With fireworks popping across the American skies in celebration of July 4, players made their now daily pilgrimage to the tournament rooms of Horseshoe/Paris Casinos for the 2024 World Series of Poker, which is inching towards its conclusion.
You wouldn't necessarily know it from a look around the room, however, where 831 players stepped up to play Day 1B of the $10,000 Main Event, aka the World Championship, and two more players earned themselves the most sought-after silverware in the game.
This was the second of four starting flights in the Main Event which, when coupled with the day of a typical American holiday, might suggest a comparative slowdown in interest in poker. But even a quiet WSOP day is mayhem, and those 831 players duly slugged it out through five two-hour levels to leave only 616 remaining from the day.
They include a whole host of well-known players, including former champions Koray Aldemir and Hossein Ensan, alongside Hall of Famers, including the well-stacked Erik Seidel. But the very summit belongs to George Dolofan, a grinder from Miami Beach, Florida, who told PokerOrg, "I just played it right today."
It is, of course, the very definition of early days and Dolofan was keen not to get too carried away despite his lofty position. They're still a long way from even knowing how many entries this tournament has, let alone reaching the money bubble or the serious cash. But with players such as Greg Raymer, Erick Lindgren, Josh Arieh and Kevin Rabichow among those who have busted already, anyone with a bag can consider a job well done on the opening day.
Perkusic makes debut splash in PLO High Roller
The final table in the $50K High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha event was awash with bracelets: seven among the last five players, who contested the final day, only after seven more had departed late the previous day to bring us to that final.
But true to form in a World Series that has celebrated emerging talent alongside the seasoned veterans, the new bracelet found a home with the only previously jewelry-free member of the last five: Germany's Daniel Perkusic.
This was a breakout performance in all senses from Perkusic, whose previous documented tournament cashes have all come from events either in his native Europe or online. It represents his first cash in the United States and a first cash at the WSOP. (It's also a first win this year for Germany.) Weighing in at $2,100,325, it's a fine way to start.
Perkusic is not a total rookie. Those Europe-based results weighed in at more than $600K, which is an excellent total for a PLO expert. But this tournament represented a new high, and a new level of difficulty against a field of superstars. The last of those to depart was Danny Tang, the Hong Kong/UK talent who has made his name on the Triton Super High Roller Series. But Tang, who held the chip lead going into the final day, couldn't cope with Perkusic's heads-up masterclass and took second, for $1,400,217.
Perkusic got the ball rolling on Thursday with the early elimination of Santhosh Suvarna in fifth, then saw Tang eliminate Ronald Keijzer in fourth. Perkusic then knocked out Jim Collopy in third in an aces vs. kings collision, before a this-way, that-way battle against Tang sealed the deal -- and that debut bracelet.
Skarparis adds Cyprus to 2024 WSOP winner's list
The name Menikos Panayiotou is not necessarily one that trips off the tongue of many people, poker fans or not. But until Thursday night, Panayiotou was the sole representative of Cyprus among the many hundred World Series of Poker bracelet winners.
He is alone no more.
After three long days in the $1,000 Mini Main Event, Georgios Skarparis became the second player from Cyprus to strap a WSOP bracelet around his wrist, completing the job over a field of 6,076 entries and banking $554,925 in the process. Skarparis prevailed over a cosmopolitan final table, beating Italy's Alexandre Barbarabelli into second place, ahead of Russia's Mikhail Zavoloka, Kyle Williamson of the United States, and Germany's Dirk Bruns.
Skarparis told WSOP that he began his working life in the legal profession, before transitioning to poker a few years ago. He said his parents supported the decision, and he now has evidence that he made the right move.
Skaparis also paid tribute to a former friend and student Kyriakos Oxinos, who died in a car crash aged 24 in 2023. Skaparis said he promised to win a bracelet in Oxinos' memory, and duly delivered on an emotional night in Las Vegas, carrying Oxinos' photo with him to pose for his own winner's picture.
Celebrating Independence Day with a chaotic turbo
As Independence Day celebrations ramped up outside on the Las Vegas Strip, cashiers nonetheless accepted 3,928 entries to Day 1B of Event #80: $800 Independence Day Celebration No-Limit Hold'em, presenting a chance for patriots to let their chips do the celebrating. By the end of a rapid-fire 22 levels, only 206 players remained.
The man with the most from this turbo flight was William Zaiss, whose 2,280,000 chips represent a 57-time increase on his 40,000 starting stack. He sits ahead of three-time WSOP bracelet winner Nipun Java in the overnight counts, with the field now combining with the 150 who made it through Day 1A on Wednesday. Ivan Denev's stack of 2,480,000 remains the largest of the two starting flights, while there will be plenty of eyes on Jeremy Becker, who bagged and will return to nine big blinds.
The plan is to play to a champion in this one on Friday, which will mean some short-stacked, hyper-turbo thrills and spills. Surviving that kind of carnage is what it takes sometimes to win a bracelet.
Photo of the day
Tweet of the day
Very nice of you to say so, Dara O'Kearney. He's right, of course.
