Two weeks ago, the 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Daniel Weinman took the microphone and sent the cards in the air to begin the $10,000 Main Event. Less than a week later, the all-time entry record was broke for the second year in a row with 10,112.
Today, the last surviving nine players that tossed their money into the middle will begin their final journey where one giant pot of gold worth $10 million await ones of them. Here’s what they are playing for:
- 1st: $10 million
- 2nd: $6 million
- 3rd: $4 million
- 4th: $3 million
- 5th: $2.5 million
- 6th: $2 million
- 7th: $1.5 million
- 8th: $1.25 million
- 9th: $1 million
Here are the remaining players:
Jordan Griff
Chip-leader Jordan Griff comes into the final slog with very healthy 90 big blinds. The Arizona resident’s best cash before locking up a guaranteed $1 million for making the final table was for $18,104 for a ninth-place finish at a WSOP Circuit event at Circuit Thunder Valley in 2023.
On Sunday, with 18 players left, he found himself with pocket queens early in the day. He wound up all-in against a player who spiked a set of threes. He survived by hitting a queen on the river and now is in pole position at the Main Event’s final table.
Niklas Astedt
Sweden’s Niklas Astedt is tied second in chips with 59 big blinds, giving the online specialist plenty of time to wreak havoc on his opponents. A three-time EPT champion, he is also the online poker guru known as “Lena900,” and is considered one of the best online players in history.
Brian Kim
Brian Kim is a high-stakes tournament pro with more than $7 million in cashes. A regular on the Triton Super High Roller tour, he also won one WSOP bracelet online in a $5,300 event in 2022. Although he came a whisker’s length away from a $1 million cash twice in his career, this is his first seven-figure score. You better believe he’s hoping to add another digit to his payout. He also has 59 bigs.
Joe Serock
Right behind those two sits Joe Serock with 52 big blinds. A tournament specialist, Serock was the World Poker Tour’s player of the year in 2011/12. A player who dominates both live and online, he won his online bracelet last year in a Pot Limit Omaha online. This is his sixth WSOP final table. The $1 million cash puts him above the $5.5 million mark.
Jason Sagle
Canada’s Jason Sagle is next with 42 big blinds. The 2015 Fallsview Poker Classic champion ($155,599) has come close to winning a major title in the past, but is still looking. His second-place finish at the 2006 $10,000 WPT North American Poker Championship gave him his biggest lifetime cash ($600,455), but he’s made a deep run in the Main Event once before, finishing 23rd in 2004.
Boris Angelov
Boris Angelov more than doubled his lifetime earnings with the $1 million he’s guaranteed here. The man from Sofia, Bulgaria is having himself a career year, though. In April, he won his lifetime best by being the runner-up in the €5,000 PokerStars European Poker Tour event for $663,565. He’s only been cashing in events since 2022. He has 33 big blinds.
Jonathan Tamayo
Jonathan Tamayo is next with 17 big blinds. He brought $2.3 million in lifetime cashes to the final table. His most recent six-figure score came at a PokerGO Tour event in Houston in April where he finished third for $180,000. A four-time WSOP Circuit ring winner, he also finished 21st in the 2009 Main Event.
Malo Latinois
Malo Latinois comes to the final table with the least amount of lifetime cashes with just under $100,000. This is the first time he cashed outside of Europe. With 17 big blinds, he is looking up at most of the players. He started the day before as the tourney’s chip leader, but was ground to a nub as the day went on.
Andres Gonzalez
Spain’s Andres Gonzalez sits at the bottom of the chip count with 11 big blinds. He is also having quite the year, locking up his biggest cash just last month for $500,000 by finishing third in the $3,500 Wynn Summer Classic only two weeks after he finished third in the WSOP $1,500 freezeout event for $201,518. Those two cashes count for a vast majority of his lifetime total — until now.
The players return to the Horseshoe at 2 p.m. PDT, and will play down to the final four. The winner will be determined tomorrow starting at the same time. They had yesterday off.
| 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 |
