Final Table Is in Sight as Kristen Foxen Keeps Her Hopes of WSOP History Alive on Day 7 of the Main Event
It started more than a week ago as nothing more than an impossible dream: navigate through a massive field of more than 10,000 players and make it to the World Series of Poker Main Event final table. Now that dream is close to reality for the 18 players still in with a chance at being crowned world champion after Day 7.
More than five two-hour levels were needed to bring the field down from 59 to the lucky 18 who will return tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time inside the Horseshoe Event Center to play for a chance at every poker’s players dream, a spot at the final table.
Malo Latinois is the man best positioned to book one of those seats as he finished as chip leader with 61,300,000. The French pro has already far eclipsed his $96,000 in total live earnings as he and the rest of the field are already guaranteed $350,000 for making it this far.
Five different countries are represented in the top ten spots on the chip leaderboard. Diogo Coelho of Portugal is in second place in this international field with 51,500,000.
Coelho picked up pocket aces in the biggest pot of the tournament so far as he, like Latinois, is making his first live WSOP cash a memorable one. He does have one previous big score on his poker resume, winning a high roller at EPT Paris in 2023 for $857,000.
End of Day 7 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malo Latinois | France | 61,300,000 | 77 |
| 2 | Diogo Coelho | Portugal | 51,500,000 | 64 |
| 3 | Jason Sagle | Canada | 51,400,000 | 64 |
| 4 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | 50,000,000 | 63 |
| 5 | Kristen Foxen | Canada | 47,400,000 | 59 |
| 6 | Joe Serock | United States | 46,300,000 | 58 |
| 7 | Malcolm Franchi | France | 45,900,000 | 57 |
| 8 | Jason James | Canada | 45,800,000 | 57 |
| 9 | Brian Kim | United States | 42,400,000 | 53 |
| 10 | Jessie Bryant | United States | 27,600,000 | 35 |
Canadian veteran pro Jason Sagle is in third place with 51,400,000. Sagle has WSOP cashes going back two decades, including seven so far this summer. While he has finished in the top 10 in three WPT events, his lone WSOP final table came 18 years ago in a $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em event. He’s already surpassed his best Main Event performance — as he was 23rd in the 2004 Main Event.
He’s joined in the top ten by fellow Canadian Jason James, who’s trying to follow a familiar path to WSOP glory. Two years ago, Espen Jorstad won the Tag Team event before capturing the Main Event bracelet. James took down the Tag Team this year with partner Jimmy Setna, who himself went deep in the 2022 Main Event, and he’s replicating Jorstad’s Main Event success as he takes 45,800,000 into Day 8.
Swedish online legend Niklas Astedt, who in 2021 was voted the best online poker player ever, is among the top stacks with 50,000,000. He’s joined by bracelet winner Joe Serock (46,300,000) and fellow bracelet winner and high roller regular Brian Kim (42,400,000), whose run so far is already better than his 23rd-place showing two years ago.
Kristen Foxen Takes Her Shot at WSOP History
For all the success and accolades players like Astedt have amassed over their careers, though, the spotlight won’t be on them tomorrow. It’s been nearly 30 years since Barbara Enright became the first, and only, woman to make the Main Event final table. The player who is trying to join her also happens to be the most decorated female player in WSOP history.
Kristen Foxen is already the only woman with four WSOP bracelets. Foxen and Vanessa Selbst are also the only women to win three bracelets in open-field events.
In a tournament where the percentage of women players is often less than five percent, a deep run could spark another poker boom. Foxen ended the day with 47,400,000, in fourth place, while recognizing that women across the poker world are following her closely.
“I’m just hoping that I can show other women not to be intimidated. To feel confident, like we belong here. Let’s beat them if we want to,” Foxen said.
Foxen’s run in the Main Event nearly ended early today. She was down to just five big blinds when she was all in and behind with ace-five against Gabriel Moura's queens. The flop and turn provided no help and Foxen was one card away from elimination, but she spiked an ace on the river to stay alive.
She doubled up again, this time for 7,400,000, as she picked up two kings against Gerardo Hernandez' sevens. Foxen later won a big pot off Boris Angelov with trip kings as she continued to climb up the leaderboard
It was the type of rollercoaster day that tested her nerve as much as her skill.
“I’m excited to go sleep and get some rest. That was really, really intense. Probably the most intense day I’ve ever had,” she said. “Definitely needed to muster up all of my strength and perseverance because I had a couple of frustrating hands where I folded the best hand. I don’t know if he’s bluffing or value-betting, or whatever. Down to five big blinds and ran it back up, just feels great.”
The rest of the remaining field includes the likes of Moura (24,600,000), Yegor Moroz (24,500,000), Jonathan Tamayo (18,400,000), and Angelov (8,300,000).
