Photo Credits: PokerGO
The 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began with an exciting new event, the $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em champions reunion bounty eight-max. This tournament had a special feature: any player who knocked out a former main event champion received a $10,000 seat in the current year’s main event. The tournament attracted 493 entries, generating a prize pool of $2,047,800.
A total of 22 previous WSOP main event champions participated, ranging from 1983 winner Tom McEvoy to reigning champion Daniel Weinman. Ultimately, it was New York poker pro Asher Conniff who claimed victory, securing his first WSOP bracelet and a prize of $408,468. This win marks Conniff’s third-largest career payout, boosting his total lifetime tournament earnings to over $4.4 million. Conniff, a World Poker Tour champion and the tenth-place finisher in the 2022 WSOP main event, overcame a significant heads-up deficit to secure the win.
The 22 former champions who received free entries included notable names, with four making it into the money: Greg Merson (67th, 2012 champion), Daniel Weinman (52nd, 2023 champion), Dan Harrington (37th, 1995 champion), and Qui Nguyen (21st, 2016 champion).
| Result | Player | Prize |
| 1 | Asher Conniff | $408,468 |
| 2 | Halil Tasyurek | $272,305 |
| 3 | Yin Yuzhou | $188,342 |
| 4 | Jonathan Pastore | $132,545 |
| 5 | Terry Fleischer | $94,936 |
| 6 | David Coleman | $69,231 |
| 7 | Nenad Dukic | $51,416 |
| 8 | Michael Acevedo | $38,903 |