Two near misses dominated the early part of the week at the 56^th annual World Series of Poker for PokerStake players as both Chino Rheem and Matt Glantz fell just short of WSOP glory in Las Vegas. In the $500-entry Colossus, Glantz was unable to win gold but finished third for a massive return of $273,260, while in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship, Chino Rheem came second to Nick Guagenti after a 3:1 chip lead disappeared, yielding a runner-up result worth $196,662.

Colossus Won by Courtenay Williams as Glantz Gets Bronze

The $500-entry Event #19 was The Colossus, one of the WSOP’s best events of the summer. Populated by an unbelievable 16,301 entries, the prize pool of $6.66 million would see one lucky winner take home a top prize worth $542,540. At the final table, it was Ramaswamy Pyloore who came into the latter stages with the chip lead but professionals Ryan Leng and Matt Glantz both provided threats from lower in the ranks.

Leng came into the final as short stack but saw two depart before he shoved with and was called by Kaiwan Wei with . A board of came to propel Leng from the competition, sending him home with $94,760. Glantz ran a lot deeper, eventually departing in third place for $273,260. All-in with , Glantz fell to Courtenay Williams’ after a cruel Th] runout rivered Glantz’ hopes on 5^th street.

Heads-up, Williams held an important lead with 550 million chips to Pyloore’s 266 million. Pyloore retook the lead after getting quads, but when he was all-in with on a board showing , he was a long way behind Williams’ . A on the river confirmed that Williams had 99% of the chips on the table, and in the next hand, his held against Pyloore’s to end the event in Williams favor.

“I’m usually off for a few months a year. I’ll come here for a week, but I barely fire in the WSOP,” said Williams after winning his first-ever WSOP bracelet. “I usually fire the smaller stuff around the city. I wasn’t even going to play this on Saturday, because I had already busted twice. A couple of my buddies talked me into playing, and here we are. It’s a great start to the summer and to the year.”

WSOP Event #19 $500 Colossus NLHE Final Table Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Courtenay Williams	United States	$542,540
2nd	Ramaswamy Pyloore	United States	$361,690
3rd	Matt Glantz	United States	$273,260
4th	Kaiwen Wei	United States	$207,740
5th	Jason Blodgett	United States	$158,910
6th	Antonio Trocoli Filho	Brazil	$122,330
7th	Ryan Leng	United States	$94,760
8th	Sigrid Dencker	Germany	$73,880
9th	Justin Gutierrez	United States	$57,970

Nick Guagenti Gets Chino After Cruel Comeback

PokerStake favorite David ‘Chino’ Rheem went oh so close to winning his first WSOP bracelet in the $10,000-entry Seven Card Stud Championship only to see Nick Guagenti come from behind to seal the win. At a final table full of fan favorites, Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow busted in eighth for $33,190, while Adam Friedman fell two places later for $53,201.

After Mori Eskandan left in fifth place for $70,587, Chino Rheem took control and had a big lead going into the heads-up battle against Nick Guagenti. With more than double Guagenti’s chips at the start of their battle, Rheem quickly improved his lead to hold 80% of the chips in play, but Guagenti found a very late flush on seventh street to stay alive in one particular hand and the momentum began to turn.

It’s also worth mentioning that at one stage, with both payers tired, Guagenti was in favor of pausing play overnight, but Rheem played on and while he briefly retook the lead, Guagenti won several thereafter. Despite Rheem correctly – and brilliantly – folding a flush, Guagenti had a big lead and made kings-up in the last and took home the top prize of $295,008 and more significantly to a visibly stunned Rheem, the bracelet.

After winning the 9^th event of the 2024 WSOP, the $1,500 Limit Hold’em event, for $121,074, Nick Guagenti made it two in two years to bring his total to three WSOP bracelets.

For Chino, it was back to the registration line as his quest to win a WSOP gold bracelet continues.

WSOP Event #25 $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Nick Guagenti	United States	$295,008
2nd	Chino Rheem	United States	$196,662
3rd	Qiang Xu	China	$135,828
4th	Paul Volpe	United States	$96,502
5th	Mori Eskandani	United States	$70,587
6th	Adam Friedman	United States	$53,201
7th	Dan Heimiller	United States	$41,357
8th	Mike Matusow	United States	$33,190
9th	Dave Rogers	United States	$27,528

With a third week packed full of events, we’ve broken down where you can find some of your PokerStake favorites right here in our Week #3 preview. If you want to stake any PokerStake players in the 56^th annual World Series of Poker, then head straight to our official staking page and pick your pro to back and the event they’re selling to.