The 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event drew 10,112 players, making it the biggest Main Event field of all time. This grueling test of endurance has reached its apex as the final table of nine is officially set with the close of action on Day 8 Sunday night.
Each of the remaining players is now guaranteed at least $1 million, with a $10,000,000 windfall and the custom WSOP Main Event bracelet awaiting the champion. The 2024 WSOP Main Event final table includes a healthy proportion of poker’s top talent and a few yet undiscovered talents, all vying for a life-changing sum when play resumes on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. PST/4:30 p.m. EST.
You know you’ll be watching, but just in case you’re jumping in now, let’s meet the nine players who all have a shot at becoming the next WSOP World Champ.
Jordan Griff – 143,700,000 | 90 Big Blinds
Hometown: New City, New York
Currently Resides: Scottsdale, Arizona
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $47,192
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $18,104, 9th, 2023 WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley
Other Prominent Scores: $10,464, 7th, 2019 $1,100 WPTDeepstacks New York Main Event
What a difference a day can make. Jordan Griff entered Day 8 of this tournament tied for last place in chips, and on the very first hand of the day his pocket queens nearly went up in flames against a flopped set of threes. But a rivered queen set the tone for what would be a wild day at Horseshoe Las Vegas that would culminate in Griff claiming the chip lead going into the WSOP Main Event final table.
“I mean, I’m a numbers guy and all I was thinking on that river is I have 4% to save my life,” said Griff. “And I’m gonna be out, or I’m gonna continue on with this dream. I wasn’t even watching it – I couldn’t, it was just painful. And then I heard the gasps, I turn around, I see the queen and it was just pure emotion. Like I couldn’t control myself. It was the biggest pot of my life.”
Griff kept climbing from there as the day went on. The 30-year-old supply chain manager from Scottsdale, Arizona entered the 10-handed unofficial final table comfortably in third place and went on to play the largest pot of the tournament thus far, against Joe Serock, in which Griff flopped a set and rivered quad fives to overtake Serock’s flopped straight.
Griff, whose previous best cash was for just over $18,000 last year, is a cash game player by trade. He has now locked down at least $1 million with a chance at 10 times that prize if the next two days of this tournament go right.
End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 98,600 (2,018/6,966)
Day 2: 229,000 (873/3,617)
Day 3: 615,000 (288/1,524)
Day 4: 1,015,000 (255/464)
Day 5: 3,035,000 (93/160)
Day 6: 8,725,000 (33/59)
Day 7: 8,300,000 (T-17/18)
Brian Kim – 94,600,000 | 59 Big Blinds
Hometown: Diamond Bar, California
Currently Resides: Sydney, Australia
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $7,332,360
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $954,000, 3rd, 2024 $53,000 Triton Super High Roller Jeju
Other Prominent Scores: $920,000, 2nd, 2023 $50,000 Triton Cyprus Super High Roller; $609,000, 2nd, 2024 $25,000 Triton Super High Roller Budva
Perhaps no one among this final nine is better suited to weather potential seven-figure swings than Brian Kim. His top four career cashes are all in Triton Super High Roller Series events, followed by a final table at WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Season XX and a 23rd-place finish in the 2022 WSOP Main Event. Kim is one of two WSOP gold bracelet winners at this 2024 WSOP Main Event final table.
One thing he didn’t have, that Kim has now locked up, is a $1 million live result.
Kim strongly attributes his previous run in the WSOP Main Event as a factor in his success in 2024.
“I think after the 2022 Main Event run, I started having a big interest in tournaments and I wanted to get better at them,” said Kim. “So since that tournament, actually, I’ve been doing a lot of work and yeah, I definitely think it helped me a lot today.”
Kim was down to almost nothing around the dinner break on Day 5 of this tournament, and his ability to stick it out during that tough stretch has paid off in the most serious of ways.
“I learned from experience that just kind of checking out when you’re under 10 big blinds is not going to do you any favors,” said Kim. “Just staying dialed in and trying to make the best possible play is going to be the best way to go. Something actually extremely lucky happened on Day 5. One person was late coming back from dinner break, and they were the big blind. So I shoved with a hand that I normally wouldn’t have, had he been there, and I doubled up. From that, I was able to take 11.4 big blinds to Day 6, got some luck and now I’m here.”
End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 122,200 (1,134/6,966)
Day 2: 172,000 (1,445/3,617)
Day 3: 829,000 (134/1,524)
Day 4: 1,850,000 (111/464)
Day 5: 995,000 (148/160)
Day 6: 9,975,000 (29/59)
Day 7: 42,400,000 (9/18)
Niklas Astedt – 94,200,000 | 59 Big Blinds
Hometown: Partille, Sweden
Currently Resides: Goteborg, Sweden
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $3,031,190
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $380,245, 4th, 2015 EPT Barcelona €10,300 High Roller
Other Prominent Scores: $314,011, 2nd 2024 EPT Paris €25,000 High Roller; $278,226, 2nd, 2022 EPT Barcelona €10,200 Pot Limit Omaha
If Niklas Astedt is not a name that immediately jumps out at you, perhaps ‘Lena900’ might ring a bell. One of the most prolific online tournament players of the last decade, Astedt has won more than $50 million online, and another $3 million in live tournaments.
