-time poker skilled.
Schutten overcame a subject of 272 entries on his strategy to the title. The 1,512 Card Player Player of the Year factors that got here with the win had been sufficient to catapult him into a hundred and twentieth place within the 2024 POY standings introduced by Global Poker. He additionally secured 700 PokerGO Tour factors, sufficient to surge into seventh place in that high-stakes-centric factors race.
The prime 41 finishers made the cash on this occasion to earn a share of the $6,392,000 prize pool. Big names that ran deep included Chris Brewer (twenty seventh), Ben Tollerene (twenty sixth) Erik Seidel (twenty fourth), Andrew Lichtenberger (twenty third), Alex Foxen (nineteenth), Pieter Aerts (fifteenth), Santhosh Suvarna (14th), Justin Saliba (thirteenth), Stoyan Madanzhiev (tenth), and Ognyan Dimov (seventh).
Schutten took out Dimov to enter the official remaining desk among the many bigger stacks. Bracelet winner Masashi Oya ($229,002) was the primary to fall, along with his Ok-J suited shedding a race to the pocket nines of WPT champion Taylor von Kriegenbergh.
Brandon Wilson bowed out in fifth place ($315,771) after his Ok-Q bumped into the pocket kings of Schutten. He was quickly joined on the rail by von Kriegenbergh, who acquired all-in with Q-10 suited trailing the A-Q suited of Michael Rocco. Neither participant related with the board and von Kriegenbergh settled for $444,766 because the fourth-place finisher.
Tyler Stafman doubled by Rocco throughout three-handed play to maneuver into second place behind Schutten. The identical two gamers clashed within the subsequent key showdown, with Rocco jamming for practically 17 huge blinds out of the small blind with 7
4. Stafman known as from the large blind with A
7
and held by a Q86210 runout. Rocco earned $639,620 because the third-place finisher, rising his profession earnings to almost $5.6 million.
Heads-up play started with Schutten holding roughly a 5:3 chip lead over Stafman. The tables had been turned after Stafman received a preflop all-in confrontation with pocket jacks towards A-10. Schutten was capable of shut the hole, although, after which received an enormous pot with a flopped flush towards Stafman, who was drawing lifeless when the cash went in on the flip regardless of having prime pair with flush and straight attracts.
Stafman managed a pair of double-ups after shedding that key hand, however was quickly allp-in once more with A9
trailing the AQ of Schutten. The board ran out J6532 and Schutten’s superior facet card earned him the pot and the title. Stafman was awarded $938,775 because the runner-up, by far the biggest reside event rating of his profession. Prior to this deep run, his greatest money was the $67,700 he earned because the 158th-place finisher within the 2023 WSOP principal occasion.
Here is a have a look at the payouts and rankings factors awarded on the remaining desk:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Brek Schutten | $1,405,641 | 1512 | 700 |
| 2 | Tyler Stafman | $938,775 | 1260 | 563 |
| 3 | Michael Rocco | $639,620 | 1008 | 384 |
| 4 | Taylor von Kriegenbergh | $444,766 | 756 | 267 |
| 5 | Brandon Wilson | $315,771 | 630 | 189 |
| 6 | Masashi Oya | $229,002 | 504 | 137 |
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 score: PokerGO / Miguel Cortes.
