Action was on the turn with a pot of at least 65,000 on a board of 9♥A♦9♣A♥. Ryosuke Sakai bet 26,500 from the cutoff and Adam Friedman came along with the call to swell the pot more.
The river was the 10♥. Friedman checked and Sakai checked behind after moment.
Friedman tabled the A♠J♠ for aces full as he took the nice pot to bring his stack back towards the very top of the counts after it had taken a slight dip in the early part of the level.
A player opened to 4,500 from early position and in the hijack, Scott Stewart three-bet to 12,000 which his opponent called.
The flop rolled out K♣10♦2♠ and the early position player check-called a bet of 9,000 from Stewart.
On the 5♦ turn, the early position player checked once more over to Stewart who sized up to 28,000. His opponent looked down at his chips and counted them out before ultimately deciding to fold his hand.
The start of day chip leader and 6-time WSOPC ring winner took down the pot.
Heads-up on a flop of J♦6♣Q♦ and around 35,000 in the pot, a player in the small blind bet 21,000 and Michael Melone called in the cutoff.
The turn was the Q♠ and the small blind checked to Melone who bet 26,500. His opponent called and checked again on the 3♠ river.
Melone took several minutes before he moved all in for 45,000. "I guess you had to go all in at that point, huh," his opponent said as he then tanked for nearly five minutes.
He eventually folded and Melone took down the pot without a showdown.
Maxime Parys raised to 4,000 in middle position, Carlos Velasco three-bet to 11,000 in the hijack, and Parys called.
Both players checked the 10♠10♣2♦ flop and Parys also checked the 2♠ turn. Velasco then bet 13,000 and Parys called.
The river was the 3♥ and Velasco bet 30,000. Parys took a minute before calling as Velasco turned over K♠K♣. Parys mucked and Velasco took down the pot.
Around 60,000 was already in the pot as Emilien Pitavy and an opponent saw the turn on a board of 3♣6♥2♦10♠.
The button then bet 34,000 and Pitavy called in the cutoff. The river was the 3♦ and the cutoff bet another 77,000.
Pitavy took a minute before he called once more, opening up A♠K♠ for just ace-high. His opponent mucked and Pitavy took the massive pot to climb up past 600,000.
Today ends day 2d of the 2024 WSOP Event #81: $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold’em Championship. A total of 3,823 players occupied the seats at the beginning of the day with a total of 562 new entrants for the day. These numbers, combined with the other flights, brought the total entrants to 10,112, which is now the record for the biggest main event ever.
A total prize pool of $94,041,600 and will be divided among the final 1,517 players. Each one of those lucky few will receive a minimum of $15,000. When the field is reduced to just nine players, each one of them will be guaranteed $1,000,000, but all eyes are firmly placed on the whopping $10,000,000 to first place and the illustrious WSOP Main Event Championship bracelet.
WSOP 2024 Main Event Payouts
Place
Prize
Place
Prize
1
$10,000,000
81-125
$100,000
2
$6,000,000
126-134
$85,000
3
$4,000,000
135-162
$70,000
4
$3,000,000
163-224
$60,000
5
$2,500,000
225-287
$50,000
6
$2,000,000
288-311
$45,000
7
$1,500,000
312-350
$45,000
8
$1,250,000
351-413
$40,000
9
$1,000,000
414-476
$37,500
10-11
$800,000
477-539
$35,000
12-13
$600,000
540-602
$32,500
14-17
$450,400
603-665
$30,000
18-26
$350,000
666-764
$27,500
27-35
$300,000
765-863
$25,000
36-44
$250,000
864-950
$22,500
45-53
$200,000
951-1,008
$20,000
54-62
$160,000
1,009-1,250
$17,500
63-71
$140,000
1,251-1,517
$15,000
72-80
$120,000
The day began with the legendary Jack Binion unveiling the 2024 WSOP Championship bracelet, custom-made from over 400 grams of 10-karat yellow gold. The bracelet also contains 2,253 precious stones, including almost 2,000 diamonds. This year’s design also includes a removable golden face plate intended to serve as a card protector.
Jack Binion presented the WSOP Main Event bracelet and announced shuffle up and deal!
