Will it, or won’t it? That was the question on all our minds over four starting flights and the first Day 2 of the Main Event. Could this end up being the biggest one ever? Last year broke the 10,000 player mark, for goodness’ sake - was it realistic to think this one could be even bigger?
To break the record there would need to be one heck of a turnout on the final Day 2. And, well, that’s just what happened. Whether you put it down to FOMO, bad planning or just a penchant for being fashionably late, over 900 players turned up in the last few levels to set a new high watermark for live poker tournaments.
Last year’s record of 10,043 players is history. This year’s record of 10,112 is the new number to beat. We hate to say we told you so.
With the field finally consolidating to a single group on Tuesday’s Day 3, literally thousands of players are still in with a chance of walking away with the title of poker’s World Champion. And - obviously - that’s not all they’re playing for.
$10 million awaits the winner
Last year’s winner Daniel Weinman received $12.1M for first place - a figure which many believed was set specifically to establish a new record for first-place prize money, knocking Jamie Gold’s $12M into second place.
As a result, 2023’s payout structure was criticized for being too top-heavy, with first-place awarded more than three times the prize for third. This year the largest poker prize pool in history - $94,041,600 - will be divided up between 1,517 players with a min-cash being worth $15,000. The top 125 players will receive at least $100,000.
With one eye on flattening the payouts to address the criticisms of last year, here’s how the final table payouts are set, in nice round numbers:
- 1st: $10M
- 2nd: $6M
- 3rd: $4M
- 4th: $3M
- 5th: $2.5M
- 6th: $2M
- 7th: $1.5M
- 8th: $1.25M
- 9th: $1M
The final table bubble will pay $800K. Can you imagine winning that much in a poker tournament and feeling disappointed? Sure, $800K can get you an apartment in Manhattan, but still: a bubble’s a bubble.
With so many players still in there fighting it can be tough to get reliable chip counts, but as Day 3 looms we understand that Anthony Marsico remains at the front of the field after chipping up all the way through Day 2ABC. Add a pinch of salt to taste, but here are the current top six across the entire field, as far as we can see:
Anthony Marsico: 797,000
Christopher Vincent: 772,000
Alex Livingston: 750,500
Manuel Machado: 680,500
Tyler Hatchel: 679,000
Seven players, eight games, three days
The $1,500 Eight-Game Mix event spent its second day whittling 103 players down to just seven, who will return for Day 3 to play for the bracelet and the $131,061 up top.
Scott Seiver, a three-time bracelet winner this summer and frontrunner for WSOP Player of the Year , started the day in the hunt for bracelet number four but wouldn’t reach the business end of proceedings.
Those who did, however, are mostly a rogue’s gallery of the usual suspects, with 14 WSOP bracelets held between the final seven players. These include chip-leader John Racener (2 bracelets), Josh Arieh (6), Maxx Coleman (1), Marco Johnson (2) and John Cernuto (3).
Also in the hunt are China’s Xiaochuan Zhang and Garth Yettick of Colorado. Yettick has just the one tournament result on his resume, from 19 years ago, and a fifth place finish will land him a career-high score.
Ultra deep stacks, ultra deep crowds
The Main Event wasn’t the only thing packing them in on Monday, with Day 1b of the $600 Ultra Stack NLH drawing 4,038 players - in addition to the 2,590 who played Day 1a.
With the Main Event and the Eight-Game Mix running concurrently, there was a lot going on to draw the big names away from this lower buy-in, big field event, but that didn’t mean you didn’t have a chance of busting out a famous face or two.
Allen Kessler was one such face in the crowd, although a tweet from the Chainsaw did seem to illustrate the esteem in which he holds this event.
A tournament for Main Event losers? It all depends on how you look at it - this one awards a bracelet and has a combined prize pool of over $2 million. Kessler won't be winning it, as he bust out before the end of the day. Rhohit Hukmani, on the other hand, just might: the US player bagged the chip lead with 4,125,000 at the end of Day 1b, more than double the next biggest stack.
Close to 800 surviving players will combine for Day 3 to play 17 x 40-minute levels, or down to five players, whichever comes first.
Flip & Go: the 'bizarro-Main'?
If the Main Event is considered one of the best, deepest structures in all of tournament poker, what does that make the $1K Flip & Go Presented by GGPoker?
Fast, that’s what.
This is the WSOP tournament with the shortest possible route to the money you can imagine. How short? One hand.
Flips were running all day on Monday, and here’s how they work: 8 players put up $1,000 each, are dealt three cards and discard one. Then they’re automatically all-in, cards are flipped and the hand plays out. The winner of each flip advances to Day 2 and into the money.
Day 2 reverts to a traditional poker tournament format, with every player starting with the same stack of 160K chips. 1,088 entries on Day 1 translates into 136 players returning to duke it out the old fashioned way.
Among those who took their chance and flipped their way into the money are bracelet winner Yuval Bronshtein, Patrick Leonard, Dan Sepiol, Galen Hall, Mike Leah, Shannon Shorr, Jeremy Ausmus, Chance Kornuth and Chris Hunichen.
