Table Of Contents
Final Table Profile: Brian Kim
Seat: | 3 |
Chip Count: | 94,600,000 |
Big Blinds: | 59 |
Hometown: | Walnut, California |
Brian Kim’s Poker Background
Brian Kim is about to finally become a mainstream poker star thanks to his participation in the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final table. But make no mistake, he’s long been a crusher in this game, both in tournaments and cash games.
For years, Kim was known as a top player at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, the largest card room in the world. He doesn’t play a ton of WSOP events, but when he does, he’s always a tough out.
In 2022, Kim finished 23rd out of 8,663 players for $323,100 in the world championship event. He’s now cashed five times since 2012 in the Main Event, this one being his first trip to the final table.
Kim had over $7.3 million in live tournament cashes prior to the start of the 2024 WSOP Main Event, according to The Hendon Mob, including an online bracelet in 2022 on WSOP.com (now WSOP Online) — $1,000 High Roller for $119,000.
The only The Hendon Mob recorded live tournament Kim has won took place in December 2022 at Aria in Las Vegas, a $10,000 no-limit hold’em tournament as part of the PokerGO Tour, which paid $101,200. His biggest live score came in March 2024, a third place finish for $954,000 in a $53,000 buy-in Triton Poker Jeju event.
Brian Kim’s Main Event Story
Kim’s run to the final table was fairly standard in that he started off a bit slow, picked up some steam, faltered, and then went on a heater. He entered the Day 1b session in the record-setting $10,000 buy-in tournament. On that first day, he doubled his chip stack and put himself in a position to make a run going forward.
But on Day 2, while he increased his stack, he wasn’t in great position heading to Day 3 when the money bubble would approach. And then he began to make a run on Day 3 when he bagged 829,000 chips with the bubble just 12 players away. On Day 4, he’d survive the bubble and double his stack heading into a day with the first large pay jumps.
Then, on Day 5, it fell apart for him as he finished with just 995,000 chips, putting him in 148th place out of 160 remaining players. But this is the Main Event. It’s all about surviving and advancing, and that is exactly what he’s done throughout the grueling marathon tournament. On Day 6, the climb began as he nearly hit 10 million chips by the end of the session. He’d then run it up even further on Day 7 when he bagged 42,400,000, good for ninth out of 18 remaining players.
At the final two tables, Kim was a dominant force. It took him short work on Sunday to be the first to hit the 100,000,000-chip mark.
How Brian Kim Got to the Final Table
End of Day | Chips | Rank |
---|---|---|
1b | 122,200 | 122/617 |
2abc | 172,000 | 660/1,555 |
3 | 829,000 | 136/1,524 |
4 | 1,850,000 | 112/464 |
5 | 995,000 | 148/160 |
6 | 9,975,000 | 29/59 |
7 | 42,400,000 | 9/18 |
8 | 94,600,000 | 2/9 |
Click on the name for an in-depth profile of each final table player:
2024 WSOP Main Event Final Table Seating
Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Boris Angelov | Bulgaria | 52,900,000 | 33 |
2 | Malo Latinois | France | 25,500,000 | 16 |
3 | Brian Kim | United States | 94,600,000 | 59 |
4 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | 94,200,000 | 59 |
5 | Joe Serock | United States | 83,600,000 | 52 |
6 | Jordan Griff | United States | 143,700,000 | 90 |
7 | Jonathan Tamayo | United States | 26,700,000 | 17 |
8 | Andres Gonzalez | Spain | 18,300,000 | 11 |
9 | Jason Sagle | Canada | 67,300,000 | 42 |
2024 WSOP Main Event Final Table Payouts
Place | Prize |
---|---|
1 | $10,000,000 |
2 | $6,000,000 |
3 | $4,000,000 |
4 | $3,000,000 |
5 | $2,500,000 |
6 | $2,000,000 |
7 | $1,500,000 |
8 | $1,250,000 |
9 | $1,000,000 |