John Racener wins third career bracelet

The former November Niner and new father races to Las Vegas and wins gold within 24 hours.

The popular American poker professional John Racener won Event #34, the $1,500-entry NLHE Super Turbo Bounty tournament on Tuesday night for $247,595 and his third WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas.

Outlasting 2,243 others, Racener became a three-time champion within a matter of hours of becoming a new father, racing across America to play the event and taking it down inside 24 hours.

Over the past 20 years, John Racener has won three WSOP bracelets, but he has been ever-present at the WSOP. Featuring heavily in Player of the Year races, his highest profile run came in 2017 when he lost to the controversial Chris Ferguson, whose habit of min-cashing in as many events as possible contributed to a rule change improving recent years.

Once he reached the final duel, Racener was struck by memories of a very different battle, namely the one he shared with Jonathan Duhamel in 2010, where the Canadian beat him to the world championship.

This time around, Liran Betito was heads-up, hoping to claim the top prize of a quarter of a million dollars and his 16th bounty, worth a total of $8,000 by the close of play.

“I was having thoughts of my Main Event heads-up when I was playing heads up tonight, and the [Duhamel] banner was hanging right over my opponent’s head. Things went pretty smoothly all day.”

Racing to Las Vegas

Racener had travelled to the Las Vegas Strip in fast fashion, as his wife had just given birth to their third son, delaying his arrival at the 56th annual WSOP.

“I’m just showing my wife that it was worth it for me to be out here!” Racener said. “I'm up almost 24 hours straight. To be away from the family and kids, the only thing that makes it worth it is if I win.”

Determined to come home with ‘a third bracelet for our third boy’ Racener felt that if he failed, it would have been a wasted trip. That drive and determination pushed him to one of his greatest achievements in poker as he claimed gold in Las Vegas for the third time in eight series.

These are his career bracelets to date: