The WSOP in Las Vegas is now past its halfway point, and we are inexorably approaching the Main Event. Before that, however, we have a few new champions to get to know. First, let's take a look at the freshest champion who was crowned just a few minutes ago.

Santhosh Suvarna dominated the most expensive tournament on the WSOP schedule, taking home $5.4 million

Dario Sammartino won his first bracelet
 

The tournament, number 61, was the $2,500 Mixed: Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better; Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-Handed), which brought in 507 entries and a prizepool of $1,128,075. Of that, $222,703 was awaiting the winner.

Dario Sammartino and Jon Kyte were pitted against each other in the final heads-up here. Neither player had a gold bracelet at home yet. Dario is known to the public as the 2019 Main Event runner-up, when he took home $6,000,000. In subsequent years, he's taken a few second and third places, but a championship was nowhere in sight. Jon Kyte, on the other hand, was remembered in December 2023 during EPT Prague, when he entered the Main Event final table as the biggest chipleader in EPT history and still finished second for €643,000.

However, Dario managed to beat the Norwegian player to become a fresh WSOP champion. He also bagged himself a coveted gold bracelet to go with his $222,703 prize. Jon Kyte had to settle for $148,462 for second place.

Current Player of the Year rankings

A week ago, we brought you information on the new WSOP Player of the Year standings, with Scott Seiver leading the way. Things have changed since then, and currently Chris Hunichen (2,751) is in first place, just a few points ahead of Seiver (2,736). But in just a few days everything could be different!

Phil Ivey also had a chance to top the leaderboard until today. He had 2,152 points, good for sixth place, but if he won the Poker Players Championship, it would shoot him to the top of the leaderboard. That wasn't going to happen, however, as Ivey busted out at the final table in seventh place, taking home $158,719.

TOP 10 Player of the year (current as of 6/26):

Daniel Negreanu can win seventh bracelet

Jeremy Ausmus could have jumped to the top spot in POY after winning the PPC, but he didn't make the final either, finishing in 6th place ($200,896). Thus, the last 5 players will meet in the final battle for the valuable Poker Players Championship bracelet during the night, considered by many to be the toughest poker tournament in the world. The buy-in for the tournament was $50,000, the number of entries has reached 89 and the prizepool is now worth $4,249,750.

Leading the final lineup is Chris Brewer with a stack of 10,465,000. Right behind him in second place is Daniel Negreanu, who can thus break the drought and win his seventh bracelet in 11 years. All of them already have at least $265,054 in the bag and $1,178,703 awaits the winner.

The Olympic champion came for his bracelet

Does the name Audley Harrison mean anything to you? Audley is the 2000 Olympic boxing champion who later became captivated by poker. He moved from the UK to the US and recently said he will be the new owner of a WSOP bracelet this year. He has played a few tournaments in Las Vegas, but never once has he finished in an interesting position. To make matters worse, he has also confidently declared that he wants to win the triple crown, that is, the WSOP title, the WPT title and the EPT title. Modesty is certainly not lacking, but then again, how many bracelet winners can also boast a gold medal from the Olympics? We'll certainly be cheering him on along the way!

Matt Savage wants to introduce new rules

For any poker fan, the name Matt Savage should be very familiar. He is one of the founders of the Poker Tournament Directors Association and has been such a respected figure in the rules field for over 20 years. In addition to that, he is also the Executive Director of the WPT.

With the TDA Summit coming up this weekend, poker.org reached out to him for a few questions. First and foremost was the topic of using RTAs at the tables, which Matt was unequivocal about. This topic definitely needs to be addressed and any use of such devices banned. If a player is caught using such a tool, they will be penalized or disqualified.

Matt also commented on the topic of a complete ban on the use of mobile phones at the table. He himself was reportedly surprised when in a Twitter poll the majority of people wanted a ban on phones. Matt stated that they will definitely address this topic and try to implement some sort of rule, but it will certainly not be easy to ban people from having their phones at the table in 2024. He also stated that he doesn't think a rule to completely ban phones will ever be implemented.

Matt added that with new technology and artificial intelligence, they will definitely have to address banning technology in glasses, for example. Savage also wants to propose at the next summit a ban on hoods, drapes and goggles covering the face. Similar to what some casinos already have, he'd like to see a "2 out of 3" rule, meaning that you'll only be able to use a maximum of two of those three things at any one time.

Source - pokernews, wsop, poker.org