2024 WSOP Day 41: Five Main Event Champions Fall on Day 2abc

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Jul 08, 2024 6 min read

Day 41 of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas saw thousands of poker players enter the building with high hopes of becoming a WSOP champion.

However, as is the nature of tournament poker, only a select few progressed in their respective events, with most left bending their friends' ears about bad beats and the like.

India's Aditya Agarwal came out on top in Event #82: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em a minute or so before 3:00 a.m. The grueling day was a direct result of 214 players returning for Day 2, and the plan to play down to a winner.

Six players remained at 2:00 a.m. as the WSOP floor staff considered their options, but a flurry of activity ultimately resulted in five bust-outs in the space of an hour, and Agarwal came away with the victory, $189,661 in prize money, and his first WSOP bracelet.

Anthony Marsico Leads the 2024 WSOP Main Event

Another 206 players bought into Day 2abc of Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship during late registration, meaning 3,349 hopefuls were in their seats at one stage. Those latecomers boosted the total attendance to 9,493, just 550 short of last year's record-breaking 10,043 entrants. With late registration open on Day 2d, there's an outside chance this Main Event could become the biggest ever.

Regardless of what happens on Day 2d, Anthony Marsico will forever be able to brag to his friends that he led the World Championship on Day 2abc. Marsico finished fourth in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship earlier in the 2024 WSOP. He informed PokerNews that he built his massive 797,000 stack when an opponent four-bet all-in for 200,000 with what turned out to be ace-king when Marsico held pocket kings. Big Slick failed to crack those cowboys, and Marsico never looked back.

A bunch of past Main Event champions returned to the felt on Day 2abc, each looking to become a double Main Event winner. Unfortunately, Jamie Gold, Joe Hachem, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Moneymaker, and Qui Nguyen won't be able to achieve this feat until 2025 at the earliest because they busted at various points in the day.

However, a two-time Main Event title is still available for Hossein Ensan (353,000), Koray Aldemir (242,000), and Scott Blumstein (236,000).

Among the 1,549 Day 2abc survivors are such stars as Diogo Veiga (615,500), John Hennigan (461,500), John Duthie (419,500), Parker Talbot (416,500), Nacho Barbero (375,500), Bin Weng (350,500), Adrian Mateos (330,000), Erik Seidel (319,000), David "Bakes" Baker (258,000), and Daniel Negreanu (95,000).

Day 2d starts at 12:00 p.m. local time on July 8, with Day 3 scheduled for 12:00 p.m. local time on July 9.

Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship Day 2abc Chip Counts

Marco Johnson Claims $1,500 8-Game Chip Lead; Viktor Blom Second

Mixed game specialist Marco Johnson has got off to a flying start in Event #83: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed, bagging up a tournament-leading stack of 325,300 after 15 40-minute levels. Some 494 players bought in, 103 survived, and Johnson out-chips them all.

Johnson won the second of his two bracelets in 2016 but has come agonizingly close to adding a third since then. There's still plenty of poker to be played in this event, but Johnson will now fancy his chances of completing a bracelet hat trick.

Viktor Blom, affectionately known as "Isildur1," is a player hunting for his first piece of WSOP hardware. The hyper-aggressive Swede had bagged up big Day 1 big stacks in several events this summer before going on to cash seven times, including three final table appearances. Blom finished Day 1 of this event with 296,600 chips, trailing only Johnson in the counts.

Scott Seiver (253,700) returns to the fray in fifth place on Day 2. Seiver has won three bracelets at this series alone and would become the first player in history to win four at the same series if he manages to get the job done here. It would take a brave person to bet against the future Hall of Famer despite a bunch of talented opponents standing in his way.

Those opponents include Qiang Xu (251,800), Calen McNeil (221,000), Jared Bleznick (168,300), John Cernuto (145,200), Dylan Weisman (118,300), John Racener (103,100), Josh Arieh (93,500), Maxx Coleman (57,100), and short-stack Yuri Dzivielvski (17,600).

Day 2 begins at 12:00 p.m. local time on July 8, with ten hour-long levels scheduled.

Event #83: $1,500 Eight-Game Mix Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts

Michael Bell Leads the $600 Ultra Stack After Day 1a; Shannon Elizabeth Crashes Out

Actress Shannon Elizabeth added some star quality to the field of Event #84: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold'em on Day 1a, but she won't be present and correct on Day 2 after bowing out before the day's end. Elizabeth graced the 2024 WSOP with her presence, hoping to add to her list of poker cashes. She last cashed at the WSOP in 2010, finishing second for $79,776 in the $5,000 Ante Up For Africa Charity Event, but she couldn't get going in this tournament.

Where Elizabeth faltered, Michael Bell shone brightly, bagging up a massive stack of 2,365,000 chips at the close of play. Lee Clark (1,620,000) finished almost 750,000 chips behind, with Yijie Zhang (1,590,000) taking up the third podium spot.

Although the exact number of Day 1a entrants is still being calculated, we do know 284 players made it through 20 30-minute levels. Bhavin Khatri (1,555,000) and Felix Weis (1,485,000) bagged up the top five stacks, while Steve Wilkie (1,340,000) finished in 11th, having updated his chips the MyStack throughout the day.

Elsewhere, Yucel Eminoglu (755,000), Kenny Hallaert (665,000), boxer Audley Harrison (595,000), Daniel Smiljkovic (595,000), and Mike Leah (220,000) punched their Day 2 tickets.

Day 1b starts at 2:00 p.m. local time on July 8, with those entrants playing 20 levels, each lasting 30-minutes.

Event #84: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold'em Top 10 Chip Counts

What to Expect on Day 42 of the 2024 WSOP

Unsurprisingly, Day 42 of the 2024 WSOP is dominated by the massive Main Event, with Day 2d of Event #81: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship taking up more than its fair share of tables at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. At least 3,823 players will take their seat, at least because late registration remains open until the end of the second level. Cards are in the air from 12:00 p.m. local time.

Day 2 of Event #83: $1,500 Eight Game Mix 6-Handed also shuffles up and deal at noon local time on July 8, with 103 players returning to their seats.

The fast-paced Event #84: $600 Ultra Stack No-Limit Hold'em plays out its second starting flight, with play commencing at 2:00 p.m. local time. Players sit down with 60,000 chips and blinds of only 100/200 and a 200 big blind ante, but levels increase every 30 minutes, and 20 such levels are scheduled.

Only one new event kicks off on July 8, Event #85: $1,000 Flip & Go No-Limit Hold'em presented by GGPoker. The "flip" part of the tournament starts at 10:00 a.m. local time, with Day 2, the "go" part, running from 11:00 a.m. on July 9. Dong Meng is the reigning champion having won $160,490 in 2023. You may recall Scott Seiver lost an unlikely 43 flips in a row in 2022, failing to progress to Day 2 despite spending $43,000 to enter a $1,000 tournament! Here's to him and everyone else having better luck in 2024!

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• Tags WSOP24 $25K Fantasy Anthony Marsico Chris Moneymaker Dong Meng Hossein Ensan Jamie Gold Joe Hachem Josh Arieh Koray Aldemir Scott Seiver Viktor Blom Maxx Coleman Marco Johnson
• Related Players Jamie GoldJoe HachemChris MoneymakerScott SeiverJosh AriehViktor Blom