Garth Yettick Wins First Bracelet in $1,500 8-Game Mix For $131,061
One of the last mixed game events of the 2024 World Series of Poker saw Event #83: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed attract 494 entrants. That field generated a prize pool of $659,490, as some of the game’s greats battled it out for $131,061 and the WSOP bracelet. The final table of seven players returned today with a combined 14 bracelets, soon to be 15.
After nearly a 20-year gap from his last live tournament cash, Garth Yettick defeated Josh Arieh heads-up to win his first WSOP bracelet. “I definitely feel like I was super lucky. I was very short stacked through the majority of yesterday. Whenever the chips did go in, I just won the races. It feels great, winning the bracelet and winning the money too. I’m just always happy to be playing poker.”
This is only his second recorded cash ever on The Hendon Mob, with one other worth $20,370. Though not playing too many tournaments, Yettick is very familiar with all of the games after playing in cash games for many years. “My favorite game is deuce, I love it in the cash games.”
Coming into the day, Yettick was the third-shortest at the final table and one of only two players without a WSOP bracelet to their name. “I did look into everyone’s Hendon Mob record prior to the day, it was definitely the toughest table of opponents that I had sat down with. I thought that everyone played great at this final table, I just got the better cards.”
During the heads-up match with Arieh, Yettick had to overcome what was a five-to-one deficit and was all in for his tournament life a couple of times. “All you need is a chip and a chair, and thankfully, today, I was never in that situation. I’ve seen a lot of tournaments on tv and I am very familiar with tournament strategies. I got lucky with the cards I was dealt and ended up winning.”
Yettick will be firing the first-ever iteration of the $10,000 8-Game starting on Wednesday.
$1,500 8-Game Mix Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garth Yettick | United States | $131,061 |
| 2 | Josh Arieh | United States | $85,667 |
| 3 | "Miami" John Cernuto | United States | $57,249 |
| 4 | John Racener | United States | $39,135 |
| 5 | Maxx Coleman | United States | $27,379 |
| 6 | Marco Johnson | United States | $19,614 |
| 7 | Xiaochuan Zhang | China | $14,397 |
Final Table Action
It took a very short amount of time for the final table to lose a player as the short stacks of Yettick and Xiaochuan Zhang collided in a hand of PLO, when Zhang’s kings ran into Yettick's pair of queens and a flush draw. The completion of that flush saw Yettick begin his upward climb while Zhang collected $14,397 for his seventh-place finish.
After that, Marco Johnson would be next to fall as he lost a sizeable 2-7 Triple Draw hand to Yettick who made an eight-six in a big three-bet pot. That left Johnson short, and shortly after that, he got in his final chips with an eight-seven, and Yettick held a seven-six to take a near-chip lead while Johnson collected $19,614 for his sixth-place finish.
Maxx Coleman was left short after a few pots did not go his way; one of the bigger ones saw Arieh look him up in No-Limit Hold’em with a pair of fives. He got in his final chips in a PLO hand with ace-high and queens against Yettick’s ace-king high. This all went up in smoke as the board ran out king-high to leave Yettick’s top pair superior, and Coleman exited in fifth place for $27,379.
Not much went the way of the start of day chip leader John Racener, as his clashes with Yettick and “Miami” John Cernuto saw him getting shorter and shorter. His second to last hand saw him double up Cernuto when his ace-six could not hold up against Cernuto’s ten-nine in No-Limit Hold’em. After that, Cernuto moved all in with pocket sevens and Racener moved all in with ace-king. Yettick called with queens to put them both at risk. The board ran out to give Cernuto a straight to triple up while Yettick scooped the side, and Racener collected $39,135 for his fourth-place finish.
Despite that triple-up, the legendary three-time bracelet winner Cernuto found himself getting shorter after a few confrontations didn’t go his way. He eventually got in his final chips with king-four in No-Limit Hold’em against Arieh, who held with pocket nines. A very supportive rail of friends clapped for Cernuto on the way out, chanting “Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame,” before he collected $57,249 for his third-place finish.
Arieh came into heads up with the lead as it quickly grew to a five-to-one lead over Yettick. Eventually, all of the chips got in during the PLO round, where Yettick held the top two against Arieh's open-ended straight draw. No help was brought to Arieh, and Yettick survived the all in to fight on in the heads-up match. The next all-in confrontation came in No-Limit Hold'em, where Yettick got in his ace-queen against Arieh's nines and the ace on the flop gave Yettick the chip lead.
After that, Yettick applied pressure until the five-to-one lead was in his favor. Arieh found a double up in 2-7 Triple Draw with an eight-six, but in the following No-Limit Hold'em round, Arieh got all of his chips into the middle holding ace-queen and Yettick held ace-king. The board held for Yettick, as Arieh collected $85,667 for his runner-up finish.
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