Shaun Deeb is also in the mix, as is his wife Ashley, and another we’d definitely keep an eye out for is Scott Seiver. The 2024 POY contender once famously tried and failed 43 times to win a flip to progress to Day 2, but this time has his bag and will be ready to launch a bid for a fourth bracelet of the summer when the action kicks off at 11am.
Photo of the day
The WSOP and the name Binion will always be connected. It seems fitting, therefore, that Jack Binion was on hand to start the action on the day the new record was set.
Hand of the day
AA vs. KK vs. QQ is the type of hand that usually ends up with one big winner and two bad beat stories. If you can escape from something like that you can be proud of yourself.
Kudos, then, to Robert Eichele and Barry Hutter, playing on the WSOP livestream, who managed to get away from their dominated pocket pairs.
With blinds at 1K/1.5K/1.5K, Robert Eichele had 
in the hole and raised to 3.5K from late position, getting a call from Phan in the hijack with 
and a raise to 12K from Barry Hutter on the button with 
. Eichele 4-bet to 29K before Phan put in the 5-bet.
That was enough to convince Eichele and Hutter that their big pairs were not quite big enough, and everyone emerged with their tournament lives.
Tweet of the day
$10 million would be sweeeet, but Aaron Barone says what most of us are thinking.
FYI, the answer is $15,000.
Video of the day
You know what they say: if you can’t spot the fish at the table… grab a pair of these.
The day in numbers
10,112
A new bar is set for the Main Event.
1
Hand you need to win for a min-cash in the Flip & Go event.
$1,000,000
The minimum payout if you make the Main Event final table.
Coming up on Day #43
On Tuesday the mega fields combine at last in the Main Event. No more late regs, no re-entries. As Chris Moneymaker says , Day 3 is when you have to start becoming more creative to build your stack, and as a result we expect some good players to make their mark and plenty more to fall by the wayside.
The $1K Flip & Go will also see players combine for the more traditional day of the tournament, following yesterday’s random flips. They’ll play 30-minute levels from 11am, and won’t stop until they find a winner. Another tourney combining multiple starting flights is the $600 Ultra Stack, where Michael Bell brings in the biggest stack (2,365,000) for a healthy lead at the top of the counts. Day 2 will likely be a long one, and they’ll need another day after that to get things done for good.
The $1.5K Eight-Game Mix will crown a victor, and with seven players remaining it shouldn’t take as long as the Flip & Go. But many of these are limit games, and many players are stone cold crushers, so we’re not going to guess when this one will end.
Two more live events get started on Day 43, with the $1K Mystery Bounty PLO tournament - a new one for 2024 - launching with the first of two starting flights, and the $5K NLH starting at 2pm. There’s also a $1K online bracelet event, the NLH Championship, up and running from 3:30pm.
Day #42 gallery
Ongoing events
Event #81: $10,000 MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold'em World Championship (Day 2d)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Livingston | 750,500 |
| 2 | Tyler Hatchel | 679,000 |
| 3 | Donovan Dean | 634,500 |
| 4 | Shuyang Han | 604,000 |
| 5 | Charles Russell | 602,000 |
| 6 | Emilien Pitavy | 589,000 |
| 7 | Adam Friedman | 581,000 |
| 8 | Stephen Song | 577,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 15 | Alex Keating | 531,000 |
| 46 | Brian Hastings | 438,500 |
| 67 | Aram Zobian | 401,500 |
| 238 | Landon Tice | 292,000 |
| 271 | Phil Ivey | 283,500 |
| 275 | Dylan Linde | 283,000 |
| 372 | Daniel Smiljkovic | 255,000 |
Full chip counts at WSOP
Event #83: $1,500 Eight Game Mix (6-Handed)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Racener | 3,929,000 |
| 2 | Josh Arieh | 2,732,000 |
| 3 | Maxx Coleman | 1,893,000 |
| 4 | Marco Johnson | 1,228,000 |
| 5 | Garth Yettick | 1,217,000 |
| 6 | Xiaochuan Zhang | 740,000 |
| 7 | John Cernuto | 640,000 |
Event #84: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold'em (Day 1b)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rohit Hukmani | 4,125,000 |
| 2 | Vinay Gautam | 1,910,000 |
| 3 | Micah Trexler | 1,800,000 |
| 4 | Paul Bausch | 1,690,000 |
| 5 | Casey Glick | 1,645,000 |
| 6 | Joseph Larson | 1,630,000 |
| 7 | Leonardo Drago | 1,605,000 |
| 8 | Sungwoo Tae | 1,565,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 119 | Greg Raymer | 650,000 |
| 216 | Patrick Moulder | 445,000 |
| 364 | Dan Heimiller | 270,000 |
Full chip counts at WSOP
Event #85: $1,000 FLIP & GO No-Limit Hold'em Presented by GGPoker
All players advancing to Day 2 have the same chip stack of 160,000.
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)
- Event #80: $800 Independence Day Celebration - No-Limit Hold'em - Francis Anderson (USA)
- Event #82: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Aditya Agarwal (India)
