The 2024 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event saw a record-breaking turnout of 10,112 people. Of those, 3,617 survived Day 2abc and Day 2d and converged at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas for the first time at the start of Day 3. However, at the end of the five levels of play, only 1,529 remained to bag up for Day 4.
With 1,517 players receiving a part of the massive $94,041,600 prize pool, the tournament ended only twelve players away from bursting the bubble. The person who has the least fear of bubbling the Main Event is Francisco Perez Moreno. The Spanish player managed to bag up 2,187,000, being the only player to cross the two-million mark, a feat rarely seen on Day 3 of the Main Event.
End of Day 3 Top Ten Chips Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francisco Perez Moreno | Spain | 2,187,000 | 273 |
| 2 | Justin Datloff | United States | 1,819,000 | 227 |
| 3 | Alex Livingston | Canada | 1,808,000 | 226 |
| 4 | Marcelo Tadeu Aziz Junior | Brazil | 1,697,000 | 212 |
| 5 | Samiyel Duzgun | Switzerland | 1,680,000 | 210 |
| 6 | Matt Stout | United States | 1,670,000 | 209 |
| 7 | Francis Anderson | United States | 1,655,000 | 207 |
| 8 | Diogo Coelho | Portugal | 1,631,000 | 204 |
| 9 | Nazar Buhaiov | Ukraine | 1,631,000 | 204 |
| 10 | Ren Lin | United States | 1,570,000 | 196 |
As he was bagging his gargantuan stack, good for 273 big blinds at the start of Day 4, Perez Moreno told PokerNews that obtaining his stack was "easy" as he had been running well all day. "My value-bets got paid, my bluffs received folds, it was sick. I was flipping out."
When asked about his strategy for tomorrow, he answered, "I will try pushing people around, but I'm not used to these kinds of tournaments as I'm mainly a pot-limit Omaha cash game player."
Perez Moreno may not be used to playing tournaments, but he crushed the competition on Day 3 and joined the likes of recent bracelet winner Francis Anderson (1,660,000) and $25K Fantasy Draft picks Ren Lin (1,570,000), and Nacho Barbero (1,289,000) in the ranks of seven-figure stacks.
Other notables who bagged up more than the average in their pursuit of the $10,000,000 first-place prize include Danny Tang (980,000), Adrian Mateos (960,000), and Mo Nuwwarah (960,000).
Meanwhile, Phil Ivey (597,000), Ethan "Rampage" Yau (504,000) and 2021 Main Event Champion Koray Aldemir (443,000) found themselves in the middle of the pack at the end of the day, while Ivey's fellow Hall of Famers Erik Seidel and Daniel Negreanu will have to try and survive the bubble with less than ten big blinds, starting Day 4 with 78,000 and 74,000, respectively.
Another player who made it through the three days of poker so far is Cody Daniels. The terminally ill Daniels stole the heart of the poker world last year in the 2023 WSOP Main Event when he crossed playing it off his bucket list and managed to cash. Despite his physical struggles, he has returned this year and is set to book back-to-back in-the-money finishes.
"I feel destroyed, absolutely destroyed," Daniels shared with PokerNews after the night had ended and he was done bagging his 356,000 chips. "The first days were tolerable, but now I'm ripping at the seams. It gets worse every day, but I'm pushing through. My head is in the game, and I'm playing well. It might be acceptable to be five or ten minutes late tomorrow so I can get some rest; we'll see."
Day 3 Action
The day started with 3,617 hopefuls, but plenty had their Main Event dreams crushed within the first few hours. Among the earlier departures were bracelet winners Ali Eslami, Rep Porter, and Ben Lamb, while the likes of 2012 Champion Greg Merson, Triple Crown winner Niall Farrell, and Mike Matusow soon joined them at the rail.
Kevin Gerhart, Andrew Lichtenberger, Felipe Ramos, and Maria Konnikova did not make it to the last level either, while the likes of Nick Schulman, Julien Sitbon, and Christoph Vogelsang were among the final players eliminated on Day 3.
The remaining players will return at noon local time Wednesday, June 10, to decide who will make the money and guarantee themselves $15,000 and who will walk away empty-handed. Five more two-hour levels are slated, with a 15-minute break after every level. The tournament will resume in Level 16 with blinds of 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante, and a 75-minute dinner break is planned after Level 18.
Check back in to PokerNews, as you do not want to miss the thrilling bubble phase of the 2024 WSOP Main Event.
