It’s a Poker Fairytale For Carsten Heidemann, Winner of Event #84: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold’em
The 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas has crowned the champion of Event #84: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold’em. Out of 6,628 total entries, Carsten Heidemann was the last man standing, winning his first-ever WSOP bracelet and $343,010 in prize money for the by far biggest cash of his life to date.
Heidemann was visibly emotional after his win: “It is the dream of every poker player to win a bracelet, it’s the WSOP; I am so happy, it’s so amazing. Yeah, I am crying now.”
Heidemann has been playing poker for 15 years, but mainly recreationally with his friends in a poker club in Germany, where they try to meet up once a month to play for points for the leaderboard and a trophy at the end of the year. This was his very first WSOP, and it happened after he negotiated with his wife that he would make his dream come true by coming to play Main Event, “but only once.” The only exception would have been if he cashed the tournament.
That cash did not happen, as his Main Event ended on Day 1 with a heartbreaking hand, where he recalls making top set of aces on the flop and losing to a backdoor flush made by his opponent. He did not imagine he would soon find such incredible medicine for his heartbreak. “Today I can say: ‘Lucky me!’” explained Carsten, who would not have experienced this remarkable win and received a WSOP bracelet had he made a deeper run in the Main Event.
Event #84: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carsten Heidemann | Germany | $343,010 |
| 2 | Ramana Epparla | United States | $228,670 |
| 3 | Albyn Bello | Dominican Republic | $170,410 |
| 4 | Phuoc Nguyen | United States | $127,950 |
| 5 | Jason Wester | United States | $96,790 |
| 6 | Robert Szumowski | United States | $73,780 |
| 7 | Juan Garibaldi | United States | $56,670 |
| 8 | Arnold Park | United States | $43,870 |
| 9 | Ha Duong | Vietnam | $34,220 |
The event generated a prize pool of $3,380,280, with 791 players making the money towards the end of Day 1. The final day was about the biggest prizes, however, and out of 19 players, Heidemann picked up the pots when it mattered the most. He came into Day 3 with just around ten big blinds and was one of the shorter stacks but was able to win enough hands early, such as this one against Ricky Robinson, to stick around as other players busted around him.
After the start of unofficial final table of ten players was when Heidemann truly started picking up steam, including by winning a big pot that eliminated Lawrence Barber in tenth place.
Experienced Vietnamese player Ha Duong made the official nine-handed final table but was eliminated first, followed by Arnold Park in eighth place.
No matter what happened today, it would have been by far the biggest live-tournament cash for Juan Garibaldi, Robert Szumowski and Jason Wester, who had just $618, $3,494 and $1,319 in live tournament winnings, respectively. They fell in seventh, sixth, and fifth-place and gave their bankrolls significant boosts.
Phuoc Nguyen, one of the more accomplished players at the final stretch of the tournament, busted in fourth place and received the event's first six-figure prize.
Albyn Bello was the player with the loudest rail today, lead by Ray St Jacques, who had played this event as well and busted on Day 2. St Jacques brought a cowbell and was there to give, as he explained, Caribbean support to his friend. Bello was not quite able to take it down, but he also scored his biggest score to date with a third-place finish worth $170,410
Heidemann was left heads-up against Ramana Epparla, who had had a great final table, with him being responsible for the elimination of several players. Epparla was a fairly big chip leader with five players remaining and kept a small lead going into heads-up play. However, things quickly turned in Heidemann’s favor; he won two large pots in a row and soared into a three-to-one chip lead. Altogether, the heads-up play lasted only 15 minutes, and it was a fairly smooth finish for Heidemann.
The Min-Cash Would Have Been the Highest Cash to Date
Heidemann recalls being very happy as soon as he made Day 2 because it meant the min-cash of $1,201, which was already his biggest cash. When asked about what the win means for the future, he said that this is a lot of money for him. “For a professional, $600 is nothing special; for me, a $600 buy-in is not too much, but is already the upper limit of what I can play.”
The $343,010 he won will take some time to wrap his mind around: “I have to sleep now and think about it. Tomorrow evening, I am flying back to Germany, and then I will calm down and realize what really happened here today.” He added that he is most excited because he can come back to play the Main Event again next year; he will be able to do so with a very good friend who could not play this year's record-breaking event.
Also making Heidemann emotional was the story of his card protector, which was the rare 25-euro coin that was designed in 2015 to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. It holds a special meaning to him as it reminds him of his friends and family from whom he was separated before that time.
This ends the coverage of Event #84: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold’em at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the coverage from the final stretch of the series.