Christopher Moen Wins First Bracelet and $289,323 in Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack
It wasn’t easy for Christopher Moen, but he managed to grind it out over the course of two days and was crowned a champion for his efforts at the 2024 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. To do so, Moen defeated Thomas Kuess in a quick heads-up battle on Day 2 to take down Event 64: $600 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack. In fact, the heads-up showdown only lasted ten hands before Moen emerged as the winner.
Moen won a $289,323 prize and, of course, a WSOP bracelet, the first of his poker career, while Kuess collected $192,809 for his runner-up finish.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Moen | United States | $289,323 |
| 2 | Thomas Kuess | Austria | $192,809 |
| 3 | Cody Chung | United States | $143,258 |
| 4 | August Smrek | United States | $107,289 |
| 5 | John Ricksen | United States | $80,996 |
| 6 | Cal Nailn | United States | $61,642 |
| 7 | Daniel Hirose | United States | $47,295 |
| 8 | Guilherme De Castro | Brazil | $36,586 |
| 9 | Vance Isono | United States | $28,536 |
“That was impressive, wasn’t it?” the Sioux Falls native joked with PokerNews after the fact, “I mean, I really hit that string of cards, and then I really took off,” he said, referring to his late-night heater.
“And, of course, I had to get lucky. I wouldn't even be here if I hadn’t spiked one with pocket tens against queens earlier in the day. It’s just how it is.”
With Moen, it wasn't only luck that was on his side; he was applying maximum pressure to his opponents to stay in the lead and worked it to great success. This combo of luck and skill is what it takes to be a champion, and that is exactly what happened here tonight as he took home his biggest score to date. Moen says he plays poker a lot but still has a full-time job back in South Dakota driving a charter bus and really only came out to Vegas to play a few events with his nephew, who was on his rail despite the fact he was being blinded out in another tournament.
“I had to take time off from work to be here, and I honestly haven’t been able to play anything else since I’ve been here, but I cant really be too mad about that!” Moen laughed when asked what the rest of his WSOP schedule looked like, but also said he had no real plans for his winnings and it was still sinking in.
Action on the Day
After the frenzy of Day 1 of this event, Day 2 was no different. Players put all of their chips into the middle with zero regard for their safety. By the time the first break rolled around, more than half of the field was already lost in desperate attempts to double up or bust.
The action really only slowed down as they approached the final three tables, and even then, they were down to 27 in no time. That’s when the surviving players bagged up and migrated over to the Horseshoe Event Center, aka ‘The Thunderdome’, to join the chaos comprising several coinciding final tables, all with their own massive rails. But before they knew it, they dwindled down to the final two tables, and then Francis Beauregard was eliminated in 11th by John Ricksen to send the surviving members to the final table, with Ricksen leading the charge.
Final Table
Once at the final table, however, it quickly became the Moen show as he and Ricksen chopped to bust out Vance Isono in ninth, followed by Guilherme De Castro in eighth as his ace-jack was no match for Moen’s ace-king. Moen then continued to amass chips and next busted out Daniel Hirose in seventh when he caught a pair of eights on the turn with ace-eight against the ace-ten of Hirose.
Right after that is when things started to go downhill for Ricksen as he first doubled up August Smrek, who held aces against his king-jack and then he doubled up Cody Chung who held ace-king against his jack-ten. After these two rough hands, Ricksen was very short and in survival mode when he got very lucky. A huge hand unfolded between Cal Nailn and Moen when Nailn four-bet jammed with king-three suited and Moen called off with ace-ten offsuit for heaps of chips. Moen drilled a ten on the turn, and the river was a brick to eliminate Nailn in sixth place, earning Ricksen a big pay jump.
Ricksen then proceeded to get it all in on the very next hand against Moen with seven-nine suited, but Moen’s ace-three triumphed and knocked him out in fifth place. Moen then continued the steamroll by knocking out Smrek, who held ace-jack, but Moen’s queen-eight found a pair to send him out in fourth. Kuess then gained some momentum when he doubled through Moen by spiking a straight on the river, and that gave him enough chips to knock out Cody Chung in third when his queen-three bested his ace-eight by making a pair of eights.
Moen and Kuess then entered their heads-up battle, with Moen holding a little over a 2:1 chip advantage over Kuess, but it wasn't long til it was all over.
After checking through the flop in a raised pot, Kuess moved all in and was snap-called by Moen. Kuess flipped over nine-ten for a flopped pair of tens, but Moen had him drawing stone-dead as he had already made two pair with kings and tens. The river ace was just a formality, and the pot was shipped to Moen, declaring him a new owner of a WSOP gold bracelet and giving him a handsome payday of $289,323.
That concludes the coverage of Event # 64: $600 No-Limit Deeptack here at the 2024 World Series of Poker, but keep an eye on PokerNews for all of the updates!