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The 2024 World Series of Poker attracts some of the best players in the world throughout the seven-week festival, but the WSOP Main Event is an altogether different prospect.
It attracts thousands of recreational players, professional crushers, celebrities, and more every year. It has the curious ability to lure even the most reclusive poker players to Sin City and others who are seldom seen in the tournament streets any more.
Birthday Boy Hoping to Bag
In 2011, Jake Cody became the youngest winner of poker’s Triple Crown after winning EPT Deauville, the WPT London Poker Classic, and the WSOP $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.
Not only was he the youngest, but he was the fastest as well, accomplishing the feat in 1 year, four months, 11 days.
Cody seldom plays tournaments these days, he says, instead concentrating on cash game in Florida and Macau. But took his seat today on the second starting flight of the potentially record-breaking WSOP Main Event,
It’s also Cody’s 36th birthday — but that wasn’t the only reason for playing today.
“It was probably better to get a bit of birthday run good”
“I was actually trying to schedule it around England’s game in the Euros,” said Cody, ahead of England’s quarter-final match with Switzerland on Saturday. “I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t playing on that day, and thought it was probably better to get a bit of birthday run good in the process!”
Cody told CelestialPoker that he spends most of his time in Macau and Florida playing cash games — a long way from his Triple Crown-winning exploits of the past. Although he still plays a handful of tournaments each year, he says there’s more stability in cash games.
He’s also a keen watcher of poker streams, and especially the booming cash game livestream scene, even tweeting in early 2023 “Wesley > Airball > Berkey”.
“There’s a lot more hype around cash games and streams these days,” said Cody. It’s down to Hustler Casino Live and Live at the Bike.”
Tournament Burnout
One of the most famous final tables in poker history was one in which Cody got a front-row seat. He was playing in it.
The 2013 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final featured Cody, then a member of Team PokerStars Pro, alongside Jason Mercier, Noah Schwartz, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Lodden.
Eventually, it was Steve O’Dwyer who won the title, defeating Andrew Pantling heads-up to win €1,224,000.
“There’s definitely an audience for watching nine great players play out a tournament, but it’s not a great spectacle. You need a mixture for it to become a good watch.
“I got a bit burnt out from tournaments after doing them for so long, so it’s nice to play them recreationally now, to be honest. I’m still trying to win, of course.
Cody “Comfortable” in The Main Event
Having cashed in the WSOP Main Event on four separate occasions, Cody says there’s a different excitement around the event, even getting to the venue 15 minutes early to experience the buzz around the tournament room.
Cody says he first planned to play the WSOP Main Event in 2009, but it wasn’t plain sailing.
“I knew that I could be the youngest player ever to win. It would be almost impossible to beat.”
“I had planned to come for the full summer, so I got a taxi all the way from the north of England to London to fly out. And no word of a lie, a deer ran out and hit my taxi.
“The taxi spun out, and the windscreen was completely smashed. So I missed the flight and couldn’t help but think that it was an omen, so I was a bit superstitious.”
Eventually, Cody flew out in time to play the Main Event, which began on July 3 that year.
“The second starting flight was on July 4 and was my 21st birthday, so I knew that I could be the youngest player ever to win. It would be almost impossible to beat. I knew I had to give myself a chance to win.”
The eventual winner that year? Joe Cada. The Kid. Who, at 21 years old, became the youngest Main Event winner ever.
“It could have been me!” said Cody.
Year | Event | Place | Cash |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | $10,000 WSOP Main Event | 1052nd | $15,920 |
2015 | $10,000 WSOP Main Event | 113th | $46,890 |
2013 | $10,000 WSOP Main Event | 400th | $28,063 |
2011 | $10,000 WSOP Main Event | 647th | $19,359 |
Cash Games vs Tournaments
Now with an extensive background in cash games, Cody says he’s feeling “comfortable” in the early stages of the Main Event.
“You’re significantly deep for most of the tournament, so it actually kind of suits cash game players a lot”
“It’s such a different structure to most tournaments. You’re significantly deep for most of the tournament, so it actually kind of suits cash game players a lot. Obviously, it’s going to get short, but you’ll be a lot deeper for a lot longer than most tournaments.
“I feel really comfortable now, but when it gets really shallow, maybe because I haven’t studied that for a while, I won’t know what I’m doing!
And will a deep run over the next two weeks lead to Cody returning to crush tournaments?
“I was actually a bit of a tournament hater for a bit,” admitted Cody. “The last couple of times I’ve played a tournament I didn’t have the best of time. But I played a tournament at Dusk till Dawn a couple of months ago, had a really fun time, and enjoyed it a lot more.
