One day is all that is left of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, and the series as a whole. We’ll know who the winner is on Wednesday evening.
It will be Niklas Astedt, Jordan Griff, or Jonathan Tamayo, that much has been decided. None of the other 10,109 players in the record-setting field could outlast them. But there were some other interesting last longer bets and contests out there of note to discuss as we wrap up what has been a thrilling summer of poker.
Jaka Coaching Had a Nice Run in the Main Event
You probably saw hundreds of Jaka Coaching patches around the 2024 WSOP, along with the popular poker coaching site’s namesake, Faraz Jaka, who finished runner-up in the $25,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship for $300,000 in June. Many of the patched up players cashed in the Main Event, including Angela Jordison, the 2022 Global Poker Awards Breakout Player of the Year, who took 1,201st place for $17,500.
Michael Dwyer, who turned a $100 GGPoker satellite into a $1.3 million GG Millions score, finished in 447th place in the Main Event for $37,500. But out of the eight Jaka Coaching players who cashed, Pol Vela was the last player standing, a 129th place finish for $85,000.
Who Won the Commerce Casino Pro Team Last Longer?
If there’s anyone who knows what it takes to run deep in the Main Event, it is the 2006 champion, Jamie Gold, who won $12 million for beating out 8,773 entries 18 years ago. The champ didn’t make another deep run in 2024 and was eliminated on Day 2, but he led a Commerce Casino Pro team from Los Angeles that found some success in poker’s world championship event.
Commerce Casino, the largest poker room in the world, sent 20 VIP qualifiers out to Las Vegas to compete in the Main Event. The entire team, excluding Gold who entered Day 1c, registered for the Day 1a session on July 3. Only four of the team members didn’t find a bag. Sixteen of the 20 advanced to Day 2.
When all was said and done, Rudy Cervantes, who now has over $1 million in The Hendon Mob cashes, was the last player in the group still standing. He took 324th place for $45,000 after being eliminated on Day 5.
Last Woman Standing
Barbara Enright is the last woman to reach the WSOP Main Event final table when she finished fifth place in 1995. She’s also the only woman in history to finish among the final nine. But the poker world cheered on as one of the game’s top pros — Kristen Foxen — was deep on Day 7 and Day 8 with a big stack.
It appeared that the drought of no women at the final table would come to an end this year. Confidence in this happening was high not only because of her big stack deep in the tournament, but also because of Foxen’s experience deep in major tournaments. But with 13 players remaining, she jammed all in with middle pair and a gutshot straight draw on the turn, and ran into the top two pair of Joe Serock, whose hand held up on the river. Foxen, the last woman standing, was out in 13th place for $600,000. Maybe next year will be the year.
GGPoker $1 Million Bonus Qualifiers
Many players made it to Las Vegas to compete in the WSOP Main Event via online qualifiers, none more so than at GGPoker. But there was more at stake for those who qualified on GGPoker than other players in the tournament.
The winner of the 2024 WSOP Main Event will win $10 million, but Boris Angelov and Joe Serock came so close to winning $11 million. That is because they were both GGPoker qualifiers, and the poker site offered up a promotion that if any of its qualifiers become world champion, they’d receive an extra $1 million.
Serock was eliminated in eighth place for $1,250,000, while Angelov went out in fifth place for $2,500,000 at the final table.
Follow the Final Day of the 2024 WSOP Main Event at PokerNews