It finally happened. Yesterday, in The Bahamas, the moment arrived when you could no longer register for the $26K Super Main Event.
It’s been a months-long ride, filled with incentives such as riskless Bitcoin buy-ins, complimentary accommodation, $1M freeroll tickets, guaranteed staking deals and free lunches. There have been multiple re-entries available on multiple days, a best-stack-forward policy, online flights, super satellites, live satellites…
The WSOP and GGPoker have been making it as easy as possible to get a seat in this one, and with the biggest live prize pool ever to be guaranteed, it’s obvious why. $50,000,000 is a big number, and 2,000 entries were needed to cover the guarantee. Now that registration is finally over, did they make it?
The answer is no, but that they came close enough for it not to sting too badly. Live entrants totalled 1,378 of the 2,000 needed, and with a reported 600 players contributing to the pot via online Day 1s, the shortfall looks to be ‘only’ around 22 players, or half a million dollars in real terms.
Considering the WPT missed its $40M guarantee in the 2023 World Championship by around $2.4M - which was quickly chalked up to good will, ambition and giving back to the community - for the WSOP to come up short by just a few tables’ worth of players should be viewed as an achievement, not an embarassment.
That said, when it came to crunchtime at the end of level 13, the end of late registration did drag on longer than might have been expected. A little extra time was found for last-minute satellites, last-second rake-free flipouts and last-gasp re-entries. But when you’ve spent months running promotions, satellites and qualifiers, what’s a few more minutes between friends?
You can read the full story of the WSOP Super Main Event in numbers here.
Hellmuth stone bubbles an action-packed Day 2
With rumors of an overlay filling the room, the action at the tables was often on the wild side as those who could afford it fired multiple bullets in quick succession, with the aim of building a big stack early. For the non-professionals without deep pockets, perhaps playing the biggest event of their lives, it must have been surreal to see so many established names taking risks not normally associated with a $26K price tag.
Once registration was over and the hail of bullets died down, the magic number of 207 was announced as the target for the packed room to aim for. 207 would get paid a min-cash of $50K, and the day would break as soon as the bubble burst.
When that moment came it would be a familiar face who missed out on the money. Phil Hellmuth’s well-known love of late registration probably did him few favors, as he started with no more than 20 big blinds for his $26K investment - and then re-entered with only 12.5 bigs. He wasn’t the only pro trying to build a castle from a grain of sand, but when you’re Phil Hellmuth people tend to pay you a little more attention than the average high roller.
Hellmuth held out as long as he could, which proved to be almost long enough… but not quite. Out in 208th place, Hellmuth’s quest for the next WSOP gold bracelet will have to wait.
Negreanu makes waves in choppy waters
Other big guns which misfired on Day 2 included the start-of-day chip leader Fedor Holz. The German high roller had built the largest stack of all the Day 1 live qualifiers, but wasn’t able to make it over the line. Others who fell on Day 2 included the world’s #1 tournament money winner Bryn Kenney, meaning the #2 player on that list, Justin Bonomo, will hit Day 3 with the opportunity to close the gap at the top of the all-time tournament rankings.
A top prize of $6,000,000 has been confirmed, with the final table of 8 each picking up at least $1M. Among the stars still seeking the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow are the likes of Daniel Negreanu, who briefly held the chip lead and has close to 5.8M chips, Chris Moneymaker, who has 3.5M, Stephen Chidwick with 3.9M, and Triton Million winner Alejandro ‘Papo MC’ Lococo with 2.6M.
Liv Boeree, a former EPT winner and PokerStars pro who hasn't been seen often at the tables in recent years, has made a charge into the top 10 chip counts, while Justin Bonomo has 4.6M with which to close the distance to Bryn Kenney’s crown.
The top of the chip counts at the start of Day 3 is dominated by Lithuania’s Gytis Lazauninkas with 15.4M chips, ahead of the UK’s Matthew Belcher with 11.6M. With 90 players expected to join today from the online Day 1s, blind levels will be rolled back to give those players who missed the chance to build a stack on Day 2 a fighting chance.
WSOP $26K Super Main Event - top 10 chip counts after Day 2
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gytis Lazauninkas | 15,430,000 |
| 2 | Matthew Belcher | 11,640,000 |
| 3 | Sirzat Hissou | 11,225,000 |
| 4 | Juan Pardo | 10,740,000 |
| 5 | Gediminas Dirmantas | 9,515,000 |
| 6 | Christopher Klodnicki | 9,450,000 |
| 7 | Liv Boeree | 8,275,000 |
| 8 | Alisson Piekazewicz | 8,270,000 |
| 9 | Joseph Cheong | 8,270,000 |
| 10 | Matthew Wantman | 7,700,000 |
Amid the mayhem of a hectic Day 2 in the Super Main, the other event scheduled for yesterday - the first starting flight of the $10K GGMillion$ - did not run due to lack of numbers.
A closer view
Our team on the ground at the Atlantis Resort is busy each day filling the PokerOrg Instant Live feed with the most weird, wild and wonderful stories we see at the tables and beyond.
One sight which might hit players of a certain vintage right in the feels was PokerStars co-founder Isai Scheinberg in action at the featured table, sat next to former PokerStars employee-of-the-month Daniel Negreanu.
Not only that, but sat over on the next table was the icon of the poker boom, Chris Moneymaker, who was playing at the same table as another poker legend, Phil Hellmuth. Phil was happy to share the view from the main stage, where he ran into EPT founder John Duthie and a dancing Daniel Negreanu.
Keep it locked to PokerOrg Instant for all the updates, chip counts and peeks behind-the-scenes when Day 3 of the Super Main Event begins at noon today.
You can catch all the action from yesterday’s stream below.