The 33-year-old from Sweden has one previous WSOP final table, during the 2020 GGPoker World Series of Poker Online, and now stands to make a major statement in the live poker realm at the WSOP Main Event final table. Like all eight other players at this final table, this is guaranteed to be the biggest live tournament cash of his career.
In 2021, Astedt topped a poll from PocketFives (now StakeKings) that declared him the best online poker player in history.
End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 114,000 (1,386/6,966)
Day 2: 219,500 (955/3,617)
Day 3: 287,000 (824/1,524)
Day 4: 385,000 (409/464)
Day 5: 7,900,000 (9/160)
Day 6: 15,800,000 (14/59)
Day 7: 50,000,000 (4/18)
Joe Serock – 83,600,000 | 52 Big Blinds
Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Currently Resides: San Diego, California
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $4,576,760
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $341,783, 2nd, 2009 WSOP $2,500 6-Handed No Limit Hold’em
Other Prominent Scores: $320,400, 3rd, 2012 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star; $306,240, 3rd, 2012 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown $10,000 Championship Event
Joe Serock was the beneficiary of a major windfall when he picked off Kristen Foxen’s bluff with top two-pair to eliminate her from the 2024 WSOP Main Event in 13th place. That pot put Serock into the chip lead, and while running into rivered quads against Griff chopped him down significantly, Serock had a lot of leeway and sits comfortably in fourth place when play resumes on Tuesday.
When it comes to poker accolades, Serock is the most decorated player at this final table. He was the Season X WPT Player of the Year after making a pair of final tables in back-to-back months. He’s also a WSOP bracelet winner, having won an online Pot Limit Omaha bracelet in 2023, and Serock also set a previous career best with a 5th place finish in the 2021 WSOP Online $5,000 Main Event for over $800,000. Known as ‘floes’ from his pre-Black Friday online poker exploits, he has more than $2.3 million in major online tournament results excluding his modern WSOP results.
End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 192,600 (182/6,966)
Day 2: 202,500 (1,112/3,617)
Day 3: 343,000 (707/1,524)
Day 4: 2,670,000 (37/464)
Day 5: 4,855,000 (50/160)
Day 6: 13,175,000 (20/59)
Day 7: 46,300,000 (6/18)
Jason Sagle – 67,300,000 | 42 Big Blinds
Currently Resides: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $1,685,165
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $600,455, 2nd, 2006 WPT North American Poker Championship
Other Prominent Scores: $155,599, 1st, 2015 $1,100 Fallsview Poker Classic; $120,000, 23rd, 2004 WSOP Main Event
Remarkably, Brian Kim isn’t the only player at the 2024 WSOP Main Event final table to have finished 23rd in a previous instance of the WSOP Main Event. In 2004, the year that Greg Raymer won $5 million, Jason Sagle finished 23rd for $120,000.
Two years later, Sagle had a WPT title within his reach when he got heads-up against Soren Turkewitsch in his hometown of Niagara Falls. He got all in preflop with 
against Turkewitsch’s 
and a chance to win the tournament, but it was not to be for Sagle on that day.
That $600,455 for second place represented Sagle’s best career tournament result to date until locking up $1 million+ in this 2024 WSOP Main Event.
End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 139,700 (731/6,966)
Day 2: 251,000 (701/3,617)
Day 3: 357,000 (671/1,524)
Day 4: 1,180,000 (230/464)
Day 5: 2,610,000 (107/160)
Day 6: 17,350,000 (9/59)
Day 7: 51,400,000 (3/18)
Boris Angelov – 52,900,000 | 33 Big Blinds
Hometown: Sofia, Bulgaria
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $903,109
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $663,565, 2nd, 2024 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event
Other Prominent Scores: $34,869, 40th, 2021 WSOP Europe Main Event
Boris Angelov started Day 8 of the 2024 WSOP Main Event tied with Jordan Griff for last place in the chip counts, and just like Griff, Angelov doubled up early in the day and spun his way up to a $1 million guarantee and a chance at the WSOP Main Event title.
It’s been a fight for Angelov since Day 1 of this tournament, when he bagged less than a starting stack at the end of the night, and fewer chips at the end of Day 6 than he ended Day 5 with.
Angelov has shown himself capable of making a push for a major title already this year. Back in April, Angelov outlasted a final table that also featured Rania Nasreddine and Jonathan Pastore to get heads-up with Derk Van Lujik, before falling in second place for $663,565. On Tuesday, Angelov gets an even bigger opportunity to push for a life-changing title and prize.
