WSOP 2024: Shiina Okamoto Wins Ladies Championship, Brian Rast Reaches PLO High Roller Final Table on Day 35

An exciting day’s play at the 2024 World Series of Poker saw Shiina Okamoto triumph one year after finishing a runner-up in the same event, the $1,000-entry Ladies Championship. Also in action, the $25,000 PLO High Roller event where Brian Rast made the final table. On Day 2 of the $400 Colossus event, the sole surviving WSOP Main Event made another day of action, while Team Arieh tag-teamed their way to an above-average stack on the opening day of the $1,000 Tag Team tournament.

Okamoto Takes Gold One Year After Silver

In Event #71, the $1,000-entry Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship, Shiina Okamoto won the event she finished as runner-up in 12 months ago. The six-handed final table saw a dramatic conclusion as the overnight chip leader Jamie Kerstetter fell just short of victory in exactly the same way Okamoto came close last year.

The first player to bust was the French player Cecile Ticherfatine. All-in with , she lost to Kerstetter’s . The flop of looked safe enough for Kerstetter but a turn gave the French player the lead. It also opened up the flush draw, however, and a on the river gave the American the flush and eliminated Ticherfatine in sixth for $32,007.

Kerstetter was on a roll and after taking out the short-stacked Mor Kamber in fifth for $43,125, before building a huge lead and busting Linda Durden in fourth for $58,910. Holding more than double anyone’s chips at this point, Kerstetter seemed unassailable, but after Okamoto’s took out Ceci Liao’s in third for $81,573, Okamoto wasn’t too far back with 9.64 million to Kerstetter’s 15.25m lead.

A key bluff on the river from Kerstetter saw Okamoto make a crucial call with trips and that gave the Japanese player a 2:1 chip lead. That lead grew without hands going to showdown and Okamoto had seven times Kerstetter’s chips when the final hand played out. A board of saw Kerstetter call off her stack with after Okamoto shoved with for two pair. A on the river gave Okamoto the title and top prize of $171,732, with Kerstetter claiming $114,479 as runner-up.

“After finishing second last year and with all my supporters here, winning this year feels even more special.”

Eldridge on Top in PLO High Roller but Rast Chasing

In Event #73, the $25,000-entry 8-Max PLO High Roller, Brian Rast is one of five players hunting down the top prize of $2,246,728 and the latest gold WSOP bracelet. Leading the remaining field of five on a day where players such as Eelis Parssinen, Joni Jouhkimainen, Alex Livingston and Viktor Blom all busted, was David Eldridge. He built an impressive stack of 23.4 million, with Ethan Cahn (17.55m) and Yang Wang (12.25m) closest to his total.

Brian Rast sits on 9.45 million, and while the Poker Hall of Famer is some way behind those in front of him at present, no-one will have more experience when the final table kicks off. Finnish player Juha Helppi (8,775,000) is at his fourth final table of this year’s WSOP, and while the poker great has a lower stack than anyone, he will be desperate to improve on his finishes of 4^th, 4^th and 6^th this summer.

Rast is the man looking to make headlines, however, and with six WSOP bracelets already, Rast is going for number seven, and his second in PLO. Rast’s first-ever WSOP bracelet came in a $1,500-entry PLO event in 2011, and after winning the Poker Players Championship three times since then, a brilliant bookmark for Rast’s WSOP record is possible.

Todd Ivens Leads Last 18 in Seven Card Stud

In Event #74, the $10,000-entry Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, Todd Ivens built the biggest stack of chips as he led the final 18 players at the close of play. Ivens (1,190,000), ended the night marginally ahead of Andrey Zhigalov (983,000), with other big names Todd Brunson (859,000) and Brad Ruben (738,000) both present for the final day too.

Also among the survivors is Norman Chad, who had the support of his co-commentator for the WSOP Main Event, Lon McEachern, and bagged up 288,000. While Chad made the grade for the final day, others who were ahead when the day began, didn’t. PokerStake player Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler couldn’t make the dinner break. Another to bust for nothing was the Day 2 chip leader Ali Eslami who joined Anthony Zinno, Brandon Shack-Harris and Chad Eveslage on the rail.

Greg Raymer Still Rocking in Colossus Event

From a total field of 19,337 players, just 92 remain in the $400-entry Event #70, the ‘Colossus’.  Day 2 began across both Horseshoe and Paris, and 2,358 players began 15 levels of action. The chip leader at the close of Day 2 was Joel Vanetten (20,650,000), with Andrew Dubuque (18,575,000) and Justin Fawcett (17,500,000) both riding high too.

Also surviving to the third and final day of action was the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Greg Raymer. Sat on 8,100,000 chips, Raymer has work to do in order to win, but ‘Fossilman’ was immovable and after winning a big pot with pocket aces, Raymer ran his stack to the close of play with the assurance he’s demonstrated since his World Championship victory two decades ago.

Other big names to survive include Matt Glantz (12,825,000) and Ari Engel (4,400,000), while Kane Kalas, David ‘ODB’ Baker and Craig Chait all busted on Day 2.

Three More Events Begin

Three more bracelet events began on Day 35 of the 2024 WSOP. In Event #75, the $1,000-entry Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em event, 1,437 teams took part in the tournament, with an increase of over 150 teams on the 2023 total. A prizepool of $1.26m will pay each member of the winning team $95,455 in a couple of days’ time, with Derek Stark (485,000) leading the way, with the Ivan Rezzonico & Alejandro Lococo team on 331,500 chips. Charlton Zhu & Nick Bond ended the night with 319,500 chips.

Elsewhere, Kyle Cartwright & Scott Stuart (302,500) piled plenty of chips, with Chris Moorman & Dan Charlton (260,000) not too far behind. Also present is married couple Rachel & Josh Arieh (151,000), with Jason Wheeler & Anthony Nardi on 166,000. Not every team made it through to Day 2, with Maria Ho & Kami Hudson, Mike Matusow & Sara Ralston, Sara & Jeremy Wien, and David Pham & Summer Westerbur all crashing out.

In Event #76, the $10,000-entry NLHE Mystery Bounty 8-Max event saw 965 entries and 236 players survive. The mystery bounties will

bagged chips after Level 15. They successfully qualified for Day 2, which was the main goal of the tournament as Mystery Bounties will come into play on Day 2. With a $1.01m top prize too, Matthew Beinner (1,090,000) grabbed the chip lead, with British poker heroes Roberto Romanello (868,000) and Stephen Chidwick (825,000) both present. American poker hero Isaac Haxton (669,000) made the cut too, along with three 2024 WSOP title winner Sergio Aido (495,000), Chris Hunichen (419,000), and Santhosh Suvarna (323,000). Others to survive included Shaun Deeb (483,000), Chris Brewer (452,000), Joao Vieira (350,000), Adrian Mateos (338,000), Dan Smith (336,000), Kristen Foxen (210,000), Espen Jorstad (122,000), Jennifer Harman (399,000), Erik Seidel (271,000), Daniel Negreanu (198,000) and Johnny Chan (67,000).

Finally, Event #77, the $2,500 buy-in Mixed Big Bet Event saw Patrick Moulder bag the lead with 388,500 chips, chased down by Joshua Adcock (312,500) and Argentinian player Andres Korn (295,000). There were 388 total entrants on Day 1, as just 156 players remained at its close, with Allan Le     (290,000), David ‘ODB’ Baker (264,000), Ryan Riess (183,000), Phil Hui (150,000) and Phil Hellmuth (25,000) all surviving, while Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow, David Williams, and the defending champion in the event from 2023 Julio Belluscio heading to the rail.

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!