The WSOP Main Event started a full week ago, but such is the size and scale of the tournament that we only just played Day 3. It’s not that time moves more slowly - although it might feel that way while your opponent decides whether or not to call your bluff - but there are just so many players.
A record-breaking 10,112 of them, to be precise. To give everyone a chance to play this famously slow-paced tourney requires four Day 1s and two Day 2s. But then comes Day 3, and we all play together.
Of course, that’s not to say you’re guaranteed to find a household name at your table; Day 3 started with 3,617 players, so if you were hoping to avoid the likes of Phil Ivey, for example, your chances aren’t bad.
But as the field thins out you’ll find fewer and fewer soft spots. The tank may be large, but it’s filled with sharks. And it’s shrinking all the time.
Day 3 ends short of the bubble
3,617 players started the Main Event’s Day 3 and 1,524 survived it, but none of them could sleep entirely soundly. That’s because play ended agonizingly short of the money bubble, with the $15,000 min-cash not kicking in until the magic 1,517 mark.
Chip counts in a tournament of this size are understandably tricky to nail down with 100% accuracy, but certain players will always have eyes on their chips. That’s how we know at least a few poker titans will be returning for Day 4 perilously short-stacked.
Erik Seidel (78K) and Daniel Negreanu (74K) will be among those trying to make things happen quickly when they come back to fewer than 10 big blinds. We can’t imagine a min-cash carries huge weight with these two legends, so either a quick double-up or a crash-out in a blaze of glory is probably more likely for these two than blinding out with a whimper.
Among those sitting closer to the middle of the pack at this stage are Phil Ivey (597K), Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau (504K), Koray Aldemir (443K) and Joe McKeehen (420K), all of whom are sitting with 50-75 big blinds. Not in immediate danger, and capable of doing some major damage, but knowing that they’re potentially one wrong flop from disaster.
At the top of the end-of-the-day counts, there look to be around 70 players with over a million chips - which at this point is around 125 big blinds. Among them are some eminently recognizable names and faces, including Francis Anderson (1.6M) - a bracelet winner in last week’s Independence Day Celebration event - Ren Lin (1.5M), Nacho Barbero (1.2M), Adam Friedman (1.1M) and Naoya Kihara (1M).
Oh, and did we mention PokerOrg’s own Terrance Reid? The man we call TJ isn’t just a great poker writer, he’s also an excellent player and is sitting on a stack of 1.2M heading into Day 4. Many members of the PokerOrg Player Advisory Board are also making waves, including Jason Somerville (600K), Jonathan Little (320K) and Ari Engel (350K).
With the ever-present qualifiers that a) chip counts are only as accurate as the WSOP can make them, and b) we’re still nowhere near the business end of this particular marathon, the current chip leader is Francisco Perez Moreno, a Spaniard based in the UK with lifetime earnings of over $500K. Moreno is the only player bringing a stack of over 2 million into Day 4, which once again begins at noon with the bubble expected to burst shortly afterwards.
Arieh almost wins bracelet #7, Yettick wins bracelet #1
The $1,500 Eight Game Mix event came to a climax on Tuesday as the 494 entrants ended up with just two, playing for the bracelet and the $131,061 first prize.
Rewind a few hours and the ridiculously talented final six included five players with WSOP wins already under their belts, almost all of them multiple winners. Josh Arieh (6), John Cernuto (3), John Racener (2), Maxx Coleman (1) and Marco Johnson (2) would possibly be forgiven for assuming that Garth Yettick (0) was the weak link in the chain and would fall short, but when it mattered Yettick would prove to be anything but a pushover.
Proving once again that reputations are worth less than chips on the table, Yettick ended up heads-up with Arieh and ultimately triumphed for his first WSOP bracelet. Yettick (0) became Yettick (1) during a round of no-limit hold’em, in a hand that neither player could easily get away from. Arieh’s 
started off behind Yettick’s 
and stayed there all the way as the board ran out 
.
"I definitely feel like I was super lucky,” the triumphant Yettick told WSOP, “I was very short stacked through the majority of yesterday. Whenever the chips did go in, I just won the races. It feels great, winning the bracelet and winning the money too. I'm just always happy to be playing poker."
