The $10,000 buy-in Big O championship debuted at the 2024 World Series of Poker, attracting 332 entries in its inaugural event. After three days of intense five-card pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better action, John Fauver emerged victorious as the first-ever champion. The West Virginian took home $681,998 and his first gold bracelet.
Before this victory, Fauver’s best performance was a seventh-place finish in a $15,000 buy-in event at this year’s PokerGO Tour PLO Series, earning him $49,800. With his latest win at the WSOP, Fauver’s total tournament earnings now exceed $881,000. John Fauver also earned 682 PokerGO Tour points, moving him up to seventh place on the PGT season-long leaderboard.
The event’s third and final day started with 19 players, each guaranteed at least $25,430. Notable players who cashed included four-time bracelet winner Mike Matusow (31st), two-time bracelet winners Yuval Bronshtein (30th) and Justin Saliba (28th), Matt Glantz (24th), five-time bracelet winner Adam Friedman (18th), three-time bracelet winners Ryan Hughes (17th) and Anson Tsang (14th), bracelet winner David Benyamine (9th), Danny Wong (8th), Michael Rocco (7th), and two-time bracelet winner Dylan Weisman (5th).
Farid Jattin, who finished second in the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha event earlier this summer, secured fourth place for $217,783 in this tournament. This result, his fifth final-table finish of 2024, also earned him 600 POY points, boosting him to 16th place in the rankings.
Four-time bracelet winner Calvin Anderson eliminated Nitesh Rawtani (3rd – $311,747) to enter heads-up play with 8,425,000 chips against Fauver’s 11,500,000. Fauver extended his lead before the final hand.
In the decisive hand, Fauver limped from the button with K♥ K♦ Q♠ J♥ 4♣, and Anderson raised to 600,000 with A♥ A♦ A♣ 10♥ 6♦ from the big blind. Fauver called, and the flop came K♠ 9♦ 7♥. Anderson bet the pot, and Fauver moved all-in with his set of kings. Anderson called, improving to a ten-high straight on the 8♥ turn, with additional outs to a flush and a low. However, the river brought the 8♦, giving John Fauver kings full of eights and the win.
Anderson, the runner-up, earned $454,668, bringing his lifetime tournament earnings to over $6.7 million.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Fauver | United States | $681,998 |
| 2 | Calvin Anderson | United States | $454,668 |
| 3 | Nitesh Rawtani | United States | $311,737 |
| 4 | Farid Jattin | Columbia | $217,783 |
| 5 | Dylan Weisman | United States | $155,065 |
