Day 2 of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas had four events running at one stage, with two of them progressing to the final table, and the other two whittling their fields down to more manageable numbers.
Event #2: $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold’em was meant to crown the first champion of the 2024 WSOP but the floor staff decided to bring the remaining four players back for a third unscheduled day. Only 179 of the 1,189 starters returned for Day 2, but four players were still in the hunt with the clocks about to strike almost 2:00 a.m. local time.
Jose Garcia (13,795,000), Richard Rothmeier (8,700,000), Alexander Green (4,015,000), and Lang Anderson (2,990,000) will return to the action from 1:00 p.m. local time on May 30, and play until only one of them has off of the chip in play in their stack.
Bookmark this page! All you need to know about the 2024 WSOP is here.
Terry Fleischer Leads the Final Ten in the $5,000 Champions Reunion
Only ten players remain in Event #1: $5,000 Champions Reunion and Terry Fleischer is the man in pole position going into the final day’s play. Fleischer bagged up 5,610,000 chips at the end of Day 2, giving the Las Vegas resident a substantial lead over the chasing pack.
Although Fleischer mostly plays low-to-mid-stakes tournaments, the lure of the Main Event bounties proved too strong. It is fair to say he has made the step up with ease.
Two WSOP bracelet winners find themselves in the final ten. Frenchman Jonathan Pastore and Aram Zobian are both hunting for their second piece of WSOP hardware. The $25K Fantasy players will be keeping a keen eye on Zobian and David Coleman as their finishing positions in this event will earn valuable points for their respective teams.
Others to look out for on Day 3, which starts at 1:00 p.m. on May 30, include Serbian superstar Nenad Dukic, Asher Conniff, and Michael Acevedo. Those three poker Goliaths are looking to capture their first piece of poker gold.
Event #1: $5,000 Champions Reunion Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terry Fleischer | United States | 5,610,000 | 70 |
| 2 | Halil Tasyurek | Turkey | 3,995,000 | 50 |
| 3 | Yuzhou Yin | China | 3,600,000 | 45 |
| 4 | Nenad Dukic | Serbia | 2,700,000 | 34 |
| 5 | Asher Conniff | United States | 2,040,000 | 26 |
| 6 | Michael Acevedo | Costa Rica | 1,885,000 | 24 |
| 7 | Jonathan Pastore | France | 1,465,000 | 18 |
| 8 | Aram Zobian | United States | 1,370,000 | 17 |
| 9 | David Coleman | United States | 1,315,000 | 16 |
| 10 | Bryce Welker | United States | 660,000 | 8 |
Wheeler Bags Big in the Huge $500 WSOP Kickoff
Event #3: $500 WSOP Kickoff No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout is a new event for the 2024 WSOP, and it was always going to be huge because of its affordable $500 buy-in. By the time late registration closed, 3,485 players had bought in and created a $1,463,700 prize pool. Only 151 of those starters progressed to Day 2.
Jason Wheeler has done his chances of capturing a second gold bracelet no harm by bagging and tagging 1,615,000 chips, enough for fifth place at the restart. Only Qiang Xu, Steven Borella, and Gregory Snyder enjoyed a day more fruitful than the popular Wheeler.
Xu’s Day 1 performance will delight Team Lady Gaga in the $25K Fantasy Draft because they picked him up for a mere $1. Xu has earned points for his cash, and will earn even more the deeper he progresses.
Other notables through to Day 2 include other $25K Fantasy Draft selections Marco Johnson (1,005,000), Dan Shak (730,000), six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu (650,000), and Ryan Riess (530,000).
Play resumes at 11:00 a.m. on May 30, with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante. The plan is to whittle the field down to the final table.
Event #3: $500 WSOP Kickoff End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qiang Xu | China | 2,130,000 | 71 |
| 2 | Steven Borella | United States | 1,835,000 | 61 |
| 3 | Gregory Snyder | United States | 1,665,000 | 56 |
| 4 | Jason Wheeler | United States | 1,615,000 | 54 |
| 5 | Addam Smith | United States | 1,565,000 | 52 |
| 6 | John Hardin | United States | 1,435,000 | 48 |
| 7 | Zhiyuan Xu | China | 1,385,000 | 46 |
| 8 | Ishan Mohamed | United States | 1,350,000 | 45 |
| 9 | Charles Tonne | United States | 1,345,000 | 45 |
| 10 | Shawn Smith | United States | 1,320,000 | 44 |
Bumper Crowd for the First Non-Hold’em Event of the Series
The first non-Hold’em event of the series, Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, drew in 928 players, down on last year’s huge turnout of 1,143, but still impressive nonetheless. After 15 levels of split-pot action, 275 players were left bagging and tagging, with 140 of them sharing the $1,238,880 prize pool.
James Chen crammed a tournament-leading stack of 386,000 chips into his overnight bag. Chen loves playing Omaha and almost won the $10,000 edition of this event in 2023, but fell at the final hurdle against Ben Lamb. The Pittsburgh native will be hopeful of finishing one place higher in this event.
The list of surviving players reads like a who’s who of the live poker universe. Three-time bracelet winner Upeshka De Silva is second in chips, while $25K Fantasy Draft picks Robert Mizrachi (189,000), and Felipe Ramos (175,000) return in the top 15.
Sammy Farha (172,000) is hunting his first bracelet in 14 years, with Tyler Brown (164,500), Anson Tsang (140,000), Yuval Bronshtein (131,000), Christopher Vitch (125,000), Barry Greenstein (112,500), Brian Yoon (110,000), Michael Mizrachi (100,500), Hall of Famer Brian Rast (99,500), and Ben Yu (97,000) returning in the top half of the chip counts.
You can check out the full chip counts here.
Play resumes a 1:00 p.m. local time on May 30 with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and betting limits of 5,000/10,000.
Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better End of Day 1 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Chen | United States | 386,000 |
| 2 | Upeshka De Silva | United States | 240,500 |
| 3 | Christopher Battenfield | United States | 240,000 |
| 4 | Igor Zektser | United States | 231,000 |
| 5 | Jeff Shulman | United States | 213,500 |
| 6 | Patrick Moulder | United States | 213,000 |
| 7 | Jeremy Heartberg | United States | 211,000 |
| 8 | Scott Adaska | United States | 206,000 |
| 9 | Robert Tanita | United States | 204,500 |
| 10 | Jared Hemingway | United States | 196,500 |
What Is Happening on Day 3 of the 2024 WSOP?
Wait until you see what lies in store on Day 3 of the 2024 if you thought today was action-packed.
Event #1: $5,000 Champions Reunion will crown its champion and award its $408,468 top prize while Event #2: Casino Employees will finally award its bracelet.
Day 2 of Event #3: $500 WSOP Kickoff No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout should end with us having a clearer picture on who will come out on top.
While those tournaments are playing out, Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better will also play the second of its three scheduled days.
May 30 sees another three new events shuffle up and deal. An early 10:00 a.m. start awaits players in Event #5: $1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold’em, a tournament guaranteeing a $1 million top prize and at least one $1 million mystery bounty prize; last year’s event awarded a brace of seven-figure mystery bounties.
Expect some of the world’s best players to enter Event #6: $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship at 12:00 p.m. local time. There is a 64-player cap, and all 64 players should be household names. Can Chanracy Khun successfully defend his title?
The third fresh event on Day 3 is Event #7: $1,500 Dealer’s Choice (6-Handed) at 2:00 p.m. local time. Mixed game specialists from far and wide will descend on the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas and battle it out in poker variants you may never have heard of! Chad Eveslage triumphed over 456 players in 2023. He banked $131,879, the second bracelet of his career, and the first of two he would win in 2023.