Hand of the day
You can't win the Main Event on Day 1. But you can definitely lose it. Starr Valdez clearly had that old truism ringing in her ears as she made an exceptional fold on Day 1B to avoid losing what could have been an enormous pot.
Video of the day
There's a lot of down time at the WSOP. But thankfully, everyone has chips.
The day in numbers
831
Entries in Day 1B of the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event. That brings the running total, through first two opening flights, to 1,726.
21
Number of countries whose players have won bracelets at 2024 WSOP. Cyprus and Germany were added to the list on Thursday.
0
Previous cashes at the World Series of Poker for Daniel Perkusic, who won more than $2 million on Thursday in the $50K Omaha High Roller.
Day #38 gallery
Coming up on Day #39
Survivors from the two starting flights of the Independence Day Celebration No-Limit Hold'em come together to play down to a winner. That's 356 players down to one. Thank goodness for 30-minute levels. Meanwhile, two WSOP Online events get started: a $555 buy-in PLO Mystery Bounty event and Day 1A of a $400 Colossus.
There's a good reason those other events are either a turbo or played online, of course. That's because the biggest field and the biggest draw will be Day 1C of the $10,000 Main Event, with every seat in Horseshoe/Paris required for the many thousands who will come looking to begin their shot at joining the poker legends.
This is the third of four starting flights, and typically the second biggest. We'll soon have a better idea of how close to a record we're getting, but with registration open right to the start of the final Day 2 (Monday) there is still plenty of potential for this one to make history.
Results
Event #78: $1,000 Mini Main Event
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgios Skarparis | $554,925 |
| 2 | Alexandre Barbaranelli | $369,994 |
| 3 | Mikhail Zavoloka | $276,695 |
| 4 | Kyle Williamson | $208,444 |
| 5 | Dirk Bruns | $158,191 |
| 6 | Joshua Prager | $120,950 |
| 7 | Kaihung Hu | $93,171 |
| 8 | Stefan Widmer | $72,316 |
| 9 | Hunter Frey | $56,557 |
Full results on WSOP
Event #79: $50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Perkusic | $2,100,325 |
| 2 | Danny Tang | $1,400,217 |
| 3 | Jim Collopy | $973,882 |
| 4 | Ronald Keijzer | $692,232 |
| 5 | Santhosh Suvarna | $503,085 |
| 6 | Gabriel Andrade | $374,020 |
| 7 | David Benyamine | $284,604 |
| 8 | Brian Rast | $221,778 |
Full results on WSOP
Ongoing events
Event #80: $800 Independence Day Celebration No-Limit Hold'em - Flight 1B
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Zaiss | 2,280,000 |
| 2 | Nipun Java | 1,925,000 |
| 3 | Che Chun Chu | 1,880,000 |
| 4 | Yuchung Chang | 1,825,000 |
| 5 | Juan Alfines | 1,730,000 |
| 6 | Joel Deutsch | 1,700,000 |
| 7 | Ging Pang | 1,695,000 |
| 8 | Hamid Izadi | 1,695,000 |
| 9 | Benjamin Ector | 1,690,000 |
| 10 | Srikanth Yadlapati | 1,680,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 48 | John Riordan | 1,100,000 |
| 79 | Kenny Hallaert | 830,000 |
| 116 | Victor Ramdin | 590,000 |
| 163 | Jeremy Becker | 350,000 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship (Day 1b)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Dolofan | 314,000 |
| 2 | Matthew Sabia | 297,400 |
| 3 | Patrick Hagenlocher | 270,300 |
| 4 | Vladas Tamasauskas | 268,300 |
| 5 | Aaron Werner | 246,900 |
| 6 | Junfeng Wang | 223,300 |
| 7 | Frode Alfredsen | 221,200 |
| 8 | Nicolaas Thielman | 217,300 |
| 9 | Florian Ribouchon | 215,400 |
| 10 | Daniel Neilson | 214,900 |
| Notables | ||
| 24 | Erik Seidel | 183,600 |
| 39 | Artur Martirosian | 166,300 |
| 40 | Hossein Ensan | 166,000 |
| 48 | Dan Shak | 153,500 |
| 58 | David 'Bakes' Baker | 145,200 |
| 112 | Brian Kim | 122,200 |
| 163 | Toby Lewis | 106,000 |
| 195 | Victoria Livschitz | 97,300 |
| 206 | Koray Aldemir | 94,300 |
| 228 | Andre Akkari | 89,100 |
| 241 | Vivian Saliba | 87,100 |
| 332 | Jean-Robert Bellande | 66,900 |
| 399 | Griffin Benger | 56,300 |
| 467 | Anthony Zinno | 45,700 |
| 461 | Lexy Gavin-Mather | 47,000 |
| 587 | Patrick Leonard | 19,800 |
| 596 | Jared Bleznick | 16,900 |
Full chip counts on WSOP
Bracelet winners
- Event #1: $5,000 Champions Reunion – Asher Conniff (USA)
- Event #2: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em – Jose Garcia (USA)
- Event #3: $500 Kickoff No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout – Daniel Willis (UK)
- Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-Handed) – James Chen (USA)
- Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions - Malcolm Trayner (Australia)
- Event #6: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship – Darius Samual (UK)
- Event #7: $1,500 Dealer's Choice – John Hennigan (USA)
- Event #8: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha (8-Handed) - Bryce Yockey (USA)
- Event #9: $1,500 Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Nick Guagenti (USA)
- Event #10: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship - Scott Seiver (USA)
- Event #11: $1,500 Badugi - David Prociak (USA)
- Event #12: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em - Simeon Spasov (Bulgaria)
- Event #13: $10,000 Dealers Choice Championship - Robert Mizrachi (USA)
- Event #14: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No Limit Hold'em - Thibault Perissat (France)
- Event #15: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better - Caleb Furth (USA)
- Event #16: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Brent Hart (USA)
