WSOP 2024: Chris Brewer Leads Poker Players Championship with Ivey and Negreanu Still Hunting Gold, David Williams Seeking Success

A thrilling day of action in the 2024 World Series of Poker saw seven events take place at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas on Day 29 of this year’s WSOP. Day 3 of the Poker Players Championship saw just a dozen poker players survive, while six other vents pushed players nearer the latest gold WSOP bracelets to be awarded.

Brewer Leads PPC, Negreanu and Ivey Reach Next Day

Just 12 players could still win the $1.1m top prize in the $50,000-entry Poker Players Championship. Day 3 saw 29 players begin in seats, but by the close of play, just 12 remained, as 14 places got paid, and a couple of legends made the final two six-handed tables.

A total of 17 players busted on Day 3, but only two of them made money. Stars such as Danish poker player Gus Hansen, John Monnette, Michael Rocco, Maksim Pisarenko, Michael Moncek, Alexander Wilkinson, Jared Bleznick and Aaron Katz all going to the rail early.

Swedish online poker legend Viktor Blom had entered play intending to go further than his third-place finishes in the $50,000 and $100,000 High Rollers this WSOP but was unable to run up a stack and left in 16^th place, two shy of the money. Hal Rotholz was the unfortunate victim of the money bubble, leaving 14 players in profit as they battled to the final 12.

Maxx Coleman’s elimination in 14^th place was followed by that of the former PPC champion Phil Hui. Both men cashed for $102,299, some way short of the $1.1 million top prize but more than doubling their $50,000 entry fees.

At the close of play, the two-time WSOP bracelet winner Chris Brewer (5.34m) led the final dozen into the overnight counts, as the American, who won both his previous WSOP titles last summer holds a big lead over French player David Benyamine with 3.1m. Behind the top two, and not far behind at all, is Phil Ivey, whose stack of 3.05 million chips is some way ahead of Jeremy Ausmus on 2.5m. Between them, Ivey and Ausmus have 17 WSOP – the ‘Hellmuth’ – and many wouldn’t mind betting one of them improves their total in the next 24 hours or so.

With Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu (1.1m) and former three-time PPC winner Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi (830k) also still in the mix, the Australian overnight Day 2 chip leader James Obst (1,640,000) ended play with fewer chips than he started but still has a terrific chance of taking the title.

Millionaire Maker Reduced to 45 Players

Event #54, the $1,500-entry Millionaire Maker saw 315 players begin in the action on the event’s Day 3, with just 45 remaining in play by its conclusion. Both the top two players will become millionaires, with $1.25m up top and just over a million ($1,001,170) going to the runner-up.  Two players have the chip lead, with Martin Mathis and Max Neugebauer both taking 13,025,000 chips into the next day’s play.

Day 2 chip leader Sebastien Sigouin (9,400,000) survived again, while the three-time bracelet winner Sean Troha (4,375,000) and legendary American poker pro Jason Wheeler (5,000,000) both put themselves in the hat too. Others weren’t so lucky, with WSOP bracelet winners Timur Margolin (85th), Martin Jacobson (132nd), Chris Moorman (178th) and Joseph Cheong (222nd) all eliminated on Day 3, as a total of 10,939 entrants was reduced to just 45 by the end of a dramatic Day 3.

Cicconi Chasing as ‘Action’ Dan Busted by Super Sammy

The penultimate day of Event #59, the $1,000-entry Super Seniors No-Limit Hold’em event, was an exciting one as 975 players began and just 119 remained in play by the close of Day 2. When the dust settled, Gregory Peterson (1,990,000) led the remaining field, with James Jackson (1,425,000) and Farzad Raji (1,375,000) also hoping to scoop the $358,045 top prize and the WSOP bracelet.

With 505 players cashing, over half the Day 2 field got a payday, but some will be dreaming of a lot more than a min-cash. Guy Cicconi (1,275,000), Kevin Song (656,000) and Barry Greenstein (230,000) are all still chasing victory, while the Grammy Award-winning music producer Anthony Johnson, a.k.a. ‘Tony Mercedes’, ended the night on 420,000 chips.

Some weren’t so successful, chiefly the 1995 WSOP Main Event world champion Dan ‘Action’ Harrington, who as fortune would have it was busted by a very famous adversary who cannot claim to be world champion. The 2003 WSOP Main Event runner-up Sammy Farha got Harrington’s chips, though they did him little good, with Farha busting too by the end of the evening.

Two Day 2s Reach Pivotal Stages

In Event #60, the $3,000-entry No-Limit Hold’em event saw 539 players battle down to 105 survivors as Israeli player Tzur Levy (2,500,000) took the chip lead before the close of play, with Jong Kim (1,600,000), and Noel Rodriguez (1,490,000) close to the leader in the late stages of the day.

Also chasing a $676,900 top prize are some household names, with Yiannis Liperis (1,445,000), Daniel Hachem (1,315,000), Kristen Foxen (1,245,000), Nicholas Seward (1,395,000), Stoyan Madanzhiev (980,000), Jonathan Pastore (830,000), the 2019 WSOP world champion Hossein Ensan (290,000) and Benjamin Spragg (370,000) making the Day 3 table draw.

Event #61 saw 187 players take to the $2,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo Stud streets, with 21 survivors led by the Game of Gold legend David Williams with 1,890,000 chips. Behind Williams, another former WSOP Main Event runner-up was closest to him with Dario Sammartino (1,870,000) almost level at the top. Others to make the top 10 in chips were Joey Couden (1,695,000) and Paul Zappulla (1,100,000) with the top prize of $222,703 now firmly in sight.

Making the money but not the final day were some very big names, with the 2005 Main Event champion Joe Hachem, legendary WSOP broadcaster Norman Chad, and mixed game legends Robert Mizrachi and Benny Glaser all inside the 77 money places. Players to miss out on the money on the day the bubble burst included Chad Eveslage, Fox Sports’ Nick Wright, 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel, Brazilian legend Yuri Dzivielevski, Canadian crusher Alex Livingston, and Poker Hall of Famer Todd Brunson.

Two Day 1s Kick Off

Two more WSOP events kicked off on Day 29 of this summer’s series, with Event #62, the $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship, welcoming 5,126 total entrants, a big increase on the 2023 number of over 800 fewer. With $2.6m in the prizepool, 767 players survived, with Hideki Sahashi (1,174,000), Martin Kabrhel (1,049,000), Jun Li (882,000), Choi Yun Lam (820,000) and Kevin Choi (725,000) in the top five places. Others to make the cut included award winner Jamie Kerstetter (269,000) and tournament legend Ben Yu (180,000), while others like Olga Iermolcheva, Maria Konnikova and Nick Guagenti all missed out on profit.

Finally, Event #63, the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw event, saw 453 entries whittled down to 68 in-the-money players by the end of Day 1, with Owais Ahmed (630,000) David ‘ODB’ Baker (480,000) and Poker Hall of Famer Jennifer Harman (364,000) all making the top three. With a $123,314 top prize on offer, legends such as the 2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess (who bubbled the event), Phil Hellmuth, Shaun Deeb, PokerStake’s own David Prociak, two-time WSOP 2024 bracelet winner and Player of the Year leader Scott Seiver, Johnny Chan and Billy Baxter all busted.

With thanks to PokerGO for their official WSOP photography. The 2024 World Series of Poker is available to watch exclusively on PokerGO. Subscribe today and watch all the drama play out in Las Vegas!