Antonio Galiana’s Big Bluff Propels Him to First WSOP Bracelet in Event #34: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em
Joined by his friends and family on the rail, Antonio Galiana dominated Day 3 of Event #34: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em to claim his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet. He started the day as the chip leader before losing three flips that put a major dent in his stack, but Galiana kept his composure and found his spots. Then he made some calculated moves to reacquire those chips and entered the final table with the chip lead. From there he was able to apply ICM pressure to his opponents, who would be looking to avoid confrontations.
“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.”
The event saw 1,267 entries, which surpassed last year’s total of 1,139 participants and generated a prize pool worth $2,819,075. Galiana takes home $439,395 for the win, defeating France's Johan Guilbert in a heads-up battle that will be remembered for one significant hand.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | 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 |
Day 3 Action
Day 3 kicked off with 13 players at two tables and Galiana as the chip leader, followed by Patrick Leonard in second place. The tables played for roughly three hours before bracelet winner Brett Apter was eliminated in tenth place after running his suited king-queen into Galianna’s pocket aces.
The field boasted many WSOP Main Event champions including Ryan Riess, Espen Jorstad, Joe McKeehen, Qui Nguyen, Joe Cada, and Koray Aldemir. Plenty of decorated players made deep runs but fell short of the ultimate prize.
The final table had an international feel to it, as France, Spain, Finland, England, and Ireland were all represented. The final table also consisted of five bracelet winners in Eoghan O'Dea (ninth place, $36,908), Leonard (seventh place, $62,334), Romain Lewis (sixth place $82,702), Juha Helppi (fourth place, $151,592), and Jeremy Ausmus (third place, $209,358).
Heads-up play was between Galiana and Guilbert, both looking for a first career bracelet and battling back and forth for several hours. Galiana told PokerNews that he felt he had an edge against his opponent and wanted to keep pots small and variance low. His plan was working, except that Guilbert was winning all the all-in confrontations.
Bluff of the Year?
A spellbinding hand occurred during Level 34 when Galiana pulled off a historic bluff that quickly grabbed the attention of the poker world. Galianna shared his thought process about the hand with PokerNews.
"Preflop was pretty standard," said Galiana, "I usually give up when the flop is all clubs, but I also do have clubs when I check the flop and turn."
"I bet the river because I felt Johan was pretty capped and I expected a lot of folds," Galiana continued. "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."
The historic bluff gave Galiana the necessary chips to survive Guilbert's seemingly endless string of all-in wins. Galiana kept his poise and found his spots which ultimately led to a dominant Day 3 performance.
That concludes our coverage of Event #34: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em, but stick with PokerNews for continuing action from the rest of the 2024 World Series of Poker.