Winning the World Series of Poker Main Event is every poker player’s dream. It marks one lucky player out as a world champion forever. Their banner will hang inside the Horseshoe Las Vegas Event Center among the other legendary names in WSOP history.
It’s usually a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but for 13 players returning for Day 2abc at noon local time, they’ll be looking to defy the odds and do it all over again. They include 2019 champion Hossein Ensan, who takes a massive stack of 166,000 into the day that marks him out as one of the largest among the returning players. Other past champions who are back for Day 2 include Jerry Yang (118,800), Jamie Gold (111,100), Koray Aldemir (94,300), Joe Hachem (72,000), Phil Hellmuth (66,700), Chris Moneymaker (64,300), Robert Varkonyi (58,000), Scott Blumstein (53,800), Johnny Chan (45,000), Qui Nguyen (39,000), Greg Merson (36,800), and Jim Bechtel (31,300).
The four starting flights saw more than 9,200 players take their shot at poker glory, making this already the second-largest Main Event field in WSOP history with two more days of late registration remaining. A total of 4,274 players entered the first three starting flights, and 3,144 return to play today. Zyad Qasem (390,300), George Dolofan (314,000), and Joshua Feiger (311,900) were the three chip leaders from their respective opening days and are the three biggest stacks coming into today.
Day 2abc Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zyad Qasem | United States | 390,300 | 488 |
| 2 | George Dolofan | United States | 314,000 | 393 |
| 3 | Joshua Feiger | United States | 311,900 | 390 |
| 4 | Leonard Herrmann | Germany | 306,000 | 383 |
| 5 | Ardit Kurshumi | United States | 297,400 | 372 |
| 6 | Matthew Sabia | United States | 297,400 | 372 |
| 7 | Colin Beveridge | United States | 295,500 | 369 |
| 8 | Assaf Zeharia | Israel | 276,600 | 346 |
| 9 | Mo Nuwwarah | United States | 273,300 | |
| 10 | Patrick Hagenlocher | United States | 270,300 | 338 |
The rest of the field is littered with notable names who started their Main Event journey with a strong first day. They include recently-crowned two-time bracelet winner Frank Funaro (265,000), Arthur Morris (221,800), Connor Drinan (192,000), Erik Seidel (183,600), Phil Galfond (182,700), and Justin Bonomo (174,100). Canadian reality TV star and poker vlogger Jon Pardy (161,700) is also among the big stacks, as are Chris Brewer (156,800), Bin Weng (152,000), Adrian Mateos (143,100), Ben Lamb (124,600), and Jesse Lonis (113,900).
Poker commentator Jeff Platt will be pulling double duty today, both interviewing players and trying to build up his stack of 96,100. Daniel Negreanu, meanwhile, returns with a short stack of 37,900, but as history has shown, anything is possible with the deep structure and long days of the Main Event.
The action begins on Level 6 with blinds of 400-800 and an 800 big blind ante. The schedule for Day 2abc calls for five two-hour levels, with a 20-minute break after every level. There is also a 75-minute dinner break at the end of Level 8 around 6:40 p.m. Late registration remains open through the end of Level 7, when a starting stack will still be worth 50 big blinds.
The opening days of the Main Event are an atmosphere unlike anything else in poker, when amateurs and home game heroes get to fulfill their dreams of competing against the pros in the biggest tournament in the world. But on Day 2, that initial excitement gives way to a fight for survival as players try to set themselves up for a run at the title. Thousands of players survived the opening day, but the road to the bracelet is still a long one. For a select few, their journey is only just starting. For others, it will end here today.
Stay tuned as PokerNews follows the action throughout the day providing live updates and chip counts from the 2024 WSOP Main Event.