The largest World Series of Poker main event ever held is now down to just three contenders, each with their eyes on the championship bracelet and the first-place prize of $10,000,000.
The 2024 WSOP $10,0000 buy-in no-limit hold’em world championship drew a record 10,112 entries, resulting in a prize pool of $94,041,600. There is still $20,000,000 of that sum left to award, with all of the final three players having locked up at least $4,000,000 by making it this far.
Online poker legend Niklas ‘Lena900’ Astedt (pictured above) is the chip leader with 223,000,000 (74 big blinds). His stack represents about 37 percent of the total chips in play. The 33-year-old Swedish poker pro’s career live tournament earnings of nearly $3.9 million are already guaranteed to be more than doubled thanks to his success in this event, but he’d have to win this tournament a few times over to top the reported $48 million in online earnings that he’s accrued.
Astedt came into the day in third chip position, but scored four of the six knockouts on the day to bag up the top stack.
“I think I played well. I don’t have too many regrets,” Astedt told PokerGO’s sideline reporter Jeff Platt after bagging up for the night. “I mean, it’s a big stage and to stay composed and make the best decisions, it may look easy, but if I get most of them right, I’m happy.”
Jonathan Tamayo bagged up the second-largest stack with 197,000,000 (66 big blinds) despite starting the day as one of the shorter stacks.
The 38-year-old poker pro is no stranger to deep runs in the main event, having finished 21st back in 2009 and 78th in 2015. Now the Humble, Texas native has managed a podium finish in the biggest main event yet, and will add several million to his prior earnings of $2,307,668.
Rounding out the final three is Jordan Griff with 187,000,000 (62 big blinds). The 30-year-old data and analytics supply chain manager for Meta hails from New City, New York but is now based out of Scottsdale, Arizona. The lone amateur poker player among the final nine, Griff told Card Player, “I play in some pretty big cash games, but for me it’s a hobby. I do it for fun. I enjoy playing the game."
This is just the third time that Griff has played the main event, and is his first cash. He came into this tournament with $46,088 in prior tournament earnings, and was one card away from hitting the rail early on day 8. He managed to hit one of the two queens left in the deck with his overpair trailing a flopped set for his opponent, and now is just two spots away from an eight-figure payday and the championship bracelet.
Final table action got underway at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16 with Griff in the chip lead to start.
Malo Latinois was the first to fall. The 28-year-old poker pro from France got all-in for his last seven or so big blinds with A
K racing against the pocket threes of Griff.
The flop came down A
10
9 to give Latinois top pair, top kicker and backdoor flush possibilities to boot. The 3
changed everything, though, giving Griff a set of threes and a lock on the hand. The river A gave Griff a full house and made the knockout official. Latinois earned $1,000,000 as the ninth-place finisher, which was by far the largest score yet for the former energy consultant with a degree in engineering.
The next elimination hand began with Griff opening for a min-raise to 4,000,000 from under the gun with pocket sevens. Astedt flat-called with pocket queens in the small blind. Bracelet winner Joe Serock looked down at AJ and three-bet shoved for just shy of 20 big blinds.
The 1094J8 runout kept Astedt’s queens ahead and Serock was sent home in eighth place.
This was the largest score yet for Serock, a longtime poker pro who earned the 2012 World Poker Tour Player of the Year award. His prior top payday was the $804,191 he earned as the fifth-place finisher in the 2021 WSOP Online $5,000 main event. The Albuquerque, New Mexico native now has nearly $6.8 million in career tournament earnings.
Astedt overtook the chip lead after dragging that massive pot with pocket queens. While he continued to climb, Brian Kim’s stack was heading the opposite direction. The 34-year-old California native, now based in Australia, came into the day in second chip position. Kim is a longtime high stakes cash game player and more recent regular on the high roller tournament circuit.
His slide at the final table began when he ran the nut flush into a full house held by Griff. Not long after the elimination of Serock, Kim found himself on the wrong side of a preflop cooler. The hand began with Spain’s Andres Gonzalez moving all-in for 8.5 big blinds from UTG+1 with pocket kings. Kim called from the cutoff with pocket queens. Neither player connected with the board and Gonzalez doubled up, leaving Kim with 29 big blinds.