Chance Kornuth makes a dream come true with bracelet #4
The $1,000 Flip & Go event, presented by GGPoker, spent its first day as a series of single-table all-in tourneys, each advancing one player to Day 2 where they’d already be in the money. 136 of these tourneys took place on Day 1, which meant 136 players returned for Day 2 - among them a rogues gallery of serial winners including Shaun Deeb, Mike Leah, Jeremy Ausmus and Chris Brewer.
The day played out as a traditional, if speedy, NLH tournament, with 80bb stacks for all players and 30 minute levels ensuring a timely finish. That finish saw Chance Kornuth heads-up with Thailand’s Kannapong Thanarattrakul, and after a summer of deep runs and near-misses, Kornuth finally bagged his first bracelet of 2024, his fourth overall, and the $155,446 first prize.
Was it meant to be? Kornuth shared a story with PokerOrg about a dream his brother had the night before - something about a gold bracelet in Chance’s hand, thrust into the air…
Ultra Stack, $5K NLH and $1K Mystery Bounty PLO play on
Elsewhere in the Paris and Horseshoe casinos, three more WSOP events were taking place, each of which will be returning on Wednesday for more.
The $600 Ultra Stack chopped 6,628 entries down to 788 on its first day, then trimmed that right back to just 19 yesterday. Everyone who returned for Day 2 was in the money for at least a $1,201 min-cash, while the 19 who come back for Day 3 are guaranteed a payout of $13,720. Axel Orellana of the US has the chip lead but won’t be the only one with an eye on the $343,010 up top.
The $1K Mystery Bounty PLO event saw 1,701 entries for its first starting flight, 193 of whom will advance to Thursday’s final day. In the meantime there's a Day 1b taking place on Wednesday, giving PLO lovers one of their last chances to play the four-card game at the WSOP this summer (there’s a $1,500 PLO event starting tomorrow, and a $3,000 PLO event next Monday).
The $5K NLH also kicked off on Tuesday, playing 20 x 30 minute levels during which 1,042 players were boiled down to 88. A big Brazilian presence in this field resulted in two of the three biggest overnight stacks in the hands of the country’s Felipe Ketzer (2nd, 1,380,000) and Yuri Dzivielevski (3rd, 1,375,000), the latter of whom has already won some hardware this summer in the $3K 9-Game Mix.
Felipe Boianovsky (1,795,000) has the chip lead, and with the likes of Patrick Leonard (4th, 1,370,000), Galen Hall (11th, 1,170,000) and Punnat Punsri (17th, 910,000) still very much in the mix, this will be one to watch for sure.
Photo of the day
We’ve heard plenty of talk this year around masks at the table, but surely this is not what they meant.
Hand of the day
With over $28M in lifetime winnings, it seems Danny Tang has figured out how to make his big pairs stand up when it counts.
In level 14 of the Main Event, with blinds of 3K/5K/5K, Tang opened to 11k from UTG with 
. The player in the cutoff called with 
before the button shoved for 71K holding 
. Tang came over the top to put both his opponents at risk.
The 
was not exactly what Tang was looking for, then, but the on the turn saw him safe but for a miracle one-outer. The 
was no miracle, and Tang added piles to his stack.
Tang’s currently sitting around 75th with a stack just shy of a million.
Tweet of the day
I’m sure I recognize that name from somewhere…
(Self-reporting has its drawbacks)
Video of the day
Dan Bilzerian comment section be like…
The day in numbers
10
Days remain in this year’s World Series of Poker
1,517
Players will finish in the money in the Main Event (stay focused - almost there!)
$15,000
The min-cash in this year’s Main Event
666
Min-cashes the winner will receive ($10M)
Coming up on Day #44
The $600 Ultra Stack will return and play to a winner ($343,010) on Wednesday, as will the $5K NLH ($785,486). The $1K Mystery Bounty PLO event will also play on Wednesday, but won’t crown a winner - the tournament’s second starting flight will play 17 x 40 minute levels before the field combines on Thursday to see things out.
Event #88: $10,000 Eight Game Mix should bring some big names back to the tables, with the first of its three days kicking off at 2pm. This is a new event for 2024, and will feature 3 x 40 minute levels, followed by 10 x 60 minute levels, after which levels will last 90 minutes. Why? Got to keep the players on their toes - it’s been a long summer.
Online, it’s the $5,300 High Roller Championship from 3:30pm.
