The Bulgarian rail was out in force on Wednesday night to witness Simeon Spasov win his second WSOP gold bracelet in Event #12: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed at the 2024 World Series of Poker.
Spasov defeated John Henry Gordon in heads-up play to win $439,815 in the tournament that drew a record-breaking 2,526 players for a prize pool of $3,372,210.
In addition to this victory awarding Spasov his second bracelet, it was also his second-largest score behind his 2022 win in the WSOP $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em Event for $527,944. Most people in the poker community would argue that winning a 6-max event is much harder and more prestigious, a claim backed up by the sheer talent that filtered through this tournament, but the Bulgarian had a differing opinion.
“Yeah, sure, maybe on Day 2 was tough… but the final table, no, last bracelet, was a much harder final table.”
It is true that Day 3 was not as star-studded as it could have been, as most of the notables met their demise yesterday, but there was still a lot of talent left in the field, and one can never truly say winning a bracelet is easy.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simeon Spasov | Bulgaria | $439,815 |
| 2 | John Henry Gordon | United States | $293,218 |
| 3 | Chih Fan | Taiwan | $210,645 |
| 4 | Steve Yea | South Korea | $152,995 |
| 5 | Mark Dube | United States | $112,362 |
| 6 | Daniel Palau | Spain | $83,452 |
| 7 | Joseph Brum Pacheco | Brazil | $62,687 |
Early Action
Day 3 kicked off with 17 players and the action was hot-n-heavy in the opening level of the day as Eric Deng and Jeffrey Vertes were both eliminated in 17th and 16th for $28,480. Patrick Truong, Daniel Buzgon, Matt Dodd, and Tommy Nguyen were sent out soon after for the same payout.
Within the next few levels, it was Jeremy Joseph, Corey Wick, and Francisco Vasquez who hit the rail and it was Anthony Marquez who burst the final table bubble after getting involved in a massive hand with Gordon who held aces against his ace-king in a 20,000,000 chip pot.
The players were then sent on a quick 25-minute dinner break and returned to the Feature Table to be streamed on PokerGO.
After that huge hand against Marquez, Gordon came into the final table as the overwhelming chip leader and continued his reign as he scored the first knockout on the final table when he felted Joseph Brum Pacheco with the nut straight holding queen-jack against Pacheco’s pocket sevens.
After that, it was Spasov who took the reins and began his rise into second place, getting a big boost when he knocked out Daniel Palau in sixth place when his ace-queen bested Palau’s pocket nines.
Gordon then decided that was enough action from Spasov and proceeded to knock out Mark Dube in fifth ($112,362), Chih Fan in fourth ($152,995), and Steve Yea in third ($210,645) to bring him into heads-up play with around 3:2 chip lead against Spasov.
This did not sit well with Spasov, as he almost immediately took a 2:1 lead in a hand in which he raised Gordon (who was bluffing) on the river in a big pot, forcing a fold.
Even then, it wasn't a done deal as Gordon clawed his way back to almost even stacks and then retook the lead for a short while. Then fate had other plans, as Spasov won some key pots and eventually got it all in with a flush versus the two-pair of Gordon. The board failed to give Gordon a full house and he was sent out as the 6-max runner-up while Spasov’s Bulgarian rail erupted. He was then adorned with the WSOP gold bracelet and a handsome sum of $439,815.
That’s the end of the WSOP Event #12: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed coverage, but be sure to keep a tab open on PokerNews for all WSOP updates and results!
