Sascha Wilhelm Scores Biggest Career Win in $1k Mystery Bounty PLO

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Jul 13, 2024 3 min read

When the final ten players bagged up last night at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas for an unscheduled extra day in Event #86: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha, Sascha Wilhelm went to sleep on the chip lead in the biggest spot of his poker career.

The extra Day 3 would bring added pressure, as Wilhelm searched for a breakthrough at the 2024 World Series of Poker. Wilhelm sat slightly ahead of multiple bracelet winner Bryce Yockey, while eight others set their sights on chasing down the German chip leader.

It was a slow start to the day for the eventual champion, who watched others build up their stacks and challenge for the win. “How did it go?” Wilhelm commented to PokerNews shortly after his victory, “Pretty slow.”

“I didn't catch many hands, one big pot,” Wilhelm continued. “From then, I had to chip up like all the time and got lucky in the end.”

The end was a heads-up battle against James Cavanaugh, who battled hard all day long before seeing the final river card seal his fate.

$1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Results

Massive Inaugural Event Field

Originally scheduled to be completed a day earlier, a total of 4,280 entrants took part in inaugural version of this event creating a massive prize pool of $3,616,800. That number included the mystery bounty component, which saw all of the largest bounty prizes claimed on Day 2.

The largest bounty remaining on Day 3 was $5,000, which was collected right at the start of the day. Despite starting the final day as the short stack with just three big blinds, that prize unexpectedly went to Juan Lapido. The Spaniard not only managed to ladder up from the $20,820 that each of the final ten were guaranteed, but he scored the first knockout of the day when Robert Cowen was eliminated in tenth.

Final Table Action

From there, the remaining nine players formed the final table where the top prize of $282,290 and the WSOP bracelet were on the line. Wilhelm began his climb back to the top when he sent Brandon Caputo to the rail in eighth.

One notable question entering the day was if Yockey could navigate his way to a second gold bracelet of the series. Despite entering the day in second place and doubling up with aces at the final table, Yockey was knocked out in seventh while providing a boost to Cavanaugh’s stack.

Everyone was looking up to Daisuke Ogita, who scored several eliminations at the final table before doubling up Wilhelm. That led to Ogita’s ousting shorly after at the hands of Wilhelm, setting up a lopsided heads-up battle.

Cavanaugh was at a significant disadvantage and could never close the gap, as Wilhelm applied pressure and collected most of the chips in play. The final hand saw Cavanaugh get it in with a straight, only for Wilhelm to connect with the river for a full house and the title.

Wilhelm celebrated with friends on the rail, adding the biggest portion of the prize pool to his bounty haul.

“I had like 13 or 14 bounties, and ended up winning like $18,000 or $19,000 from it. Nothing bigger than $2,000.” No big bounty prizes for the newest WSOP champion, but that total was enough to push his winnings over $300,000 and a first gold bracelet.

That concludes our coverage of Event #86: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha, but stay tuned as PokerNews continues to provide full coverage of the WSOP Main Event and all other bracelet events in the final week of the 2024 World Series of Poker.

• Tags WSOP24 WSOP World Series of Poker Sascha Wilhelm Omaha Bryce Yockey
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