Top 10 defining poker moments of 2024
As we enter the first week of January, we take a look back at the year behind us and remember the top moments that marked the poker world in 2024.
10. Garret Adelstein returns to poker streams
Late 2022 saw one of the biggest poker scandals arise, as renowned poker pro Garrett Adelstein accused Robbi Jade Lew of cheating on a Hustler Casino Live stream in the infamous J4 hand.
The drama that ensued caused Adelstein to stop playing poker regularly and focus on other aspects of his life, much to the disappointment of his numerous fans.
Adelstein made a couple of appearances in late 2023 but has been mostly MIA in the months that followed, once again leaving his fans to wonder if they will ever see their favorite player play poker again.
To their great surprise, Gman once again decided he could not miss all the poker action in December, as he showed up on a Bally Live Poker show and reminded everyone why he was a legend in the poker streaming world.
His aggressive playing style, intimidating table presence, and friendly banter between hands made the stream a joy to watch as Adelstein built his way up to a $180k win after barely playing any poker in the last year.
Garrett announced after the stream that he would be revealing more about a couple of projects he had been working on in the meantime, which was exciting news for all the fans of the former Survivor contestant.
9. Nick Vertucci leaves Hustler Casino Live
Hustler Casino Live has been the biggest poker stream for some time, and in 2024, it only grew even bigger and more influential in the poker space.
Amidst a flurry of amazing live streams, HCL hosted the 2024 edition of the Million Dollar Game, which saw Tom Dwan, Poker at the Lodge stream owner Doug Polk, and Alan Keating take seats and battle it out with Texas Mike, Santhosh Suvarna, Brandon Steven, Stanley Tang, and several other players who don’t consider poker their profession.
Asian businessman Peter took home the biggest slice of the cake over the four days of nosebleed action, and it seemed like things could only get better for the show.
However, HCL drew some bad press in the latter part of the year, as one of the co-owners, Nick Vertucci, was accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by one of the show’s regulars.
Julia McBride, known on social media platforms as Julia from Palmdale, shared a disturbing series of messages she received from Vertucci.
The pressure from the poker community quickly led to Vertucci leaving the show and HCL moving on with Ryan Feldman alone at the helm.
Despite the bad press and all the drama, the show has been doing well since then. It even expanded to a new location in Cyprus and ran some amazing shows in the last weeks of 2024.
At the end of the day, the internal restructuring might have been exactly what the doctor ordered, as Ryan Feldman is now free to run the show on his terms alone moving into 2025.
8. Kristen Foxen inducted to the WiPHOF
Like in many other areas of life, women have had to continually prove they belong in poker and can compete with the men. As a result, a few have risen above the noise and demonstrated that they can play with anyone in the world.
As the most successful female in poker, Kristen Foxen was honored in 2024 by being inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHOF), an elite list of female poker players who have made significant contributions to the game's growth.
Kristen’s induction came on the heels of her deep run in the WSOP Main Event and her victory in an online WSOP event, which made her a five-time WSOP bracelet winner.
While the induction to the WiPHOF was a great honor, Foxen’s recent form is so impressive that a place in the Poker Hall of Fame is certainly not outside of the realm of possibility at some point down the line.
Both Kristen and her husband Alex have had a memorable year in 2024, and their achievements will go down as some of the top poker moments of 2024.
7. Phil Ivey adds WSOP bracelet No. 11
For many years, Phil Ivey was considered the undisputed GOAT of poker, but that title has been brought into question more recently, as many young studs came up, and Ivey seemingly lost interest in competing in tournaments.
While his cash game prowess is beyond question, the private nature of the games he plays means his fans can’t stay on top of his results or see him in action.
Ivey decided to make his presence more public recently, playing in more Triton Poker and WSOP events than he has in a long time and performing as admirably as ever.
His 2024 started with an impressive performance at the Triton Poker Series festival in Jeju but really peaked during the summer when he took down his 11th WSOP bracelet in the $10,000 2-7 Triple Draw Championship event.
Phil once again showed why he is a true poker GOAT by winning a bracelet in a non-Hold’em event, as he has done time and time again across his career.
With this win, he also came a step closer to overtaking Phil Hellmuth as the most decorated WSOP player of all time, although he still has ways to go if he is to actually catch the Poker Brat.
Only time will tell who of the poker elite will end up with the most WSOP bracelets by the time they end their careers, but it is more than clear that Phil Ivey will remain one of the most legendary poker players ever to play the game.
PHIL IVEY WINS HIS 11TH WSOP GOLD BRACELET??
— WSOP - World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 14, 2024
History has been written as Phil Ivey takes the #2 spot on the all-time WSOP bracelet list after winning Event 29: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship!
Read the recap here:https://t.co/TjcD0j48nO pic.twitter.com/abiIS8TqS9
6. Alejandro Lococo dominates the Triton Million
When celebrities from other walks of life play poker, the focus is usually on their participation rather than results, but that’s not the case with Alejandro Lococo.
The Argentinian battle rapper came to prominence in 2021 when he made the final table of the WSOP Main Event and finished 7th. At the time, most of the poker community believed this result to be a fluke and a one-off rather than an actual show of Lococo’s poker skills.
Yet, Alejandro continued to show up over the following years, winning a massive Eureka Poker Tour event in 2022 and several smaller tournaments in 2022 and 2023 despite not being a full-time professional poker player.
In 2024, everything came together for Lococo at the Triton Million, a tournament organized by the WSOP and the Triton Poker Series.
