Day 45 of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas had everything you could want from a poker festival. Bad beats, big fields, and superstar players turning out in droves. Someone winning a bracelet was the only thing missing from the day’s shenanigans.
You should be surprised to learn that most of the craziness went on during Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship, where the field was reduced to only 160. Stephen Song remains at the top of the chips counts, but those counts do not feature Adrian Mateos‘ name because he was eliminated in dramatic fashion.
Be sure to check out PokerNews‘ dedicated WSOP Main Event recap when you get the chance.
Friedman Leads But Hansen’s Lurking in the $10K Eight Game Championship
Event #88: $10,000 Eight Game Mix Championship progressed to its third and final day, and only 22 players remain in the hunt for the title, the $413,446 top prize, and the accompanying bracelet.
Adam Friedman (1,098,000) hold the advantage going into Day 3 as he attempts to rescue what has been, in his own words, a frustrating summer for the mixed game Goliath. Two-time bracelet winner Tom Koral (1,055,000) returns in second place, but it is the superstar in third who has gotten tongues wagging.
Gus Hansen (948,000) doesn’t play as many tournaments as he once did, but he flicked in the $10,000 to enter this one. It seems like a solid decision on the Great Dane’s part because he has locked in $22,643 and has a realistic chance of adding a second bracelet to his wrist. Hansen’s only bracelet was won 14 years ago in a £10,350 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up event at WSOP Europe in London.
As you would expect, the remaining players read like a who’s who of the poker world. Ali Eslami (834,000), who was involved in a controversial bubble hand, is fourth, with Maxx Coleman (741,000), Yuri Dzivielevski (626,000), Fu Wong (612,000), Danny Wong (608,000), Maksim Pisarenko (539,000), and Calvin Anderson (489,000) rounding out the top ten.
The final day shuffles up and deals at 2:00 p.m. local time on July 12, so return to PokerNews then to see if Hansen can get the job done in this brand new event.
Event #88: $10,000 Eight Game Mix Championship
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adam Friedman | United States | 1,098,000 | 27 |
| 2 | Tom Koral | United States | 1,055,000 | 26 |
| 3 | Gus Hansen | Denmark | 948,000 | 24 |
| 4 | Ali Eslami | United States | 839,000 | 21 |
| 5 | Maxx Coleman | United States | 741,000 | 19 |
| 6 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 626,000 | 16 |
| 7 | Fu “Grasshopper” Wong | United States | 612,000 | 15 |
| 8 | Danny Wong | United States | 608,000 | 15 |
| 9 | Maksim Pisarenko | Russian Federation | 539,000 | 13 |
| 10 | Calvin Anderson | United States | 489,000 | 12 |
As predicted in yesterday’s WSOP recap, Event #86: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha failed to crown its champion on Day 2; the 463 returning players proved too many to whittled to a winner.
When the tournament staff called time on proceedings, ten players had chips in front of them, but nobody had more than Sascha Wilhelm (36,250,000). Bryce Yockey, hoping for his third bracelet, is in second place (33,950,000), with Adam Adams (25,625,000) completing the podium places.
Ten mystery bounties remain in the pot: one is worth $5,000, while nine weigh in at $1,000. Shout-out to Emmanuel Poznanski and Weimin Hou, who both pulled $100,000 in mystery bounties before they fell by the wayside.
The cards are back in the air from 1:00 p.m. local time on July 12, and a champion will 100% be crowned before the end of the night! Stay tuned!
Event #86: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha Final Day Chip Counts
| Place | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sascha Wilhelm | Germany | 36,250,000 | 73 |
| 2 | Bryce Yockey | United States | 33,950,000 | 68 |
| 2 | Adam Adams | United States | 25,625,000 | 51 |
| 4 | Brandon Caputo | United States | 16,625,000 | 33 |
| 5 | Amit Benyacov | Israel | 15,850,000 | 32 |
| 6 | James Cavanaugh | United States | 15,700,000 | 31 |
| 7 | Oshri Lahmani | Israel | 12,250,000 | 25 |
| 8 | Daisuke Ogita | Japan | 10,675,000 | 21 |
| 9 | Robert Cowen | United States | 2,975,000 | 6 |
| 10 | Juan Lapido | Spain | 1,575,000 | 3 |
Moncek Bags Top 10 Stack in the $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship
Michael Moncek will sleep well tonight after bagging up a top ten stack in Event #89: $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship, another new addition to the 2024 WSOP schedule. Day 1a of this tournament attracted 1,161 entrants, with 324 progressing to Day 2.
Moncek bagged and tagged 357,000 chips at the close of play, enough for ninth place in the overnight counts. Jonathan Newman (573,500) leads the way followed by Herve Gouzil (505,000), the only other players to surpass the half-a-million chip barrier.
Dozens of top-tier players chose Day 1a of this event to continue their quest to capture some WSOP hardware. Many are continuing on that journey, including Florian Duta (389,000), Adam Hendrix (166,500), Taylor Paur (161,500), Samuel Laskowitz (156,000), Jake Schwartz (134,000), Qiang Xu (102,500), Dong Chen (72,000), and three-time bracelet winner Chad Eveslage (34,000).
Day 1a also saw Hall of Famer Billy Baxter (86,500) roll back the years and reach Day 2, while Main Event winner Scott Blumstein (43,000) progressed, albeit with one of the shorter stacks.