- Event #17: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack - TJ Murphy (USA)
- Event #18: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha - Dylan Weisman (USA)
- Event #19: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship - John Racener (USA)
- Event #20: $300 Gladiators of Poker No-Limit Hold'em - Stephen Winters (USA)
- Event #21: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (6-Handed) - Brek Schutten (USA)
- Event #22: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw (6-Handed) - Aaron Cummings (USA)
- Event #23: Event #23: $1,500 SHOOTOUT No-Limit Hold'em - Dan Sepiol (USA)
- Event #24: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship - Sean Troha (USA)
- Event #25: $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Handed - Daniel Vampan (USA)
- Event #26: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Nick Schulman (USA)
- Event #27: $1,500 Big O - Michael Christ (USA)
- Event #28: $1,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em - Evan Benton (USA)
- Event #29: $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Championship (6-Handed) - Phil Ivey (USA)
- Event #30: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack - Alen Bakovic (Canada)
- Event #31: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed - Nicholas Seward (USA)
- Event #32: $1,500 Seven Card Stud - Richard Ashby (UK)
- Event #33: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack (8-Handed) - Alex Manzano (Chile)
- Event #34: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout - Antonio Galiana (Spain)
- Event #35: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. - Phillip Hui (USA)
- Event #36: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack (8-Handed) – Timur Margolin (Israel)
- Event #37: $10,000 Big O Championship – John Fauver (USA)
- Event #38: $1,500 MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold'em - Pedro Neves (Portugal)
- Event #39: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Sergio Aido (Spain)
- Event #40: $1,500 Razz – Scott Seiver (USA)
- Event #41: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha Double Board Bomb Pot - Xixiang Luo (China)
- Event #42: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship - James Obst (Australia)
- Event #43: $1,500 Mixed: PLO Hi-Lo 8; Omaha Hi-Lo 8; Big O - Magnus Edengren (Sweden)
- Event #44: $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Jared Kingery (USA)
- Event #45: $10,000 HORSE Championship - Maksim Pisarenko (Russia)
- Event #46: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship - Khang Pham (USA)
- Event #47: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em - Chris Hunichen (USA)
- Event #48: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed) - Chris Vitch (USA)
- Event #49: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em - Erlend Melsom (Norway)
- Event #50: $10,000 Razz Championship - George Alexander (USA)
- Event #51: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout - Peter Park (USA)
- Event #52: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em – Mostafa Haidary (Australia)
- Event #53: $3,000 Nine Game Mixed - Yuri Dzivielevski (Brazil)
- Event #54: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold'em - Franco Spitale (Argentina)
- Event #55: $250,000 Super High Roller – Santhosh Suvarna (India)
- Event #56: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball (2-7, A-5, Badugi) – Patrick Moulder (USA)
- Event #57: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em – Frank Funaro (USA)
- Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship - Daniel Negreanu (Canada)
- Event #59: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em - Sean Jazayeri (USA)
- Event #60: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Paolo Boi (Italy)
- Event #61: $2,500 Mixed: Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better; Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better - Dario Sammartino (Italy)
- Event #62: $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship - Hector Berry (UK)
- Event #63: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw - David Funkhouser (USA)
- Event #64: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack - Chris Moen (USA)
- Event #65: $5,000 Seniors High Roller No-Limit Hold'em - Mark Checkwicz (USA)
- Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship - Elie Nakache (France)
- Event #67: $500 Salute to Warriors - No-Limit Hold'em - Ben Collins (UK)
- Event #68: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em - Colin Robinson (USA)
- Event #69: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better - Nikolay Fal (Russia)
- Event #70: $400 Colossus - Martin Alcaide (Bulgaria)
- Event #71: $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship - Shiina Okamoto (Japan)
- Event #72: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship - Scott Seiver (USA)
- Event #73: $25,000 Hit Roller Pot-Limit Omaha - David Eldridge (USA)
- Event #74: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship - Arash Ghaneian (USA)
- Event #75: $1,000 TAG TEAM No-Limit Hold'em - Jimmy Setna & Jason James (Canada)
- Event #76: $10,000 Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) - Matthew Lambrecht (USA)
- Event #77: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet (6-Handed) - Wing Liu (Hong Kong/UK)
- Event #78: $1,000 Mini Main Event - Georgios Skarparis (Cyprus)
- Event #79: $50,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha - Daniel Perkusic (Germany)