Less than an orbit later, Kim got involved in another big pot. Boris Angelov opened to 4,600,000 from the button and Kim three-bet to 11,800,000 from the small blind with K6. Astedt cold four-bet to 18,000,000 out of the big blind and Angelov bowed out. Kim thought it over before moving all-in for 53,900,00 (around 27 big blinds). Astedt made the call with 1010. The flop came down Q108 and Astedt flopped middle set. The 5 turn gave Kim a flush draw, but the 6 completed the board to see Kim knocked out in seventh place. The $1,500,000 payout increased his career earnings to $8,978,482. This was his second deep run in this tournament in the past few years, having finished 23rd back in 2022.
Astedt was up to 231,400,000 after that hand, good for more than 38 percent of the total chips in play. He fell out of the lead after doubling up Gonzalez, whose pocket jacks held up against pocket threes. The same two players tangled again soon, with Gonzalez once again holding pocket jacks. It was a classic race, with Astedt holding AQ for two overcards. The board ran out A101073 and Gonzalez was eliminated in sixth place.
The 30-year-old poker pro from Cartagena, Spain was awarded $2,000,000 for his efforts, which was about four times the size of his previous largest tournament score of $500,602 that he earned just a few weeks ago by finishing third in a $3,500 buy-in event at the Wynn Summer Classic. He now has more than $2.7 million in lifetime live cashes to his name, almost all of which has been won since the start of June this year.
“It is a dream to be here. I got my family coming from Spain,” Gonzalez told PokerGO’s Jeff Platt after busting. “I was really nervous, but I got used to it and I think I managed to play the final table really well. I’m super happy and super proud of myself, and I think I did a good job.”
Tamayo entered the final table in seventh chip position after infamously folding pocket queens to a single raise during the final stretch of play on day 8. He managed a few double-ups throughout the day, including winning a big hand with a flopped straight against a flopped set of tens for Astedt. He was third in chips when five-handed action began.
The next all-in confrontation saw Tamayo call a cutoff shove for six big blinds from Angelov with K6 from the big blind. Angelov revealed the 66, which had Tamayo’s hand in rough shape. The flop came down K54 to turn the tables, though, leaving Angelov with just a 4 percent chance of doubling up. The K on the turn knocked that number all the way down to zero, rendering the 10 river a mere formality. Tamayo chipped up to 147,000,000 (49 big blinds) after the hand, while Angelov was sent packing in fifth place.
The 27-year-old Bulgarian poker pro cashed for $2,500,000, blowing away his previous top score of $670,140 that he earned earlier this year as the runner-up in the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo €5,300 buy-in main event.
Just nine hands after Angelov was eliminated, short stack Jason Sagle three-bet shoved for just over nine big blinds with JJ from the big blind. Astedt had opened for a 6,000,000 min-raise from under-the-gun with A3. Astedt thought it over before making the call.
The flop came down 843 to give Astedt a pair of threes for some extra outs. The 5 on the turn added a gutshot straight draw for the Swede, which came in via the 2 on the river.
Sagle’s pocket jacks were cracked to end the 48-year-old Canadian poker pro’s run in fourth place ($3,000,000). The 2004 WSOP main event 23rd-place finisher and 2006 World Poker Tour North American Poker Championship runner-up’s career earnings swelled to nearly $4.5 million thanks to his strong showing in this event.
“I did what I could, I was short stacked and never got any hands. I got it in good at the end, I didn’t win… what are you gonna do? There’s another tournament tomorrow,” Sagle said in his post-elimination chat with PokerGO.
With that play was halted for the final three, who bagged up their chips with the plan being to resume at 2:00 on Wednesday, July 17 and play until a champion is decided. The average stack of 202,240,000 will be good for 67.4 big blinds when cards get in the air with 1,500,000-3,000,0000 blinds and a big blind ante of 3,000,000. There is 17:40 remaining in level 42.
Here is a look at the chip counts of the remaining three players:
| Rank | Player | Chips |
| 1 | Niklas Astedt | 223,000,000 |
| 2 | Jonathan Tamayo | 197,000,000 |
| 3 | Jordan Griff | 187,000,000 |
Remaining payouts up for grabs in the 2024 WSOP main event:
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | TBD | $10,000,000 |
| 2 | TBD | $6,000,000 |
| 3 | TBD | $4,000,000 |
| 4 | Jason Sagle | $3,000,000 |
| 5 | Boris Angelov | $2,500,000 |
| 6 | Andres Gonzalez | $2,000,000 |
| 7 | Brian Kim | $1,500,000 |
| 8 | Joe Serock | $1,250,000 |
| 9 | Malo Latinois | $1,000,000 |
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