Daniel Willis in Command Heading to the Final Eight
Day 2 of the much-anticipated Event #3: $500 WSOP Kickoff No-Limit Hold'Em Freezeout of the 2024 World Series of Poker lived up to the hype at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
A total of 3,485 players entered the tournament with 523 entrants making the money. A total of 151 players resumed action at 11 a.m. this morning and played down to the final eight before breaking for the day. A chance to turn $500 into $175,578 and a coveted bracelet is becoming more of a reality.
Daniel Willis leads the pack with 23,725,000 followed by Shawn Smith (16,150,000) and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Michael Wang (12,625,000). Wang is in contention to potentially win his third WSOP bracelet.
Willis rode the momentum to become the chip leader. One hand in particular saw Willis win 14,000,000 chips.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shawn Smith | United States | 16,150,000 | 32 |
| 2 | John Marino | United States | 7,000,000 | 14 |
| 3 | David Niedringhaus | United States | 3,350,000 | 7 |
| 4 | Michael Wang | United States | 12,625,000 | 25 |
| 5 | Steven Borella | United States | 10,425,000 | 21 |
| 6 | Yoshinori Funayama | Japan | 7,700,000 | 15 |
| 7 | Daniel Sherer | United States | 6,275,000 | 13 |
| 8 | Daniel Willis | United Kingdom | 23,725,000 | 47 |
Day 1 chip leader Qiang Xu finished in 37th place for $4,596. The tournament field had many notables make a deep run including Ryan Riess (63rd - $2,679), Marco Johnson (47th - $3,805), Daniel Negreanu (16th - $8,541) and Jason Wheeler (14th - $8,541).
Remaining Payouts
| Position | Prize (USD) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,578 | ||
| 2 | $117,046 | ||
| 3 | $86,820 | ||
| 4 | $64,920 | ||
| 5 | $48,938 | ||
| 6 | $37,194 | ||
| 7 | $28,501 | ||
| 8 | $22,022 |
Final table play will resume Friday, May 31, at 1 p.m. local time. Players will return to blinds of 250,000/500,000 with a 500,000 big blind ante and action will resume with 11:30 remaining in Level 35. PokerGo is scheduled to stream the final table starting at 3:00 p.m. PDT.
The PokerNews team will be there providing all the updates until a champion is crowned.