End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 52,500 (4,716/6,966)
Day 2: 218,500 (967/3,617)
Day 3: 349,000 (694/1,524)
Day 4: 2,380,000 (58/464)
Day 5: 4,850,000 (51/160)
Day 6: 4,475,000 (46/59)
Day 7: 8,300,000 (T-17/18)
Jonathan Tamayo – 26,700,000 | 17 Big Blinds
Hometown: Humble, Texas
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $2,301,219
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $352,832, 21st, 2009 WSOP Main Event
Other Prominent Scores: $237,935 – 1st, 2021 $1,100 Wynn Summer Classic; $206,020, 1st, 2013 WSOP Circuit West Palm Beach Main Event
Jonathan Tamayo has the best previous WSOP Main Event finish of any player among this year’s final nine, but only by a hair. His 21st-place finish in the 2009 WSOP Main Event was worth over $350,000 and stood for 15 years as his career-best – until now. After making such a run previously, and then reducing his volume of tournaments for a long stretch, making it to a WSOP Main Event final table seemed an impossibility.
“It never was a possibility in my mind, and then it didn’t feel real this year until the start of Day 7, when I had a lot of chips,” said Tamayo. “From there, the chances I’d make the final table are a whole hell of a lot better than they are when you start the tournament; even if it isn’t a big number, anyone would definitely take it.”
Tamayo has fallen just short of a $1 million prize on a few occasions in his Daily Fantasy Sports career, but now he’s locked it down in the poker world. Like several others at this final table, Tamayo got his start in the online tournament poker streets. He also helped prepare 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen ahead of his final table, and McKeehen will be in his corner this time around.
He’ll be among the shorter stacks when play resumes on Tuesday, but Tamayo is well aware of how incredible a position he’s in.
“It’s not ideal, but everyone would take my position. That’s what I’ll say about that.”
End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 105,300 (1,723/6,966)
Day 2: 272,500 (561/3,617)
Day 3: 823,000 (141/1,524)
Day 4: 455,000 (387/464)
Day 5: 5,430,000 (37/160)
Day 6: 13,300,000 (19/59)
Day 7: 18,400,000 (14/18)
Malo Latinois – 25,500,000 | 16 Big Blinds
Hometown: Paris, France
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $96,515
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $52,951, 16th, 2023 EPT Paris Main Event
Other Prominent Score: $15,608, 3rd, 2022 €300 Winamax Poker Open Monster Stack
Malo Latinois was flying high from Day 2 of the 2024 WSOP Main Event all the way through the start of Day 8. He was among the chip leaders at the end of each of those days, culminating in the outright top stack at the close of Day 7.
But Sunday was a struggle throughout, and Latinois had to battle all day just to hold on for one of the final nine spots. He doubled Angelov up early in the day, kept hemorrhaging chips in tough spots and then hit a low point when he doubled up fellow French player Malcolm Franchi.
A double-up with a flopped flush against a flopped set sustained Latinois enough to let him grind his way through to Tuesday’s final table, where he’ll start in eighth place. The $1 million he’s guaranteed at this point is more than 10 times Latinois’ previous total career live tournament earnings.
End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 70,800 (3,495/6,966)
Day 2: 424,500 (101/3,617)
Day 3: 1,132,000 (47/1,524)
Day 4: 4,130,000 (6/464)
Day 5: 6,115,000 (26/160)
Day 6: 22,375,000 (3/59)
Day 7: 61,300,000 (1/18)
Andres Gonzalez – 18,300,000 | 11 Big Blinds
Hometown: Cartagena, Spain
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $294,249
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $201,518, 3rd, 2024 $1,500 WSOP Freezeout
Other Prominent Scores: $21,838, 24th, 2021 WSOP $5,000 6-Handed No Limit Hold’em; $10,459, 19th, $3,000 WSOP NLHE
Four of the five shortest stacks to start Day 8 of the 2024 WSOP Main Event managed to fight their way to the final table, including Andres Gonzalez. Gonzalez entered 10-handed play with less than 10 big blinds and despite multiple all-in shoves managed to chip up without ever being called. He’ll have 11 big blinds and a long way to go when play resumes on Tuesday, but the Spaniard has proven himself adept with a short stack to this point.
Gonzalez got close to winning his first WSOP bracelet earlier this summer in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event, and his third-place finish for $201,518 represents the bulk of his career earnings prior to this WSOP Main Event.
End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 98,800 (2,012/6,966)
Day 2: 186,000 (1,290/3,617)
Day 3: 428,000 (528/1,524)
Day 4: 2,650,000 (39/464)
Day 5: 6,225,000 (24/160)
Day 6: 14,775,000 (16/59)
Day 7: 14,900,000 (15/18)
All stats courtesy of The Hendon Mob.