Day #43 gallery
Results
Event #83: $1,500 Eight Game Mix (6-Handed)
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garth Yettick | $131,061 |
| 2 | Josh Arieh | $85,667 |
| 3 | John Cernuto | $57,249 |
| 4 | John Racener | $39,135 |
| 5 | Maxx Coleman | $27,379 |
| 6 | Marco Johnson | $19,614 |
| 7 | Xiaochuan Zhang | $14,397 |
| 8 | Joseph Heinzmann | $10,834 |
Full results at WSOP
Event #85: $1,000 FLIP & GO No-Limit Hold'em Presented by GGPoker
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chance Kornuth | $155,446 |
| 2 | Kannapong Thanarattrakul | $103,633 |
| 3 | Mike Leah | $74,062 |
| 4 | Sean Whelan | $53,662 |
| 5 | Xiaoyao Ma | $39,428 |
| 6 | Filipp Khavin | $29,382 |
| 7 | Ian Hamilton | $22,213 |
| 8 | John Armbrust | $17,039 |
Full results at WSOP
Ongoing events
Event #84: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold'em
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Axel Orellana | 57,500,000 |
| 2 | Juan Garibaldi | 40,400,000 |
| 3 | Jason Wester | 31,200,000 |
| 4 | Ricky Robinson | 30,600,000 |
| 5 | Ricardo Lopez | 25,700,000 |
| 6 | Panagiotis Mavritsakis | 25,300,000 |
| 7 | Arnold Park | 22,000,000 |
| 8 | Roberto Antelo | 21,600,000 |
Full chip counts at WSOP
Event #86: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha (Day 1a)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gene Grieshaber | 1,211,000 |
| 2 | Daisuke Ogita | 1,205,000 |
| 3 | Ramzi Jelassi | 1,171,000 |
| 4 | Dimas Martinez | 1,114,000 |
| 5 | Brian Brunner | 1,064,000 |
| 6 | Peter Siemund | 1,003,000 |
| 7 | Jinghan Yu | 936,000 |
| 8 | Trent Kelso | 914,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 43 | Patrick Moulder | 461,000 |
| 46 | Cliff Josephy | 446,000 |
| 79 | Dan Shak | 356,000 |
| 141 | Jim Collopy | 206,000 |
Full chip counts at WSOP
Event #87: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Felipe Boianovsky | 1,795,000 |
| 2 | Felipe Ketzer | 1,380,000 |
| 3 | Yuri Dzivielevski | 1,375,000 |
| 4 | Patrick Leonard | 1,370,000 |
| 5 | Xue Song | 1,350,000 |
| 6 | Arie Kliper | 1,325,000 |
| 7 | Fahredin Mustafov | 1,300,000 |
| 8 | Ramin Hajiyev | 1,230,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 9 | Artur Martirosian | 1,190,000 |
| 11 | Galen Hall | 1,170,000 |
| 17 | Punnat Punsri | 910,000 |
| 23 | Eliot Hudon | 745,000 |
| 37 | Faraz Jaka | 600,000 |
| 52 | Alex Foxen | 430,000 |
| 73 | Harrison Gimbel | 250,000 |
Full chip counts at WSOP
Event #81: $10,000 MAIN EVENT No-Limit Hold'em World Championship (Day 3)
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francisco Perez Moreno | 2,187,000 |
| 2 | Justin Datloff | 1,819,000 |
| 3 | Alex Livingston | 1,808,000 |
| 4 | Marcelo Tadeu Aziz Junior | 1,697,000 |
| 5 | Matt Stout | 1,670,000 |
| 6 | Francis Anderson | 1,655,000 |
| 7 | Nazar Buhaiov | 1,631,000 |
| 8 | Diogo Coelho | 1,631,000 |
| Notables | ||
| 9 | Ren Lin | 1,570,000 |
| 32 | Terrance Reid | 1,285,000 |
| 63 | Naoya Kihara | 1,020,000 |
| 245 | Brian Rast | 659,000 |
| 309 | Phil Ivey | 597,000 |
| 399 | Tony Dunst | 517,000 |
| 1451 | Daniel Negreanu | 74,000 |
Full chip counts at 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)
- Event #80: $800 Independence Day Celebration - No-Limit Hold'em - Francis Anderson (USA)
- Event #82: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Aditya Agarwal (India)
- Event #83: $1,500 Eight Game Mix (6-Handed) - Garth Yettick (USA)
- Event #85: $1,000 FLIP & GO No-Limit Hold'em Presented by GGPoker - Chance Kornuth (USA)
