One and a half weeks ago, the 2024 World Series of Poker was gearing up for the crown jewel of the festival at the Paris and Horseshoe Casino Las Vegas. What followed in the days after turned into a record-breaking affair as more than 10,000 players entered the fray in the World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event for the second year in a row. From a field of 10,112 players, only 18 hopefuls remain and they have their eyes set on the final table in two days from now.
At 2 p.m. local time, these 18 contenders will be back in their seats on the feature tables inside the Horseshoe Las Vegas Event Center to try and make it one step further in the biggest WSOP Main Event of all times with the largest slices of the $94,041,600 prize pool still up for grabs.
French poker player Malo Latinois will return as the chip leader with a stack of 61,300,000 and he will be joined by fellow countryman Malcolm Franchi (45,900,000). Both will hope they can follow into the footsteps of Antoine Saout, Antoine Labat and Benjamin Pollak in recent history to reach the final nine.
Another European card shark sits in second place as Diogo Coelho of Portugal is in second advanced with 51,500,000, though he is only a fraction of a big blind ahead of Canada's Jason Sagle (51,400,000).
Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 8
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malo Latinois | France | 61,300,000 | 77 |
| 2 | Diogo Coelho | Portugal | 51,500,000 | 64 |
| 3 | Jason Sagle | Canada | 51,400,000 | 64 |
| 4 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | 50,000,000 | 63 |
| 5 | Kristen Foxen | Canada | 47,400,000 | 59 |
| 6 | Joe Serock | United States | 46,300,000 | 58 |
| 7 | Malcolm Franchi | France | 45,900,000 | 57 |
| 8 | Jason James | Canada | 45,800,000 | 57 |
| 9 | Brian Kim | United States | 42,400,000 | 53 |
| 10 | Jessie Bryant | United States | 27,600,000 | 35 |
Arguably the two biggest names still in contention are Swedish online poker legend Niklas "Lena900" Astedt (50,000,000) and Kristen Foxen (47,400,000). Astedt is one of the winningest players in the online arena and it would be no surprise to see him go all the way whereas Foxen is the last woman still in contention. She has already earned four WSOP gold bracelets to her name and this deep run further cements her status as one of the most successful female poker players of all time.
Canadian player Jason James could repeat an unusual road to WSOP glory here in Las Vegas. Two years ago, Espen Jorstad won the Tag Team event alongside Patrick Leonard and captured the Main Event bracelet thereafter. Earlier in the 2024 WSOP, James took down the Tag Team with Jimmy Setna and brings a stack of 45,800,000 into Day 8.
Furthermore, the two WSOP bracelet winners Joe Serock (46,300,000) and Brian Kim (42,400,000) can also be found in the overnight top ten as well. Two years ago, Kim made it all the way to 23rd place in the Main Event and he has already bettered this accomplishment now.
One can certainly expect a rowdy rail in the Horseshoe Event Center today for Jessie Bryant (27,600,000) Gabriel Moura (24,600,000), and Yegor Moroz (24,500,000), as they all had a very vocal support in the previous days.
Also still in contention are Jonathan Tamayo (18,400,000), Andres Gonzalez (14,900,000), Gerardo Hernandez (13,400,000), Boris Angelov and Jordan Griff (both have 8,300,000). The latter two have the exact same stack heading into Day 8 and will hope to make the imminent pay jump of more than $100,000 with the next elimination.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 | 8 | $1,250,000 |
| 2 | $6,000,000 | 9 | $1,000,000 |
| 3 | $4,000,000 | 10-11 | $800,000 |
| 4 | $3,000,000 | 12-13 | $600,000 |
| 5 | $2,500,000 | 14-17 | $450,400 |
| 6 | $2,000,000 | 18 | $350,000 |
| 7 | $1,500,000 |
As previously mentioned, the 18 remaining players return at 2 p.m. and there are 1 hour and 18 minutes remaining in Level 36 with blinds of 400,000-800,000 and an 800,000 big blind ante. Day 8 will cut the field in half in pursuit of determining the final nine players. The eventual champion can look forward to a payday of $10,000,000, the unique WSOP Main Event gold bracelet, and the title of world champion when the final table concludes on July 17.
The action of all remaining three tournament days will be broadcast on the PokerGO platform and all PokerNews updates will be published according to the security delay to not spoil any of the action. Stay tuned right here to find out who will stay in contention to take down the biggest WSOP Main Event in history.