Level 40
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Joe Serock Elimination
Hand #54: Jordan Griff raised to 4,000,000 from under the gun with the 7?7?. Niklas Astedt called in the small blind before Joe Serock shoved for 39,700,000 from the big blind.
Griff folded, but Astedt snap-called.
Joe Serock: A?J?
Niklas Astedt: Q?Q?
Astedt had laid a trap with pocket queens, and they still held the lead after the 10?9?4? flop. The turn was the J? giving Serock a pair. The river 8? bricked for Serock, giving Astedt a straight, and Serock was sent to the rail in eighth place for $1,250,000.
Level 40
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Malo Latinois Elimination
Hand #30: Jordan Griff opened to 4,000,000 from under the gun and Malo Latinois shoved for 13,700,000 from the cutoff. It folded back to Griff who called.
Malo Latinois: A?K?
Jordan Griff: 3?3?
The flop was ace-high coming A?10?9? giving Latinois the lead. However, the turn 3? gave Griff a set and the A? river improved him to a full house to send the Frenchman to the rail.
Jordan Griff Reacts to Turn CardMalo LatinoisMalo Latinois
Level 40
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Jordan Griff
Hand #29: Jordan Griff opened to 4,000,000 with 4?4? and Brian Kim was the only caller in the small blind with A?8?. On the 9?4?3? flop, Kim checked and subsequently called a bet worth 3,000,000 by Griff to see the 3? on the turn.
Kim check-called another 10,000,000 and the J? fell on the river.
Kim checked the third street in a row for Griff to fire a bet of 30,000,000 to get paid off, showing pocket fours for a full house, beating the nut flush of Kim, to take down the pot.
Hand #6: Boris Angelov raised to 3,200,000 from an early position with Q?Q? to claim the blinds and big blind ante.
Hand #7: Brian Kim made it 3,300,000 to go in the next hand with the A?Q? and earned the pot without resistance.
Hand #8: Jordan Griff raised to 3,200,000 in the hijack. Andres Gonzalez pushed all-in for 14,300,000 on the button and Griff asked for an exact count once the action had folded to him.
Andres Gonzalez: 8?8?
Jordan Griff: 3?3?
The 8?5?4? flop gave Gonzalez top set and the 5? turn locked up his double through the chip leader to make the 9? river a formality.
From a field of 10,112, just nine players remain in with a chance of being crowned the winner of the largest WSOP Main Event in history.
When play resumes at 2 p.m. PDT under the lights in the Horseshoe Event Center, each player knows they are just eight eliminations away from poker immortality.
2024 WSOP Main Event Final Table
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Boris Angelov
Bulgaria
52,900,000
33
2
Malo Latinois
France
25,500,000
16
3
Brian Kim
United States
94,600,000
59
4
Niklas Astedt
Sweden
94,200,000
59
5
Joe Serock
United States
83,600,000
52
6
Jordan Griff
United States
143,700,000
90
7
Jonathan Tamayo
United States
26,700,000
17
8
Andres Gonzalez
Spain
18,300,000
11
9
Jason Sagle
Canada
67,300,000
42
Since the turn of the century, eight players have gone wire-to-wire at the Main Event final table. That will be the aim of chip leader Jordan Griff, who told PokerNews it was a dream come true even to make it to the final table.
"Everyone who watches poker growing up in the Moneymaker era or watching the TV programs, you want to be at the final table," he said. "And to do it this year with the largest field — it's just it's a dream come true."
Jordan Griff
Griff will be under pressure from the chasing pack of Brian Kim, Niklas Astedt and Joe Serock who are all experienced enough competitors to use their 50+ big blind stacks to full effect.
Kim finished 23rd in the Main Event two years ago, with tournament cashes in the last year in London, Montenegro, Jeju and Monte Carlo on the prestigious Triton High Roller Poker Series. Serock is an equally capable competitor. A former WPT Player of the Year, he and Kim are the only players at the final table who have previously won WSOP bracelets.
Niklas Astedt
Meanwhile, Astedt needs no introduction — the online grinder has over $48 million in online earnings according to PokerStake (formerly PocketFives) — and his pivot to the live felt has already garnered him plaudits and an added $3 million.
Behind them comes Jason Sagle, a self-admitted "feel" player whose return to the felt has paid dividends, with Boris Angelov hoping to add WSOP glory to the success he's achieved on the European Poker Tour.
Short stacks can spring surprises at the Main Event final table and despite starting the day with fewer than 20 big blinds, Jonathan Tamayo told PokerNews upon making the final table that he'd work with the 2015 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe McKeehen, a close friend, to devise a final table strategy.
Malo Latinois is only the sixth French player to make the Main Event final table and the first since Antoine Labat in 2018. Could he surpass the third-place finishes recorded by both Antoine Saout in 2009 and Benjamin Pollak in 2017?
Bringing up the rear is Spaniard Andres Gonzalez. No player has ever gone from last to winning the WSOP Main Event — Jerry Yang and Martin Jacobson both did it from eighth in chips — but could Gonzalez rewrite the history books?
Action will pick back up with 51:20 left in Level 39 with blinds of 800,000/1,600,000/1,600,000. The plan for Day 9 is to play down to four players with TV breaks throughout play and no extended breaks.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize (in USD)
1
$10,000,000
2
$6,000,000
3
$4,000,000
4
$3,000,000
5
$2,500,000
6
$2,000,000
7
$1,500,000
8
$1,250,000
9
$1,000,000
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team provide continued coverage of the record-breaking 2024 WSOP Main Event. Be sure to check out the live reporting hub in the meantime.