Circling the top of the field is Alex Livingston who, according to the WSOP's Day 3 seat draw, amassed 750,500 chips on Day 2d. Livingston is a $25K Fantasy Draft pick and a one-time WSOP bracelet winner, having captured the bracelet in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event at the 2022 WSOP. You may also recall that Livingston played his way to a third-place finish in the 2019 WSOP Main Event, banking $4 million, six years after finishing 13th for $451,398. The Canadian certainly has previous experience in this event.
End of Day 2d Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chips
Big Blinds
1
Alex Livingston
Canada
750,500
300
2
Tyler Hatchel
United States
679,000
272
3
Donovan Dean
United States
634,500
254
4
Shuyang Han
United States
604,000
242
5
Charles Russell
Ireland
602,000
241
6
Emilien Pitavy
France
589,000
236
7
Adam Friedman
United States
581,000
232
8
Stephen Song
United States
577,000
231
9
Jean Lhuillier
United Kingdom
572,000
229
10
Paulo Joanello
Brazil
547,500
219
Donovan Dean, who ended his day with 639,500, will be pleased with how Day 2 played out. A poker staple of the south and midwestern areas of the country, Dean spent much of the latter half of the day near the top of the chip counts. With two WSOP Circuit rings to his name and $1,307,953 in lifetime earnings, Dean’s poker aspirations have been and will continue to be set high.
“Was aiming for over 700,000. Had 506,000 after the second break, but I fell short. Can’t complain too much, I guess.” Dean’s bag for the day brings him ever closer to his first WSOP bracelet.
Sitting behind him in the counts is five-time WSOP bracelet winner Adam Friedman, with 581,000. Very few players alive possess a WSOP resume as decorated as the Ohio-born poker player, whose skill, experience, and patience rewarded him greatly with a stack worth over 200 big blinds. “It feels like a new tournament from here on out,” Friedman said when asked about the overall strategy for the following days. No stranger to main event deep runs, Friedman has cashed this event five times, with his first-ever live cash being his 43rd place finish in the 2005 Main Event for $235,390. With 20 years of poker knowledge at his disposal, this pro looks to capitalize on his big stack and, in his own words, “break even for the summer.”
Five-time WSOP bracelet winner Adam Friedman ended up as one of the biggest stacks in the room
Others that found their way to bags include Aram Zobian (401,500), Ari Engel (334,500), David “ODB” Baker (329,000), Phil Ivey (283,500), and Brian Rast (229,000). Each one is looking to cash in the biggest tournament of the summer. To do that and more, they must navigate many obstacles and pitfalls as the tournament progresses.
Cody Daniels ended up making Day 3 for the second year in a row. “The first deep run was obviously special, but this one I didn’t think I would make. I showed up to the WSOP only to play The Colossus, and to show up and make it here is still special.” As compared to last year’s bag of 82,000, Daniels put 310,500 into the bag at night's end. Daniels ended up in 635th place last year and will be looking to top that finish, starting with his bag here tonight.
Looking for his second WSOP Main Event cash, Cody Daniels ended his day with 310,500
“Survive and advance,” is a helpful piece of advice from the 2013 champion Ryan Riess (103,500). He is one of a six-player contingent of Main Event champions who made it through the day. Among them are 2015 champion Joe McKeehen (309,500), last year’s champion Daniel Weinman (229,500), 1998 champion Scotty Nguyen (206,000), Martin Jacobson (154,000), and Espen Jorstad (133,000). Each of them is still in the hunt and looking to achieve what has not been done in 27 years since Stu Ungar won the main event again.
Defending champion Daniel Weinman is still in the hunt to go back to back.
Joe Cada will not be adding a third main event final table or second main event title to his resume this year. Huck Seed’s time in this event was short-lived as the 1996 champion made what was a first appearance in a tournament this summer. Chris Hunichen will not be adding any main event success to his already quite successful summer. They all fell throughout the day and joined the rail with players like Dario Sammartino, Jessica Teusl, Christian Harder, Allen Kessler, Jake Schwartz, as well as hundreds of others that fell throughout the day. Their hopes for a main event title will have to wait until next year as the final survivors return tomorrow, July 9, at 12 p.m.
Play will resume at Level 11, where blinds are 1,000/2,500 and a 2,500 big blind ante. The 2,068 survivors at the conclusion of Day 2d will combine with the 1,549 survivors of Day 2abc for the first time this tournament. Levels will last two hours each, with a dinner break set to happen after Level 13. Be sure to stick with PokerNews as we continue to bring you all the action in the coming days leading to the next Main Event champion!
