Event #49: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em | 2024 World Series of Poker (2024)

Out of the 1,252 players that registered for Event #49: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em at the 2024 World Series of Poker, it was Norwegian Erlend Melsom that ultimately emerged victorious. After three long days of play, Melsom, who is not a frequent tournament or no-limit hold’em player, was able to take down the $523,195 first prize, the biggest live tournament cash of his life by about half a million, and his first WSOP bracelet.

The event collected a prize pool of $3,342,840. Many familiar names and previous bracelet winners entered the field for a shot at a repeat, but when it came down to the final table, all but one player, Maxx Coleman, who already won a bracelet in a $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw in 2022, were going after their first-ever WSOP jewelry.

Final Table Results

Melsom, who hasn’t played much live tournament poker in his life, but spends his time playing pot-limit Omaha cash games, was one of the short stacks going into the final three tables on Day 2, falling to as low as 12 big blinds. However, he was able to turn things around and have a strong finish to end with 42 big blinds for the third biggest stack.

Final Day Action

Thirteen players returned for the last day of play. The start was fast-paced, with four players eliminated within the first level of play. Andjelko Andrejevic, Neil Warren, Ivan Ruban and Clemen Deng were out in 13th to 10th places, respectively. Two of those players, Andrejevic and Ruban, were eliminated by Melsom, within just a couple hands of each other. It was after these and a few other hands that Melsom first felt like he has a good chance to win it all, “I had a good start today; I started with around 5,000,000 chips and was able to get to around 12,000,000 chips, and that was the moment I felt like maybe I can win.”

Morgan Petro was next to bust in ninth place, around an hour and a half into play. After that, play quieted down for a few hours, with mostly small bets and small pots being exchanged between players.

It wasn’t until right before the final table was getting ready to set up for the livestream, in the fourth hour of the day, that we saw another rapid-fire round of eliminations. Within just a half an hour of each other, Uri Reichenstein, Joseph Carden and Maxx Coleman were eliminated in eighth, seventh and sixth-place, respectively.

David Stamm and Jonathan Schwartz both played a good game, a lot of it on a short stack. Stamm impressed with his precise and aggressive play at the final table, but was unlucky to be eliminated in fifth place after holding the best hand preflop. Schwartz, especially, had to nurture a short stack for the majority of the day, but impressively took it to a fourth-place finish.

Melsom was chip leader going into the final table of nine, but it was far from smooth sailing from there. Players passed around the chip lead many times on Day 3, and Melsom again got as low as eleven big blinds three-handed after losing well over 8,000,000 of his chips in a big hand against Ben Hoy.

He was later able to come back and ultimately eliminate Hoy, but was still the chip-underdog going into heads up against Nikolay Yosifov, who had steadily built a nice chip lead during the last hours of the tournament.

Hoy had climbed up to a big chip lead during the last hours of Day 2 and, despite losing some of that lead, entered Day 3 as the chip leader as well. Throughout the tournament, he was one of the most active players in the field, generating action and putting pressure on his opponents regardless of his chip stack, which indeed saw many ups and downs. Hoy’s biggest live score before this deep run was for a bit over $7,000, so any result at this final table was going to be a great achievement; the third-place prize for just under $250,000 certainly was that.

The Drama of the Day

It takes luck to win a tournament and that is what Melsom had in spades in one of the most dramatic hands of the day. It was especially dramatic for Yosifov, who had climbed to a solid chip lead and was, in this hand, just one card away from taking the bracelet and the first prize himself.

Melsom was drawing to six outs on the river and hit one of two remaining kings to complete a broadway straight, leaving Yosifov's rivered set of kings in the dust. Soon after, Yosifov had to make do with the second place after Melsom eliminated him with a better ace.

Despite not being a specialist, Melsom showed on multiple occasions that he is a great player, successfully navigating various situations and chip stacks throughout the tournament. Melsom says that the win won’t change his life that much, but felt really great, and also somewhat changed his outlook on tournament poker and no-limit hold’em in particular. “This is my second WSOP. The plan was to mostly play pot-limit Omaha tournaments, but then I jumped into this one,” he explained. The reason, he says, was simply because there were no Omaha tournaments for him to play at that moment and he “needed something to play.” The win gave him motivation to go for more titles, “Yes, I think after this I will definitely be playing more no-limit hold’em tournaments.”

This concludes the coverage of Event #49: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em at the 2024 World Series of Poker, held at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Stay tuned for many more weeks of action, where many new bracelet winners will be crowned.