Day 7 Action
Day 7 began with just 59 players remaining out of a record-setting field of 10,112. Richard Lowe, who began the day in the middle of the pack, moved all in for 6,925,000 with top two pair on one of the first few hands, but Tamayo had a set of sevens to bust Lowe in 58th place. Tamayo then eliminated bracelet winner and former chip leader Stephen Song in 57th the next hand.
Jesse Capps and his army of rubber ducks lost most of his stack when he called Luis Vazquez’s river shove with a flush, but Vazquez had a full house to double up. Alex Keating was out in 55th when Guillermo Sanchez Otero made a running straight to crack Keating’s flopped two pair. Capps eventually fell in 51st as his ducks enjoyed their last quack of the Main Event.
Daniel Kyosev doubled up with a royal flush, but his newfound wealth would only last a few minutes before he fell in 50th place. Coelho then doubled up with two kings against Charles Russell, while Kim doubled up off Aliaksandr Shylko with the nut straight against top two pair.
Hernandez picked up aces and was all in for 19,600,000 against start-of-day chip leader Kevin Davis’ kings. Hernandez held up to double into the chip lead with 40,000,000, while Davis was left with just 475,000 and was eliminated in 48th shortly afterward. Russell Rosenblum, the only remaining player to have made the Main Event final table before, ran into Sagle’s kings to finish in 46th, while Hiroki Nawa (45th), WSOP bracelet winner Nick Jivkov (43rd), and Robert Renaud (41st) followed him to the payout desk.
Shundan Xiao, the California software engineer and one of two women left standing along with Foxen, vaulted up to 30,000,000 after picking off a bluff from Astedt. Brandon Cantu then saw a flop against Sagle with just 525,000 behind and jammed all in. Sagle called with top pair and Cantu could only muster eight-high to hit the rail in 39th.
Kim doubled up again when he hit an ace on the river against Orson Young’s tens. Latinois then took a massive pot off Xiao with flopped two pair as Xiao was left with less than 3,000,000. Latinois, meanwhile, jumped up to 56,000,000 and opened up a commanding chip lead over the rest of the field.
Shylko fell in 36th place, while Arthur Morris was eliminated in 34th after running his tens into Brian Rast’s kings. Xiao’s run eventually came to an end in 28th when Yake Wu showed a flopped set of fours to beat her queens, making Foxen the last woman remaining in the field.
Daniel Zadok was all in for 12,200,000 and poised for a double up with two aces, while Moroz had a pair of jacks. Moroz has had the most boisterous rail throughout the past few days, and they had reason to erupt in celebration when a jack fell on the flop to give him the pot and send Zadok to the rail in 27th place.
Young was eliminated by Astedt in 26th, while Justin Vaysman ran jacks into Latinois’ aces to fall in 25th. Rast called off his last 11,225,000 in a pot against Tamayo with ace-queen, but Tamayo had a pair of kings and the Poker Hall of Famer couldn’t find an ace as he was eliminated in 24th.
James rocketed up the counts when he shoved the turn on Sagle. Sagle ended up folding two queens as James took the big pot with two kings to move past 60,000,000. Angelov then earned a massive double up through Moroz with queens against tens.
Players were preparing to go off on a break as Vazquez and Kim were still involved in a big pot. Kim had jammed for 18,650,000 and Vazquez tanked for several minutes before calling with two queens. Kim had ace-king and hit a king on the flop to double up. Left on an extreme short stack, Vazquez was eliminated in 22nd in a three-way all in soon after.
Kyosuke Nagami fell in 21st as he ran ace-nine into Malcolm Franchi’s ace-king. Sagle, meanwhile, took his turn as chip leader when he won a big pot off James with just ace-high. Wu lost a race to Franchi in 20th place, bringing the field within one elimination of bagging up for the night. Hernandez could’ve been the last to fall as he was all in with two fours against Moura’s aces, but he spiked a set on the flop to double up. Coelho then won his massive pot against Russell’s jacks as he vaulted up to 62,000,000.
Russell, left on a short stack after that encounter, was then eliminated by Latinois in 19th to bring an end to the night.
The remaining players return tomorrow at 2 p.m. with 1 hour and 18 minutes remaining in Level 36 with blinds of 400,000-800,000 and an 800,000 big blind ante. They’ll play down to the final table tomorrow, with a spot among the final nine worth at least $1,000,000. The eventual champion will earn $10,000,000, the gold bracelet, and the title of world champion when the final table is played out over two nights on July 16-17.
What was once a sea of hardened pros and home game heroes taking their one shot at glory has been reduced to just two tables. Eighteen are left, but there are only nine seats around the final table. They’ll determine who gets them tomorrow. Stay tuned as PokerNews provides all the action leading up to the final table.