It is a French takeover here at the end of the 2024 World Series of Poker. Shouts of "Allez!" reverberated around a cavernous Horseshoe as Clement Richez was draped in "Le Tricolore" flag of France while his rail chanted his name moments after he conquered 3,177 runners in Event #89: $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship No-Limit Hold'em to win the massive first place prize of $1,041,989.
"I'm shaking all over," Richez said afterward to French media as he described the emotion of his win, "I didn't think this would give me so many emotions. I was on the verge of crying during the winner's photo, and I'll probably cry after this because I need to release all the pressure."
$3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clement Richez | France | $1,041,989 |
| 2 | Adam Owen | United Kingdom | $694,714 |
| 3 | Alec Torelli | United States | $517,525 |
| 4 | Dong Chen | China | $388,519 |
| 5 | David Uvaydov | United States | $293,950 |
| 6 | Taylor Black | United States | $224,152 |
| 7 | Andrey Pateychuk | Russia | $172,285 |
| 8 | Boris Kuzmanovic | Croatia | $133,479 |
| 9 | David Brehme | United Kingdom | $104,248 |
Prior to this seven-figure payout, the French pro's biggest career score had been $188,000 when he finished 50th in last year's Main Event, where he spent a decent amount of time on feature tables to make a bit of a name for himself than with his distinctive tattoos and memorable fearless play.
But despite the visible emotion coming out of him afterward, Richez says he was steely and focused throughout the tournament. "I was very focused and didn't feel any doubt. I did not even check what first-place money was. I was just playing hand by hand and trying to play well."
And play well he did, as he entered the day fourth in chips and remained one of the big stacks through the day, where he would then reach his first career final table.
"My first final table was already a dream; the more players went down, and then suddenly I was heading up. It was even more of a dream. It's amazing, every poker player dreams to have a bracelet. It was not even my goal, but once I won, I realized that all this time, it was my goal."
Richez was sure to shout out his fellow Frenchmen as well as part of this late French takeover at the WSOP. "The dream is not over yet; it continues because Malo Latinois plays in the final table of the Main Event tomorrow, so if he wins, it would be crazy," he added as a teaser for tomorrow's Main Event extravaganza. Not to mention, Alexandre Reard, who had just won a big pot in the $10,000 6-Max Championship to take the chip lead there as Richez watched on following his win.
One final thing that made it special for Richez was that his wife was able to witness it. She arrived in Vegas from France just in time to watch the final table and share in his win. The two of them shared an emotional embrace following his winner's pictures and interview.
Action of the Day
The record field of 3,117 was the largest ever recorded field for a $3,000 tournament, and the day began with plenty of action as the 17 who started the day converged on the unofficial final table of ten in just two hours right as the first break hit.
From there, the action would be speedy at first as Stefan Dimitrov and David Brehme quickly departed within the first few minutes to bring the table down to eight. At eight-handed play there would be some dynamic changes with big all-ins that flipped the chip counts, most notably between Adam Owen and Alec Torelli.
Owen's downward momentum would be stymied when he hit a much-needed river card to bust Boris Kuzmanovic to boost himself back up into contention and bring the field down to six where start of day chip leader Taylor Black would meet his demise after he was unable to really get anything going at the final table.
David Uvaydov more than tripled his previous career-best score with a fifth-place finish for $293,950 as he fell victim to Torelli. Dong Chen was the next to go in fourth as he was able to ladder up his short stack into a fourth-place finish after being short for much of the final table.
Three-handed play began with three relatively even deep stacks. Torelli made some aggressive plays as he had the chip lead at the start of it, but ultimately, he lost a few pots and then went out to Owen when his straight flush draw could not get there. This result became the second best of Torelli's poker career, only behind his 11th place finish in the Main Event last year.
Heads-up play began with Owen holding the chip lead after taking out Torelli, but Richez quickly took control, winning multiple pots in a row through showdown and forcing folds. After about an hour, he had Owen down to around 15 big blinds, where the Brit would double once to climb close again but then lose on the second time, asking just a few hands later to confirm the Frenchman as the bracelet winner.
It was a somewhat bitter pill for Owen to swallow despite the large monetary score. It was the second time he had been runner-up for his first bracelet at this WSOP, as he was denied second place in Event #32: $1,500 Seven Card Stud, both times entering as the heads-up chip leader. But regardless, this result is good for the third-largest cash of his career.
That wraps up the PokerNews coverage of the inaugural and very successful Mid-Stakes Championship. Stay tuned for the final few days of the 2024 WSOP, which will all be covered right here on the site's live reporting tab.
