After a pair of podium finishes earlier this summer at the 2024 World Series of Poker, Calvin Anderson had to sleep on the chip lead for one extra night in Event #88: $10,000 Eight Game Mixed Championship.
The added Day 4 at the 2024 World Series of Poker was well worthwhile for the American pro, as he conquered a difficult field of 189 players to claim career bracelet number five and the top prize of $413,446 at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Anderson returned for an additional day of action against Japan’s Dai Ishibashi, sitting with a sizeable chip lead in his quest for another WSOP title. It took just less than a single 90-minute level to finish the job, sending his rail into celebration while Anderson just took it in stride.
“I’ve never really taken down a big eight-game tournament, this is what the player’s championship used to be,” Anderson told PokerNews after his victory. “To win this is certainly a great accomplishment, what I set out to do. I have a lot of titles in different games, but then you throw them all in the mix and to navigate a field like this, it’s rewarding, it feels really good actually to accomplish something like that.”
$10,000 Eight Game Mixed Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calvin Anderson | United States | $413,446 |
| 2 | Dai Ishibashi | Japan | $271,351 |
| 3 | Ali Eslami | United States | $182,938 |
| 4 | Mike Watson | Canada | $126,780 |
| 5 | Paul Gunness | United States | $90,389 |
| 6 | Tom Koral | United States | $66,353 |
Third Time’s the Charm
Anderson entered the day having already earned his third final table of the summer, holding an almost two-to-one chip lead over Ishibashi. After a third-place finish in Event #10: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship (8-Handed) and a runner-up result in Event #37: $10,000 Big O Championship, Anderson was able to close out one of the most significant titles of his career.
“I’m happy, excited, I’m happy that I won,” Anderson said after posing for winner photos. “If I had lost heads-up given how much I’ve played and how much experience I have, I would have been upset – given I came in two-to-one chip lead, played these games so much.”
The win brings Anderson’s total to five WSOP gold bracelets, but this one seemed to stand out a bit more. “Five bracelets doesn’t mean any more than two or seven, you know, but this tournament is actually a bit more special, and I normally don’t say that.”
Anderson took a moment and explained how grateful he felt to take down this title. “Just winning eight games, a 10k buy in, this is a championship event.”
“You’re playing a bunch of different games against all of the top players, I played against tons of really, really good players along the way. I ran good but I think I played really well too, there’s a lot of spots where I’m super happy with the way that I played. Feels good to do all of the things right.”
Anderson then finished his thought by saying “This bracelet is worth three to me, probably.”
Day 4 Action
Anderson and Ishibashi returned to the felt having locked up at least $271,351. The event had a total prize pool of $1,757,700 , with the top prize of $413,446 still to be decided.
Once Anderson increased his chip lead, both players knew which games to target. “He played well, he held his own for the most part. In the end he knew, I knew, everyone knew that he needed to go high variance in no-limit and PLO games, and even limit hold’em is a big game too.”
“In PLO I was only limping, in hold’em I was playing pretty freaking passive,” Anderson continued, “where normally, throughout the tournament, I was actually bullying other people in those games.”
“The last hand of the day, I did not want to get it in with ace-king-queen-nine, but he knew he needed to gamble there. Maybe my hand was a little bit better than I thought it was, but it’s just not a situation I want to be in where I can hand-read so well in every other game.”
That final hand saw Anderson surprised to be ahead on the flop when the chips hit the middle, with his hand holding up to end Ishibashi’s run.
Just minutes after claiming the title, Anderson was already looking ahead to his next event. “The summer is long, I don’t really celebrate in the same way that other people do, the journey of it all is so rewarding to me, playing, winning. I feel happy.”
That concludes our coverage of this championship event, but stay tuned to PokerNews for continuing coverage of the WSOP Main Event from the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Global Live Events Assistant Manager