This new event’s second and final flight kicks off at 10:00 a.m. local time on July 12. Entrants will play the same ten 60-minute levels before bagging up for the night. A field in excess of 2,000 is highly likely, which will lead to a substantial top prize, as almost $3.1 million has already been collected.
Event #89: $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Newman | Canada | 573,500 | 229 |
| 2 | Herve Gouzil | France | 505,000 | 202 |
| 3 | Mantas Ungulaitis | Lithuania | 451,500 | 181 |
| 4 | Maher Achour | United States | 433,000 | 173 |
| 5 | Florian Dimitrie Duta | Romania | 389,000 | 156 |
| 6 | Bahar Musa | Bulgaria | 381,500 | 153 |
| 7 | Rytis Pranarauskas | Lithuania | 360,000 | 144 |
| 8 | Edgaras Kausinis | Lithuania | 360,000 | 144 |
| 9 | Michael Moncek | United States | 357,000 | 143 |
| 10 | Ananth Ganesan | United States | 349,000 | 140 |
David Shaw Leads the $1,500 PLO 6-Max After an Explosive Day’s Action
What happens when you combine a six-handed Pot-Limit Omaha tournament with a 40-minute clock? You see more than 93% of the field bust, at least that’s what happened in Event #90: $1,500 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha. Some 1,304 entrants started but only 89 made it through Day 1 unscathed.
David Shaw (1,028,000) was the only player to bag up a seven-figure stack, although a handful of the chasing pack came close to achieving the same feat. Billy Tarango (983,000), Zachary Reinbold (964,000), and Long Tran (962,000) are just one raised pot away from claiming the chip lead.
Germany’s Sebastian Pauli (547,000) finished outside the top ten, with Pedro Neves (456,000) scrapping into the top 20. Elsewhere, Kyle Bowker (410,000), Mike Leah (410,000), David Docherty (338,000), Nenad Medic (289,000), Brad Ruben (271,000), Jessica Teusl (171,000), Chris Hunichen (168,000), and Ludovic Geilich (116,000) survived.
John Racener (126,000) is also through to Day 2 where he’ll have an interesting situation on his hands. Racener bagged in this event but also reached Day 2 of the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. Multi-tabling is not confined the online poker world it seems.
Multitasking Racener and the other 88 surviving players return to the action from 12:00 p.m. local time on July 12 to play another ten levels, which extend to 60 minutes from that point.
Event #90: $1,500 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Shaw | United States | 1,028,000 | 103 |
| 2 | Billy Tarango | United States | 983,000 | 98 |
| 3 | Zachary Reinbold | United States | 964,000 | 96 |
| 4 | Long Tran | United States | 962,000 | 96 |
| 5 | Thomas Paul | United States | 937,000 | 94 |
| 6 | Alfred Karlsson | Sweden | 880,000 | 88 |
| 7 | Tsugunari Toma | Japan | 816,000 | 82 |
| 8 | J Ward | United States | 799,000 | 80 |
| 9 | Jannick Schob | United States | 775,000 | 78 |
| 10 | Arie Kliper | Israel | 766,000 | 77 |
“ODB” Baker is the Man to Catch After Day 1 of the $3K H.O.R.S.E.
David “ODB” Baker finished top of the chip counts after Day 1 of Event #91: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. Day 1 attracted 357 entrants, with only 141 of those starters reaching Day 2. Baker returns with 353,500 chips, over 100,000 more than Paul Campbell (251,000) in second place.
$25K Fantasy Draft pick Dario Alioto (21,500) returns in the top 10, while recent first-time bracelet winner Arash Ghaneian (199,500) continues to ride his hot streak and will sit back down a big bet outside the top ten.
Lower down the counts but not out of contention just yet are such luminaries as the aforementioned John Racener (189,000), David Williams (179,500), Andrew Kelsall (157,500), Scotty Nguyen (155,500), Jeremy Ausmus (147,500), Brian Hastings (142,500), 11-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey (129,500), Patrick Leonard (101,000), Scott Seiver (78,000), and Hall of Famer Barry Greenstein (67,000).
The 141 horses will hear the starter’s pistol at 1:00 p.m. local time on July 12. Once it sounds, another ten hour-long levels are on the cards.
Event #91: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David “ODB” Baker | United States | 353,500 |
| 2 | Paul Campbell | United States | 251,000 |
| 3 | Jared Hyman | United States | 220,000 |
| 4 | Ariel Mantel | Argentina | 215,500 |
| 5 | Sean Yu | United States | 213,500 |
| 6 | Dario Alioto | Italy | 212,500 |
| 7 | Jonathan Williams | United States | 205,500 |
| 8 | Curtis Phelps | United States | 204,500 |
| 9 | Nghia Le | United States | 202,500 |
| 10 | Mark Gregorich | United States | 201,500 |
What to Expect on Day 46 of the 2024 WSOP
Main Event Fever tightens its grip on the poker community on July 12, with 160 players returning for another five two-hour levels. That should be plenty of time to reduce the field into double digits and see the surviving players lock in six-figure sums.
Event #86: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha will award its bracelet, as will Event #88: $10,000 Eight Game Mix Championship.
Day 1b of Event #89: $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship should see upwards of 2,000 fresh faces enter the mix, with Event #90: $1,500 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha and Event #91: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. playing out their respective Day 2s.
One new event starts on July 12, Event #92: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em. The final high roller of the series should prove popular and could even surpass the 176 entries from last summer. Alex Kulev is the reigning champion; he collected $2,087,073 in 2023.