Tags:Andjelko AndrejevicBen HoyClemen DengDavid StammErlend MelsomIvan RubanJonathan SchwartzJoseph CardenMaxx ColemanMorgan PetroNeil WarrenNikolay YosifovUri Reichenstein

From the small blind, Erlend Melsom looked at A♦Q♠ and raised to 1,300,000. Nikolay Yosifov jammed all in with the A♣7♥ and Melsom immediately called.

Nikolay Yosifov: A♣7♥
Erlend Melsom: A♦Q♠

Yosifiv was suddenly close to being eliminated as the flop came down 4♥2♣2♠. The turn was the 2♥ and the river the 6♦ to eliminate Yosifov and give Melsom his first bracelet after a dramatic turn of events over the last few hands.

Tags:Erlend MelsomNikolay Yosifov

Erlend Melsom made it 1,300,000 preflop with the J♠J♦ and Nikolay Yosifov called with the K♣5♣.

The flop came 10♠A♣7♥. Melsom bet 1,200,000 and Yosikov called.

The turn was the A♦, it went check-check to the river which was the 6♠. Melsom bet 4,000,000. Yosifov went into the tank before he eventually decided to call and saw the bad news as he lost more of his stack.

Tags:Erlend MelsomNikolay Yosifov

Nikolay Yosifov looked down at the K♥K♦ and limped the small blind. Erlend Melsom had the A♦10♦ and raised to 2,100,000 from the big blind. Yosifov three-bet it to 5,600,000. Melsom took a few moments before four-bet jamming all in for 17,500,000 which Yosifov snap-called.

Erlend Melsom: A♦10♦
Nikolay Yosifov: K♥K♦

The flop came Q♣9♥5♦. The turn was the J♠ to give Melsom more outs. The river was the K♠ to give the Norwegian broadway and rip the bracelet away from Yosifov as he put his hands to his face in dismay in a rare showing of emotion as he was now well behind in chips.

Tags:Erlend MelsomNikolay Yosifov

Nikolay Yosifov limped the small blind with the 2♠2♦. Erlend Melsom raised from the big blind for 2,100,000 with the 8♦6♥ and Yosifov called it.

The flop came 10♠9♥J♣. Melsom bet 1,600,000 and Yosifov folded as the stacks went back to where they started heads up play from.

Tags:Erlend MelsomNikolay Yosifov

Erlend Melsom raised preflop from the small blind with the A♥3♠ and Nikolay Yosifov called with the 7♠7♦.

The flop came K♦J♦J♣. Melsom bet 600,000 and Yosifov called. The turn was the J♠. Melsom fired again for 1,100,000 and Yosifov called once again.

The river came the Q♦. Action went check-check and Yosifov's sevens held up as the best hand as he won the first decent sized pot of heads up play.

Tags:Erlend MelsomNikolay Yosifov

Ben Hoy raised from the small blind with the A♣7♣, Erlend Melsom three-bet all in with the 3♠3♥ and Hoy snap-called it.

Ben Hoy: A♣7♣
Erlend Melsom: 3♠3♥

The flop came K♣Q♦4♠ to miss Hoy. The turn was the 9♠ and the river the Q♣ to keep the threes as the strongest hand. The stacks were counted down to make sure Hoy was covered, which he was very slightly.

An amazing accomplishment for Hoy as he takes home $249,005 in what is his first career registered live cash.

Tags:Ben HoyErlend Melson

Ben Hoy opened the button with J♥5♥ and Nikolay Yosifov defended in the big blind with J♦7♣.

The flop came K♣7♥4♣ and Yosifov checked. Hoy continued for 1,000,000. Yosifov called with his middle pair.

The turn 4♦ got checked around.

The river brought the third club, it was the 5♣. Josifov now made a small bet of 525,000 into a pot of over 4,500,000 chips. Hoy had made a pair of fives on the river, but decided it was not good enough for a call and raised to 3,000,000. Yosifov did not take too long to make the good call and take down the pot.

Tags:Ben HoyNikolay Yosifov

Ben Hoy raised to 1,000,000 from the small blind with the A♣J♦ while Erlend Melsom had the Q♣9♣ in the big blind and defended.

The flop came 3♠J♥9♥ to pair both players. Hoy fired 1,000,000 and was called.

The turn was the 4♠. Hoy bet 3,000,000, Melsom called again to go to the river which was the 7♠. Hoy moved all in for 3,625,000 and Melsom took a few moments before he called with the inferior pair to give a large pot and chip swing to Hoy.

Tags:Ben HoyErlend Melson