Day 2 of Event #92: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em at the 2024 World Series of Poker has concluded with only five players remaining. They will return tomorrow to play down to a champion at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
Each of the five remaining players is guaranteed a prize of at least $499,097. The record-breaking field of 178 players created a prize pool of $8,499,500, with the eventual winner taking home $2,037,947 and the prestigious WSOP bracelet.
Heading into the final day with 19,250,000 chips and a commanding lead is Christoph Vogelsang of Germany. Vogelsang ranks second on Germany’s all-time money list, boasting over $34,000,000 in live tournament earnings, with his biggest score of $6,000,000 coming in 2017. Despite his impressive achievements, he has yet to win a WSOP bracelet. The closest he has come was a second-place finish in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship at the 2021 WSOP. With his huge chip lead and impressive skill set, Vogelsang is clearly the favorite to take this event down when play resumes tomorrow.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | 19,250,000 | 48 |
| 2 | Jared Bleznick | United States | 12,800,000 | 32 |
| 3 | Jesse Lonis | United States | 7,500,000 | 19 |
| 4 | Nacho Barbero | Argentina | 6,950,000 | 17 |
| 5 | Justin Saliba | United States | 6,900,000 | 17 |
Vogelsang took the chip lead when twelve players remained after winning a crucial flip with queens against the ace-king of Brynjar Gigja. Since then, he has never relinquished the top position in the chip counts, with his closest rival being Jared Bleznick, who is coming back tomorrow afternoon with 12,800,000 chips.
When play started today, there was still a 40-minute window for late registration. During that time there were 28 more entries on top of yesterday’s 150, turning this into another record-breaking event for the 2024 WSOP. Once registration closed, it was announced that 27 spots would get paid, with a minimum cash of $102,299 being awarded.
The final high roller of the series attracted all of the best names in the business, most of whom would walk away empty-handed. Among them were Leon Sturm, Toby Lewis, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Henrik Hecklen, Ren Lin, Isaac Haxton, and 2021 Main Event champion Koray Aldemir, who came into the day short-stacked and was unable to improve with jack-ten against the ace-queen of Danny Tang.
It took just five levels of play to reach the money with Eric Wasserson being awarded the unwanted title of bubble boy for this event. Wasserson three-bet shoved with ace-king from the small blind, running into the pocket aces of Paulius Vaitiekunas on the button.
After the remaining 27 players had locked up a six-figure payday, the eliminations came thick and fast. It took just two levels to thin the field from 27 down to 11. Some big names to exit during that time included Bryn Kenney (27th, $102,299), Chris Brewer (24th, $102,299), John Kincaid (22nd, $102,299), Day 1 chip leader Joseph Cheong (21st, $102,299), Viktor Blom (17th, $107,414), and the 2024 Event #21: $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (6-Handed) champion Brek Schutten (16th, $107,414) after he couldn’t improve with ace-king against Nacho Barbero and Justin Saliba’s pocket tens.
It took just one level of play for the bubble of the unofficial final table of nine to burst, with the United Kingdom’s Lewis Spencer finishing in tenth place and earning $132,612 for his efforts.
The chip leader at the start of the unofficial final table of nine with over 14,000,000 chips was Vogelsang, having almost double that of his closest rival Barbero. It didn’t take long for the first casualty though, as Michael Rocco got his short stack all-in preflop in great shape against Vogelsang. However, Vogelsang spiked a pair on the flop, sending Rocco home in ninth place with $166,786 for his performance.
Just a few orbits later, Hall of Famer and ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel hit the rail when his ace-queen couldn’t improve in a flip against chip leader Vogelsang’s pocket jacks. Seidel left with an extra $213,624 in his pocket after yet another deep WSOP finish.
Just before the end of level 24, Canada’s Isai Scheinberg exited in seventh position. Scheinberg is widely recognized as the creator of online poker, having founded PokerStars back in 2001. As Barbero put it, “he is the reason we are here today.” Scheinberg’s tournament ended when he shoved with ace-queen on the flop over a bet from Vogelsang. Vogelsang called and held with second pair, sending Scheinberg to the cashier’s desk to pick up his $278,552 payday.
The final hand of Day 2 resulted in the elimination of Iceland’s Gigja in sixth place. Gigja had lost most of his chips just a few hands earlier when his pocket queens couldn’t hold up against Lonis’s ace-eight. Left with only four big blinds, Gigja pushed all-in with ace-four against Saliba’s king-queen. A queen in the window sealed Gigja’s fate in sixth place for $369,654. The remaining five players bagged up their chips and will return tomorrow to conclude the tournament.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $2,037,947 |
| 2 | $1,358,633 |
| 3 | $957,104 |
| 4 | $685,405 |
| 5 | $499,097 |
Day 3 will commence at 1 p.m. local time on Sunday, July 14, at Horseshoe Events Center. Play will resume with 15 minutes remaining on Level 26, where the blinds will be 200,000/400,000, with a 400,000 big blind ante, and will continue until a winner is crowned.
As always, stay tuned to PokerNews to keep up with all the action from the 2024 WSOP.