Francis Anderson captured the final multi-flight tournament title of the year less than 24 hours before the start of 2025. The bracelet winner from Wappinger Falls, New York topped a field of 515 entries in the 2024 Venetian New Year’s Extravaganza $250,000 guaranteed $800 no-limit hold’em UltimateStack event, earning $61,551 in the early morning hours of Dec. 31.
This was the sixth recorded tournament title for Anderson, who secured his first World Series of Poker victory this summer by taking down the $800 buy-in Independence Day Celebration Event for a career-best score of $501,040. Given his penchant for taking down holiday-centered events, Anderson might be an ideal partner if a Valentine’s Day tag-team event is running next year.
Anderson now has more than $3.6 million in lifetime cashes after his big win on the final day of 2024.
This triumph also gave Anderson 420 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his third title and ninth final-table finish of the year. With 2,772 total points, he will finish 2024 inside the top 130 in the POY standings presented by Global Poker.
The top 66 finishers made the money, earning a share of the $355,350 final prize pool. There was plenty of stiff competition down the stretch, including 2024 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Poker Bowl champion Terry Fleischer (8th), Aaron Massey (6th), and bracelet winner Ryan Laplante (4th). This was the second final-table finish of the month for Laplante, who placed second in the $1,600 mystery bounty during the final days of the WPT World Championship for $185,500. He is now knocking on the door of $4 million in recorded tournament earnings.
After a player who asked to remain anonymous was eliminated in third place, Lokesh Garg took roughly a 3:2 chip lead into heads-up play with Anderson. The tables turned when Anderson made a flush against the jack-high straight of Garg. The final hand saw all the chips go in after a A
Q
9
9J runout. Garg held 108 for another straight, and it was again second best. Anderson revealed J9 for nines full of jacks to take the pot and the title. Garg earned $44,245 as the runner-up.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Francis Anderson | $61,551 | 420 |
| 2 | Lokesh Garg | $44,245 | 350 |
| 4 | Ryan Laplante | $23,785 | 280 |
| 5 | James Agate | $17,790 | 210 |
| 6 | Aaron Massey | $13,486 | 175 |
| 7 | Michael Klayman | $10,364 | 140 |
| 8 | Terry Fleischer | $8,007 | 105 |
| 9 | David Sommer | $6,383 | 70 |
Photos provided by Venetian Poker Room.
