"I've never won a big live tournament like this," announced John Germano of the Eastern Poker Tour as he stomped through the 396 player field to become the 2024 Bar Poker Open Florida World Championship victor. A wild day of play was expected as the final day, and it more than lived up to those expectations.

After an exciting final table, Germano bested Pierre Agenor in heads-up play. This effort has earned him the first place prize of $30,001 as well as a ClubWPTGold $5M GTD Passport worth $2,500. The total prize pool was $114,550, with the top five players making over $6,000.

When asked if there was a turning point where he could win the event, Germano explained that he noticed that players at the final table were playing passively. As he built up a bigger stack, he used it to "put pressure on the other players." Germano admitted that "there was a lot of luck involved, too," as he seemed to find big hands in key spots. He found pocket kings in two separate hands on the final table and won both times.

Catch the full winner's interview from Norman Chad here:

2024 Bar Poker Open Florida World Championship Final Table Results

Day 2 Action

Monday was expected to see fast play, as under half the field entered the day with more than 20 big blinds. Within two hours of play, only 27 of the 40-player field remained. Under an hour later, the two-table redraw occurred between the remaining 18 players.

Early casualties included David Rose who's small pocket pair lost to Germano's full house. Germano sat just shy of 1,000,000 heading into the two-table redraw.

Rapid busts occurred until Tracy Maynard-Harris fell To Agenor's quads with an ace kicker. Agenor was the chip leader heading into the final table with a third of the chips in play. A two-hour break occurred as the final table was set to stream to a winner.

The first elimination of the final table was a brutal cooler in Agenor's favor. Pablo Sierra flopped top pair and lost two a runner-runner straight after jamming the flop. Agenor continued to add to his stack, gaining nearly half of the chips in play by the time play was six-handed.

Germano's tournament life was on the line as he flopped top pair against a straight and flush draw. His top pair held, and he shortly after eliminated the same player John Sarappa to grow his stack to the second largest.

Germano found back-to-back eliminations on Brandon Strickland and Patrick Martorella to become the chip leader as play was down to four-handed. Both playing under ten big blinds, the short stacks of Gerald McKinney Jr. and Albert Harris soon fell to set up heads-up play.

Germano won back-to-back hands to increase his stack to over 80 percent of the chips in play. Agenor found himself all in with bottom pair against Germano's top pair. The turn gave Agenor hope as he turned two pair to take the lead. Unfortunately, the on the river gave Germano a straight to send Agenor home in second place.

This concludes our coverage of the Bar Poker Open Florida World Championship. Stay tuned to PokerNews for continuing coverage of tournament action worldwide.