Esa Homayun Wins Mega Millions XXIV At The Bike

The Parkwest Bicycle Casino, located near Los Angeles, California, recently wrapped up its extensive Winnin’ O’ The Green festival, which included the World Series of Poker Circuit stop, with a $1.5 million guaranteed Mega Millions XXIV event. The tournament, which lasted for 13 days and featured over 30 starting flights and day 2 direct entry, was a highlight of the Mega Millions event series at the venue.

With a total of 4,817 entries, the Mega Millions event had a prize pool reaching $2,147,490. Of these entries, 2,560 were made at the $275 buy-in price point, and 2,078 were made at the $560 level, demonstrating the popularity of the Mega Millions event at the casino. An additional 179 entries were made for $3,350 on day 2, with players who qualified for day 2 multiple times during the starting flights paid nearly half a million dollars.

On the final day of the Mega Millions event, seven players remained, with West Hills, CA resident Esa Homayun holding the chip lead. Jason Wasser was the clear short stack, having survived the many starting flights of the Mega Millions event. Wasser outlasted Sean Wingruber, Manas Gandhi, and Michael Tabriz to make it to the final four, at which point the remaining players agreed to a deal that redistributed the remaining prize money based on their stacks.

Despite the deal, there was still nearly $80,000 in prize money that the final four played for in the Mega Millions event, in addition to the title. Homayun eliminated Steven Kim and Millard to take a significant chip lead into heads-up play with Wasser, who had also battled his way through the Mega Millions event. In the final hand, all the chips got in preflop, with Wasser holding KClub Suit4Club Suit to Homayun’s QDiamond Suit. Homayun made a king-high straight on the turn, leaving Wasser drawing dead. Wasser earned $174,360 as the runner-up finisher in the Mega Millions event.

Here is a look at the final table results: