The 2024 World Series of Poker kicked off in Las Vegas, Nevada, with two big events. Day 1 started with the traditional curtain raiser of the $500-entry Casino Employees Event, but that was Event #2 on the ticket, with the $5,000-entry Champions Reunion pitching former bracelet winners against each other with some very famous faces amid the 493-player field.
Champions Reunion Sees Chan Take Out Moneymaker
There was guaranteed fireworks in the $5,000 buy-in Event #1 of the 2024 World Series of Poker. The action in this year’s WSOP got underway with a chunky entry fee and some of the biggest names in poker as the Vegas Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault opened the action with the iconic poker introduction ‘Shuffle Up and Deal!’ in Las Vegas.
After a short photoshoot session with Daniel Negreanu, the action was pronounced underway by Marchessault and a big elimination was right around the corner, with the 2003 world champion Chris Moneymaker crashing out. Moneymaker got it in good with K♥ K♦ but Johnny Chan, who had committed a bigger stack with A♥ K♣, hit an ace on the flop and that was enough to scoop Moneymaker’s $10,000 bounty, meaning Chan will be effectively freerolling this year’s 2024 WSOP Main Event as he bids to finally get his third world championship 35 years after coming second to Phil Hellmuth in 1989. Faraz Jaka was on hand with the cameraphone to capture the moment, much to Moneymaker’s delight!
There were champions everywhere, even in the realm of poker fashion. Hellmuth might have busted but Recent ‘Loose Cannon’ in PokerStars’ The Big Game Nikki Limo was considering becoming the first player to make an impulsive purchase based on meeting her hero:
Big Names Bust as Nguyen Wins the Day
Brock Wilson was one of several former WSOP event winners to lose late as he shoved with K♠ 5♦ only to run into Negreanu’s J♠ J♥. The A♦ Q♣ 4♠ 5♣ Q♦ could only pair Wilson’s five and he dropped down the rankings as Kid Poker earned a late double-up. Others were less fortunate, with PokerGO’s Jeff Platt losing with pocket tens to pocket kings to switch out the lights from their dimmed position on his first WSOP event of the series.
Other big names to fall included Jaka himself, who after filming Johnny Chan’s success with ace-king, lost with ‘Big Slick’, running into David Mzareulov’s pocket aces to bust. Jaka was joined on the rail by many other luminaries of the poker world, including Alex Livingston, Chris Moorman, 1983 world champion Tom McEvoy, Shaun Deeb, 2022 champ Espen Jorstad, David ‘ODB’ Baker, Shannon Shorr, Josh Arieh, Triple Crown winner Niall Farrell, WPT legend Bin Weng and the 2004 world champion Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer.
As the final hands played out, it was confirmed that the 2016 WSOP Main Event winner Qui Nguyen (663,000) held the chip lead over Asher Coniff (641,000) in second place. With players such as PokerStake player Aram Zobian (565,000), high stakes cash game player Alex Keating (554,000) and Zobian’s fellow PokerStake stablemate David Coleman (534,000) all comfortably inside the top ten, the race is on to claim the $408,468 top prize, with the money bubble during on tomorrow’s Day 2, when 74 players will reach the money.
| WSOP Event #1 $5,000 Champions Reunion Day 1 Top 10 Chipcounts: | |||
| Place | Place | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Qui Nguyen | United States | 663,000 |
| 2nd | Asher Conniff | United States | 641,000 |
| 3rd | Yuzhou Yin | China | 567,000 |
| 4th | Aram Zobian | United States | 565,000 |
| 5th | Alex Keating | United States | 554,000 |
| 6th | David Coleman | United States | 534,000 |
| 7th | Darius Samual | United Kingdom | 475,000 |
| 8th | Michael Acevedo | Costa Rica | 450,000 |
| 9th | Yilong Yang | United States | 420,000 |
| 10th | Michel Molenaar | Netherlands | 377,000 |
Casino Employees Celebrated in Popular Curtain-Raiser
Every year, thousands of staff work tirelessly in the poker industry to bring the drama of the poker felt into millions of homes worldwide. From tournament dealers to organizers in cardrooms across the globe to reporters, presenters, commentators and bloggers, anyone who has worked in the casino at some point in 2023 and 2024 had the chance to play for a WSOP bracelet in the $500-entry Event 2, the Casino Employees Event.
With 1,189 entries, just 184 players survived to the final break of the day, with only 179 of them heading for profit, with five still to bust before the bubble burst. As it turned out, Allan Kwong burst the bubble when his 7♦ 7♠ couldn’t hold against Michelle Christie’s K♦ Q♦. The board ran 9♦ 9♥ 6♥ A♣ Q♣, with the queen on the river, sending Kwong home in 180th place with nothing and putting everyone else in the money.
| WSOP Event #2 $500 Casino Employees Event Day 1 Top 10 Chipcounts: | |||
| Place | Place | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Caleb O’Donnell | Canada | 583,000 |
| 2nd | Bryan Lapham | United States | 529,000 |
| 3rd | Juan Carlos Latuff | United States | 479,000 |
| 4th | Johnathan Sanchez | United States | 468,000 |
| 5th | Willie Coleman | United States | 451,000 |
| 6th | Andrew Rivero | United States | 443,000 |
| 7th | Alexander Green | United States | 436,000 |
| 8th | Michael Bailey | United States | 434,000 |
| 9th | William Mccool | United States | 421,000 |
| 10th | Eric Roberts | United States | 418,000 |
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!
This article originally appeared on PokerStake.com