As reported by pokerati.com, the $500k buy-in event saw each VIP player invite one pro to create a balanced and fun field that would not be dominated by professionals.
In the end, Lococo was able to cut his way through the pros and recs alike and win an impressive $12 million first-place prize, along with his first WSOP bracelet.
Lococo’s win was easily one of the biggest poker moments of 2024. A massive number of fans supported him every step of the way on his journey to lifting one of the most prestigious trophies of the year.
5. Santhosh Suvarna wins the biggest HSP pot ever
High Stakes Poker has long been the most popular poker show, and we have seen many huge pots played through its 12 seasons.
In 2024, the record for the biggest HSP pot was shattered as Indian businessman Santhosh Suvarna defeated High Stakes Poker legend Andrew Robl in one of the biggest recorded bad beats.
Suvarna’s AcKh came up against Robl’s 5c4c in a 3-bet pot, and the two saw a board of 4s4d2s. Robl seemed destined to win a big one but instead lost the biggest pot recorded on HSP.
Multiple bets went in, and the two running kings on the turn and river gave Suvarna a superior full house, allowing him to win a $992,000 pot.
Robl was left shell-shocked when Santhosh put in the last of his chips, and the hand went down as the most memorable poker hand of 2024.
4. Daniel Negreanu takes down the Poker Players Championship
Believe it or not, it had been over a decade since Daniel Negreanu had won a WSOP bracelet when the 2024 Series rolled around.
Widely considered to be one of the top tournament players of all time, Negreanu simply couldn’t seal the deal in a WSOP event for a long time despite making countless deep runs and final table.
Dnegs's career came together in 2024 when he won arguably the toughest tournament in the world: the WSOP Poker Players Championship.
The $50k mixed-game event brings together dozens of the best poker players in the world. They compete across different poker disciplines in a super-deep structure that rewards patience and skill over luck.
This time around, it was Negreanu’s time to shine, as he battled the likes of Phil Ivey and David Benyamine on the final table and eventually walked away with his 7th WSOP bracelet and one of the most coveted prizes in all of poker.
The win was not enough to save Daniel’s summer, as he failed to cash some of the super high roller events at the Series, but the result demonstrated he can still compete with anyone in the world in any form of poker.
He continued his year with a series of amazing results across PGT and WSOP events, but his victory in the Poker Players Championship was one of the defining poker moments of 2024.
3. WSOP Main Event shatters attendance record
The WSOP Main Event is known as poker’s biggest extravaganza and has been one of the most well-attended poker tournaments for decades.
The 2024 edition of the Main Event will go down in history as breaking the attendance record for the second year running. It attracted 10,112 players, beating the record set in 2023 by just a few dozen.
The slight increase in numbers was a welcome sight for WSOP as an organization but also for the entire poker world, as it once again demonstrated just how popular live poker is.
The 2024 Main Event also caused controversy, as champion Jonathan Tamayo received assistance that could be considered unfair.
Jonathan’s railbirds were seen running poker simulations on a laptop and conveying information to him between hands. Poker media dubbed the scandal “laptop gate.”
Regardless of the alleged RTA use, more than 10,000 players were willing to pay the $10k entry fee, and the WSOP Main Event reminded us of the days of the Poker Boom when thousands of poker fans were chasing the dream of becoming the next poker superstar.
That dream remained alive in 2024 and will likely continue for many years to come as countless new players enter the game through poker streams, vlogs, and various other efforts to grow it to new heights. Mark your poker calendars for 2025 and visit the WSOP yourself to see the explosive growth firsthand.
2. WPT hosts the biggest freeroll tournament in history
Freeroll poker tournaments are always a welcome sight, but the one thing they typically share is a small prize pool and a lot of players.
WPT decided to change all that by throwing a $5,000,000 poker freeroll in Las Vegas with a maximum of 2,000 players in the field.
The freeroll was organized as part of the promotion for the new sweepstakes poker platform ClubWPT Gold, which has since launched and will go fully live in early 2025.
The Tour gave away 2,000 “Golden Passports” via various raffles and competitions, all giving players free entry into the massive event.
Over 500 players walked away from the freeroll with prizes, and more than 100 were entered into the WPT World Championship event, while Texan Chase Bricker walked away with a million-dollar prize from a tournament he entered for free.
The freeroll was a glimpse of great things to come at ClubWPT Gold in 2025 and easily one of the defining poker moments of 2024.
1. WSOP gets acquired by GGPoker
In one of the biggest transactions in poker history, online poker giant GGPoker, or rather its biggest investor, NSUS Group Inc., purchased the WSOP brand from scratch.
Caesars Entertainment, the company that made the $500 million acquisition, publicized it and made it a worldwide phenomenon.
While GGPoker was already heavily involved with the WSOP in previous years, the merger will mean the removal of any existing limitations between the two.
NSUS Group made a contractual obligation to keep the main WSOP tour in Las Vegas for 20 years but already announced the brand would be going worldwide in the near future, which means we can expect further WSOP festivals in new locations very soon.
Beyond that, the increased connection between GGPoker and WSOP likely means even more qualifying options for GGPoker players, which should lead to even bigger playing fields in the biggest WSOP events.
The acquisition was easily one of the defining moments for poker in 2024 and recent history, as it combined two of poker’s biggest brands into a new and powerful entity that can dominate the industry from every angle.
NEWS:
— GGPoker (@GGPoker) October 30, 2024
GGPoker ?? @WSOP https://t.co/B04qXnvBmF