It was an eventful day at the 2024 World Series of Poker held at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, as Day 2 of Event #38: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em dominated the tournament areas from the outset.
After play wrapped up, 416 players remained out of the 2,831 who began Day 2. The tournament saw a total of 8,706 entries across the three starting flights, surpassing last year’s count by nearly 400 entries.
The massive field created a prize pool of $11,619,840, with the winner taking home a seven-figure payout of $1,098,220 and the prestigious WSOP bracelet. All remaining players are guaranteed a minimum of $4,880.
Topping the counts with 3,700,000 in chips was Vinicius Lima. According to The Hendon Mob, Lima has over $1,100,000 in live tournament earnings, most of which came from his biggest tournament score to date of $728,430. Lima could potentially top that with a win in this event come Thursday.
Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vinicius Lima | United States | 3,700,000 | 123 |
| 2 | Catalin Pop | United States | 3,510,000 | 117 |
| 3 | Bart Crego | United States | 3,400,000 | 113 |
| 4 | Alexandros Dranovitsas | Greece | 3,345,000 | 112 |
| 5 | Long Ma | United States | 3,265,000 | 109 |
| 6 | Michael Murphy | United States | 2,900,000 | 97 |
| 7 | Lukas Guenzel | Germany | 2,825,000 | 94 |
| 8 | Joshua Payne | United States | 2,790,000 | 93 |
| 9 | Tony Huang | United States | 2,730,000 | 91 |
| 10 | Gregory Jensen | United States | 2,670,000 | 89 |
Bagging one of the largest stacks in the room was Joao Simao with 1,810,000 in chips. Simao already boasts two WSOP bracelets, the first from an online event in 2021 and the second from a $5,000 Mixed NLH/PLO event in 2022. In this series, he has already reached two final tables, finishing seventh and third. With the chips he acquired today and the skills in his arsenal, Simao will surely be aiming for another bracelet from this event.
The big focus of the day for many players was when the money bubble burst and all of the remaining 1,306 players were guaranteed a min-cash of $3,001. Earning the unwanted title of bubble boy for this event was John Allen after he called off his remaining chips on the river with a set of queens, only to be shown the nuts by Ardit Kurshumi.
Several big names who missed out on the money today included Danny Wong, two-time bracelet winner Bertrand Grospellier, and 2004 Main Event champion Greg Raymer, who was eliminated after he hero-called the river against bracelet winner Malcolm Trayner.
Notable players who cashed but did not advance to Day 3 include Ren Lin, Maria Ho, Danny Wong, Ebony Kenney, JC Tran, James Dempsey, Ryan Depaulo, Brek Schutten, and six-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus.
Many big names did manage to bag up a stack for tomorrow’s play though, such as Alex Foxen, Kristen Foxen, Martin Kabrhel, Xuan Liu, Timur Margolin, Jake Schwartz, and Kevin Martin, after getting his opponent to put all of their chips in on the turn drawing dead.
Day 3 starts at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 18, in the Grand Ballroom of the Horseshoe. Players will play ten 60-minute levels before the remaining players bag up for the night and prepare for the fourth day of play.
Make sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates on Event #38: $1,500 Monster Stack and all other events at the 2024 WSOP at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas!
