Event #34: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout

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

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.

Antonio Galiana and Johan Guilbert got involved in a battle of rag cards.

Galiana held   , while Guilbert had   . With no preflop raising, off to the flop they went.

The dealer fanned    , which both players checked. The   on the turn also produced checks.

The   showed up on the river, and taking down the pot would boil down to who wanted it more.

Guilbert showed he desired the pot by firing an 800,000 bet with air to take it down.

Antonio Galiana	26,300,000	-5,200,000
Johan Guilbert	18,100,000	5,200,000

Johan Guilbert is channeling his inner cat, he may have nine lives in Event #34, as he is winning his all ins when they matter most. Action picked up when Antonio Galiana limped in from the button. Guilbert then raised to 2,100,000 before Galiana bet enough to put Guilbert all in. Guilbert made the call and was ahead.

Johan Guilbert:   
Antonio Galiana:   

The dealer ran out clean board for Guilbert containing       securing the double up for Guilbert and keeping his chances at a bracelet alive.

Antonio Galiana	24,700,000	-4,950,000
Johan Guilbert	19,700,000	4,950,000

Action has drastically slowed down in Level 36, as multiple hands haven't gone past the turn, and three-bet preflop hands are absent.

But a handful of hands have gone to the river, such as this one.

Antonio Galiana raised 2,000,000 with   , and Johan Guilbert called with   .

The dealer fanned    , giving Guilbert middle pair. Galiana didn't have anything, but that didn't prevent him from putting chips in the middle with a 1,500,00 bet, which Guilbert called.

Things slowed down on the turn when   appeared, which gave Galiana an open-ended straight draw. Both players checked.

The   on the turn completed Galiana's straight for the winning hand, but he checked. If Galiana had hoped to trap his opponent with a check-raise, it wouldn't have happened because Guilbert had checked behind.

Antonio Galiana	26,950,000	2,900,000
Johan Guilbert	17,450,000	-2,900,000

The two remaining players in Event #34 are on a 15-minute break

As in many hands before, action started with a limp from Johan Guilbert on the button. He was holding   . Antonio Galiana looked down at   . He decided to put Guilbert all-in for his stack of 7,300,000 chips. Guilbert snap-called.

The flop was good for Guilbet, as he hit top pair on    . The turn   brought the gutshot for some additional outs for Galiana. However, the river   confirmed this was Guilbert's pot, as he made trips to double up.

Antonio Galiana	29,300,000	-5,200,000
Johan Guilbert	15,100,000	5,200,000

Johan Guilbert and Antonio Galiana were involved in a hand that started off innocently enough.

Guilbert, who had   , and Galiana, who had   , checked down on a flop of    . They repeated the action after   appeared on the turn.

But buckle in, folks, because the   brought a flush on the board and plenty of fireworks in what would've been a chopped pot if both players tabled their hands without betting.

The two players clearly had other ideas, though.

Galiana led out with a 900,000 bet, which Guilbert pondered. After a brief moment, Guilbert came over the top with a 1,950,000 raise.

Galiana went into the tank, studying the board and his opponent as time passed. He then reached into his chip stack and announced a re-raise to 6,300,000.

That clearly wasn't enough to end the action because it was Guilbert's time to shine. Guilbert went back in the tank and grabbed a full barrel of 500,000 chips before moving forward for a re-raise of 10,000,000.

End of hand?

Hardly.

Galiana, leaning forward in his seat and shuffling chips in his right hand, then announced an all-in bet, which drew an immediate fold from Guilbert.

Galiana slammed his cards face up, triumphantly showing the    on the table.

To the victor belongs the spoils.

And in this battle of wills, Galiana stood tall.

Antonio Galiana	32,550,000	10,450,000
Johan Guilbert	11,850,000	-10,450,000