“A part of me doesn’t find them as bad as I thought. I do think everyone would be a bit pissed off, but maybe not surprised, if I came back and played this one tournament and just won it.”
In this Series
- 1 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Dates Confirmed; Main Event to Run July 3-17
- 2 Nadya Magnus Giving Away WSOP Main Event Seats to Two Female Poker Players
- 3 Online Satellites for 2024 WSOP Main Event Kick Off for NJ/NV, PA & MI Players
- 4 More Broken Records? New Events? What Could Be On the 2024 WSOP Schedule?
- 5 This Navy Veteran Turned $2 into a $10,000 Main Event Ticket on WSOP Michigan
- 6 The 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Schedule is Out; 99 Live Bracelet Events
- 7 CelestialPoker Deepstack Championship Takes Center Stage at 2024 WSOP; Features 40 Seat Giveaway
- 8 Bomb Pot Event, PLO Mystery Bounty & Other New Events On the 2024 WSOP Schedule
- 9 Five Questions to Ask Yourself at Your First WSOP
- 10 How to Decide Which WSOP Tournament(s) to Play
- 11 MainEventTravel.com is The Trip Leader If You’re Heading to Vegas for the 2024 WSOP
- 12 Top Tips to Crush the $600 CelestialPoker DeepStack Championship at the 2024 WSOP
- 13 Commerce Casino Will Host 2024 WSOP Tournament of Champions
- 14 This Tournament Crusher Shares His Top Tips for the CelestialPoker Deepstack Challenge
- 15 WSOP 2024: 9 Strategy Tips for Freezeout Tournaments
- 16 How to Stay Healthy in Las Vegas During the WSOP
- 17 The Best Poker Players Who Haven’t Won a WSOP Bracelet
- 18 CelestialPoker Staff 2024 WSOP Predictions featuring Maiden Bracelets, POY and Tice vs. Becker!
- 19 2023 WSOP Winner Auctioning Bracelet to Benefit Cancer Research
- 20 World Series of Poker 2024: Read Phil Ivey’s Top WSOP Tips
- 21 8 More WSOP Rules You Didn’t Know Existed
- 22 Rampage Wants the ‘Chat Pros’ to Bet Against Him at the World Series of Poker
- 23 King’s Resort Plays Host to 2024 World Series of Poker Europe; €15M GTD Across Schedule
- 24 The Muck: What Does the Poker Community Like and Dislike About the 2024 WSOP Schedule?
- 25 History of the WSOP $25k Fantasy Draft: Howard Lederer, Jason Mercier, & Daniel Negreanu
- 26 WATCH: Daniel Negreanu & ODB’s Top $25K Fantasy Poker Tips | CelestialPoker Podcast #832
- 27 How Will Daniel Negreanu’s 2024 Poker Heater Impact His WSOP $25k Fantasy Draft Bid?
- 28 Five Years After Infamous WSOP Incident, ‘Naked Bandit’ Talks Mental Health
- 29 WSOP Introduces New Rule Changes for Player of the Year
- 30 WSOP Legend John Smith Making Another Deep Run in Heads-Up Championship
- 31 Phil Ivey Arrives at 2024 WSOP: 11th Bracelet Coming Soon?
- 32 This Poker Jinx on the $5K Bubble Will Leave You Speechless!
- 33 What the WSOP Has to Say About the Max Late Reg Controversy
- 34 From Unknown and Risking Half His Poker Bankroll on One Event to WSOP Player of the Year?
- 35 Women of the the 2024 WSOP: Large Turnout in $25k High Roller
- 36 The Decades-Long WSOP Streak That Almost Came to an End
- 37 Poker Boom Era Fan Favorite Sammy Farha is Back and Deep at the WSOP
- 38 Men the Master Involved in “Shorted” Pot Deep in WSOP $300 Gladiators
- 39 Duy Ho Records Biggest Weekly Score of the CelestialPoker Deepstack Challenge So Far
- 40 Props, Family & Fortnite: For the Four Members of Team Lucky It’s About Much More Than Poker
- 41 What Makes Phil Ivey the Poker G.O.A.T.?
- 42 Five-Bet With Seven-High: Is This the Craziest Bluff of the 2024 WSOP?
- 43 2024 WSOP Bracelet Winner Antonio Galiana Accused of $94K Online Poker Scam
- 44 2024 WSOP Online: $4.3m Triton Champ Roman Hrabec Wins Gold Bracelet
- 45 Greg Raymer Reflects on Historic WSOP Main Event Win 20 Years Later
- 46 Another Day, Another Main Event First Hand Bustout with MASSIVE Overbet Shove
- 47 Triple Crown Winner Cody Hoping for Birthday Rungood in 2024 WSOP Main Event