Antonio Galiana has won his first WSOP bracelet with a devastating bluff in Event #34: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em.
The Spaniard returned for Day 3 with the biggest chip stack and was put through the mill with some tough decisions before losing three flips in a row.
It looked like the dream might be over but Galiana remained composed and brought home the title with impressive play.
The event saw 1,267 entries register to create a prize pool of $2,819,075, leaving Galiana with the lion’s share of $439,395 for his victory.
Talking to the media after the final hand, Galiana said:
“It’s something you dream of to win a World Series of Poker bracelet, but I have to profess that I need some sleep before I can process what just happened.”
Final Action
The first couple of weeks of the WSOP 2024 has been dominated by American players but this event saw a fightback from the Europeans.
Not only was the final table a mixed bag of nationalities but there were also five bracelet winners still mounting a challenge.
When you’re fighting to win your first WSOP bracelet, the last thing you want to see in your way are names like Patrick Leonard, Jeremy Ausmus, and Juha Helppi.
There were even a stack of previous Main Event winners to fight past before the final table was set.
In the end it was Frenchman Johan “YoH ViraL” Guilbert who remained the final obstacle between Antonio Galiana and his first bracelet and what a battle we saw.
It lasted for several hours with the Spaniard wheeling out a “smallball” strategy in the old school style of Daniel Negreanu, back in the day. Small pots and low variance were the aim.
The problem was that every time the chips went in, Guilbert was favoured by the poker gods.
And then an incredible hand took place which sent the rail into an excited frenzy.
With Galiana sitting with 21M chips and Guilbert with 23M it was still anybody’s tournament to win.
Guilbert limps on the BTN with J♠ 2♦ and Galiana checks his option with 7♠ 5♥
The flop comes down 3♣ 6♣ 10♣ and the pot is 1,200,000.
Galiana checks and Guilbert checks behind.
The turn is 8♣
Both players check again.
The river is 2♣
Galiana now takes the initiative with a bet of 900,000. And after a short think Guilbert responds with a raise up to 1,950,000. Galiana now hits the tanks.
The commentators describe it as a game of chicken — who will jump out of the way first?
Galiana decides it won’t be him and reraises to 6,300,000.
Guilbert now has to think for himself. But he too doesn’t believe his opponent and in full view of the cameras he might be also dealing with his ego, but there’s a problem.
The Frenchman makes it 10,000,000 with only one more raise possible before he has to fold. Well, unless he is prepared to hero call a pair of deuces.
Galiana now sees what is going on and jams the remainder of his stack into the middle leaving the commentators absolutely stunned.
Guilbert knows the game is up and as he pitches his hand into the muck he slaps the table in appreciation at his opponent’s nerve.
One of the best bluffs in @WSOP history!?
🤯🤯🤯
📺: https://t.co/s2pDl56eOX pic.twitter.com/C77fQew46T
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 15, 2024
Galiana later said:
“I bet the river because I felt Johan was pretty capped and I expected a lot of folds. When he raises he is not representing anything, because all of his good clubs are either betting the flop or the turn due to the high stack-to-pot ratio, betting was the only way to get all the money in by the river.”
“When he raised me, it was obvious that he was bluffing. So I decided to raise him again. When he makes the last bet, the size doesn’t make sense to me because he would just go all in with his value hands so I decided to put the pressure back on him and went all in myself.”
After winning this huge pot, Galiana never looked back and finished the job soon after.
A fantastic results after this amazing hand which will be talked about for weeks to come.
Event #34: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Country | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Antonio Galiana | Spain | $439,395 |
| 2 | Johan Guilbert | France | $292,927 |
| 3 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | $202,358 |
| 4 | Juha Helppi | Finland | $151,592 |
| 5 | Romain Lewis | France | $111,222 |
| 6 | Joshua Reichard | United States | $82,702 |
| 7 | Patrick Leonard | England | $62,334 |
| 8 | David Goodman | United States | $47,632 |
| 9 | Eoghan O’Dea | Ireland | $36,908 |
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