WSOP 2024 Day 45 Recap: Kristen Foxen Among Chasing Pack on Day 5 as Mateos and Ivey Both Bust Main Event

Six WSOP events dominated the action in Las Vegas as the Main Event, the $10,000 8-Game Championship and a thrilling Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha 

Main Event Madness Sends Mateos to the Rail 

An incredible day of action in this year's WSOP Main Event saw Adrian Mateos busted in two huge hands that showed no matter how good your professional skills are, the World Championship can chew you up and spit you out in two hands.

The $10,000-entry WSOP Main Event broke attendance records in 2024 and after the fifth day of action for surviving players, just 160 remained in the hunt for $10m as the total field of 10,112 has now almost lost five figures of entries.

Top of the leaderboard after five days of the World Championship is Stephen Song (12,310,000), who leads from two Portuguese players in Carlos Caldas (12.11m) and Diogo Coelho (9.95m). The prominent online poker player Niklas Astedt (7.9m) also made the top ten, with Poker Hall of Famer Brian Rast (6,325,000), high roller regular Ren Lin (5,660,000) and WPT anchor and three-time bracelet winner Tony Dunst (3,190,000) all still in there fighting. 

Heading home on Day 5 was the Spanish player Adrian Mateos, who went from one of the biggest stacks to the rail after two hands went against him. First, Mateos made one of the folds of the Championship when he laid down pocket kings on a queen-high flop to his opponent who held pocket aces.

Then, having suffered a hit to his stack, Mateos was at-risk when he got it in very good with pocket aces against a suited ace-king. That ace-king made a runner-runner flush to leave Mateos stunned and on the rail, though his interview with Jeff Platt post-exit was one of huge character, demonstrating the Spaniard's incredible mental strength and professionalism. 

Also out on Day 5 was Phil Ivey, but while the 11-time WSOP champion departed, plenty of other legends survived. Four of them were female players, such as the indomitable former three-time GPI Player of the Year Kristen Foxen (5,400,000). Three more women remain, with Ma Li (4,050,000), Shundan Xiao (3,205,000) and Danielle Andersen (1,725,000), with each of them hoping to become the first female final table player since 1995 when Barbara Enright eventually finished fifth.

WSOP Event #81: $10,000 Main Event Day 5 Chip Counts

Wilhelm the Leader as Last 10 Remain in Bounty Hunt 

Another exciting day of action took place in the $1,000-entry Mystery Bounty PLO Event #86, where Sascha Wilhelm from Germany grabbed the lead with 36,250,000 chips. With a total of 4,280 entrants in this event, just 463 players returned for Day 2, where a prize pool of $3,616,800 was battled over.

With the top prize of $282,290 and the WSOP gold bracelet still up for grabs, Wilhelm is pursued closest by Bryce Yockey (33,950,000), with other big names such as Brandon Caputo (16,625,000) and James Cavanaugh (15.7m) still in the hunt. Two small stacks need a miracle go much further than ninth and tenth place when tomorrow's final kicks off, with Robert Cowen (2,975,000) and Juan Lapido (1,575,000) up against it. 

WSOP Event #86: $1,000 Mystery Bounty PLO Final Day Chip Counts

Gus Hansen Going for Glory in 8-Game

The Danish poker legend and former Full Tilt Poker poster boy Gus Hansen is  in with a good chance of a WSOP gold bracelet in Event #88 of the 2024 WSOP, third in chips in the $10,000-entry 8-Game Championship. With mixed game specialist Adam Friedman snatching the field at the close of play with 1,098,000 chips, Tom Koral (1,055,000) is followed by Hansen (948,000) in the counts for what promises to be an exhilarating final day of action. 

With players such as Daniel Negreanu, Robert Mizrachi, Stephen Chidwick, Josh Arieh, Phil Hellmuth, Patrick Leonard, Daniel Weinman and Scott Seiver all being eliminated before the money places, Viktor Blom bubbled the money when Hansen hit a sensational two-outer to send the Swede to the rail and advance to what is a very dangerous position with a day to play and a top prize of $413,446 on the line.

WSOP Event #88: $10,000 8-Game Championship Day 2 Chip Counts

Three Day 1s Kick Off New Events

Three more bracelet events began on Day 45 of the 2024 WSOP, with Event #89, the $3,000-entry Mid-Stakes Championship featuring 1,161 entrants. A total of 317 players escaped Day 1 with chips, among them being the chip leader Jonathan Newman (573,500), French player Herve Gouzil (505,000), poker legend Michael Moncek (357,000) PokerGO favorites Adam Hendrix (166,500), Samuel Laskowitz (156,000) and Jake Schwartz (134,000), and the Hall of Famer Billy Baxter (86,500).

In Event #90, the $1,500-entry 6-Max PLO event, 1,304 entries were reduced to just 89 survivors, with a prize pool of $1,740,840 being fought for tomorrow and a top prize of $269,530 up for grabs along with the WSOP bracelet. David Shaw (1,028,000), leads with impressive performances from Pedro Neves (456,000), Mike Leah (410,000) and David Docherty (338,000) along the way.     

Finally, Event #91 saw 357 players take on the $3,000 buy-in 8-Max H.O.R.S.E. event of Day 1, with 141 players surviving. The chip leader at the end of Day 1 was David 'ODB' Baker (353,500), with other big names such as Paul Campbell (251,000), Ariel Mantel (215,500), Dario Alioto (212,500), John Racener (189,000), Scotty Nguyen (155,500), Jeremy Ausmus (147,500) and Phil Ivey
(129,500) all making the cut, with Daniel Weinman, Mike Matusow, Shaun Deeb, Chad Eveslage, Dan Shak, Phil Hellmuth and Allen Kessler all busting on the day.

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