WSOP 2024: Opening Day Sees Former World Champions Clash and Celebrates Casino Employees

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:

Lucky shirt
Lucky shirt time? Nikki Limo thinks so as she considers going full ‘Phil Hellmuth’ fangirl.

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:
PlacePlaceCountryChips
1stQui NguyenUnited States663,000
2ndAsher ConniffUnited States641,000
3rdYuzhou YinChina567,000
4thAram ZobianUnited States565,000
5thAlex KeatingUnited States554,000
6thDavid ColemanUnited States534,000
7thDarius SamualUnited Kingdom475,000
8thMichael AcevedoCosta Rica450,000
9thYilong YangUnited States420,000
10thMichel MolenaarNetherlands377,000
Jonathan Marchessault
The WSOP was given its first ‘Shuffle up and deal!’ by the Vegas Golden Knights player Jonathan Marchessault.

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:
PlacePlaceCountryChips
1stCaleb O’DonnellCanada583,000
2ndBryan LaphamUnited States529,000
3rdJuan Carlos LatuffUnited States479,000
4thJohnathan SanchezUnited States468,000
5thWillie ColemanUnited States451,000
6thAndrew RiveroUnited States443,000
7thAlexander GreenUnited States436,000
8thMichael BaileyUnited States434,000
9thWilliam MccoolUnited States421,000
10thEric RobertsUnited States418,000
Qui Nguyen
The 2016 WSOP Main Event winner Qui Nguyen tops the chipcounts in the $5,000 entry Champions Reunion.

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


This article originally appeared on PokerStake.com

LATEST ARTICLES

WSOP Online 2024 Bracelets 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 & 24

This weekend’s WSOP Online action was nothing short of spectacular, with six more players rising to the top and earning their gold bracelets. GGPoker once...

The Weekend Round Up – September 15, 2024

It’s time for another GGPoker Roundup, where we showcase the most thrilling tournament action from the weekend. As usual, we’re highlighting the standout results,...

Qualify Directly for Day 3 of the WSOP Paradise Super Main Event on GGPoker

Advance Directly To WSOP® Paradise $50M Super Main Event Day 3 Via GGPoker’s Online Day 1 Events On September 29, at least 30 players will qualify...

WSOP Online 2024 Bracelets 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12

The third weekend of the WSOP Online has finished with five more completed events and champions winning WSOP Online gold bracelets. The action continues to...

Discover