Meet the Final 13 Players in the WSOP $50,000 High Roller – World Poker Tour

Thirteen players remain in search of the biggest prize of the 2024 World Series of Poker so far on the third day of Event 39, a $50,000 High Roller. After the field reached 177 entries as late registration closed Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas, the first-place prize eclipsed $2 million.

As would be expected for a buy-in level of this magnitude, the final 13 players vying for this bracelet include some real heavyweights. Online poker legend Viktor ‘isildur1’ Blom holds the chip lead heading into Day 3, as he makes his second serious run at his first career WSOP gold bracelet. Blom and Sergio Aido, a Triton Super High Roller regular also looking for his first WSOP win, are well ahead of the rest of the field.

There’s also reigning WSOP $50,000 champion Leon Sturm, current GPI No. 1 Jesse Lonis, Adrian Mateos, Chance Kornuth, Jonathan Jaffe and Artur Martirosian. But perhaps most notable among these final 13 are a few names that stand out for other reasons.

Bruce Buffer, the legendary voice of the UFC, pocketed chips for the second night in a row in the biggest buy-in tournament he has ever cashed in. Buffer is no stranger to the world of poker and has a WPT final table on his resume, but he’s already notched the biggest result of his career, regardless of ranking. There’s also Robert Salaburu, who made waves during his participation in the 2012 WSOP Main Event, where he ultimately finished in eighth place. Salburu has not recorded a tournament cash since December 2019, and only two six-figure live cashes in his career.

Ahead of Sunday’s final, which will be streamed live on PokerGO once the field reaches eight players, let’s take a closer look at each of the players who could take home the title.

Viktor Blom – 9,670,000
WSOP bracelets: 0
Live Career Earnings: $3,072,000

Viktor Blom built his legend by taking on players like Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and a menagerie of other all-time poker greats in high stakes online poker cash games, at the heyday of Full Tilt Poker, with famous swings worth millions of dollars in either direction.

He has appeared regularly in the world of live poker over the past 15 years, accumulating just over $3 million in total. That includes two wins worth more than $1 million: the 2012 $100,000 Super High Roller at PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the 2018 partypoker Millions at Rozvadov. This has seemingly been Blom’s most active summer at the WSOP in recent memory, and he has already come close to a first career gold bracelet in 2024 with a fourth-place finish in a $1,500 Dealer’s Choice event. Blom could claim the biggest live tournament victory of his career if he can maintain his chip lead until the end.

Sergio Aido – 8,800,000
WSOP bracelets: 0
Live Career Earnings: $19,186,552

Sergio Aido has been a regular fixture on the live tournament circuit for over a decade, with a specialty in high roller events. His career-best was achieved during a €100,000 Super High Roller at EPT Monte Carlo in 2019 – one of four seven-figure live results in his career. Aido also won the 2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship.

However, when it comes to Triton, WSOP and WPT events, Aido has only had close shots. A Triton title was the closest of all, with three career runners-up. Aido has twice reached a WPT Main Tour final table, placing seventh at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star in 2017 and the WPT Venetian in 2021. And when it comes to the WSOP, Aido has two final tables under his belt – one live and one online. As he fights Blom and the others, this could also be Aido’s climactic moment.

Jonathan Jaffé – 5,135,000
WSOP bracelets: 0
Live Career Earnings: $12,859,090

Jonathan Jaffe is a member of the WPT Champions Club, having won WPT Montreal during Season XIII in 2014. His career high score also came at a WPT marquee event, as he won WPT Alpha8 for One Drop in 2023 to record his first live sept. -result in figures.

Jaffe has made four career WSOP final tables, but his best result to date is a third-place finish in a $5,000 6-Max No Limit Hold’em event in 2021.

Martin Kabrhel – 4,380,000
WSOP bracelets: 2
Live Career Earnings: $12,647,929

Martin Kabrhel has had almost all of his career best results at the World Series of Poker, including winning the €100,000 Super High Roller at WSOP Europe in 2018 for just under $3 million and one of two bracelets in WSOP gold from his collection.

Jesse Lonis – 4,230,000
WSOP bracelets: 2
Live Career Earnings: $8,676,400

It might be easier to list the things Jesse Lonis hasn’t done in poker in recent years. After putting up incredible volume in 2021 and 2022, Lonis broke out in a big way in 2023. His victory at the $50,000 WSOP Pot Limit Omaha High Roller earned him over $2.3 million and his second gold bracelet in career.

Lonis is just weeks away from his second career final table on the WPT Main Tour, and his results over the past two years have propelled him to the top spot in the Global Poker Index.

Léon Sturm – 3,895,000
WSOP bracelets: 1
Live Career Earnings: $6,533,879

2024 has been a career year for Leon Sturm, especially when it comes to the World Series of Poker. He recorded his first career bracelet victory in this event, then finished third in a $103,000 High Roller at WSOP Paradise in December. Sturm also has a WPT Main Tour final table on his resume, having finished 4th at the WPT Venetian in 2022.

Returning back-to-back in such a quality field would place Sturm among some of the most legendary performances in WSOP history.

Adrien Mateos – 3,585,000
WSOP bracelets: 4
Live Career Earnings: $47,108,596

Adrian Mateos currently sits ninth on the all-time live tournament winnings list, and as you can imagine, he’s done just about everything there is to do in poker. He has won four WSOP bracelets and distinguished himself by winning the 2013 WSOP Europe Main Event.

Mateos hasn’t really slowed down since. He won the EPT Monte Carlo in 2015, a $250,000 Super High Roller at the 2021 WSOP, and has posted numerous seven-figure results on the Triton Super High Roller Series.

Kornuth Chance – 3,385,000
WSOP bracelets: 3
Live Career Earnings: $16,070,024

Chance Kornuth is a three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner and a member of the WPT Champions Club, having won the WPT Choctaw in Season XX. Despite his four biggest career live cashes in high roller events at the WSOP, one of the few things Kornuth hasn’t accomplished in his career thus far is completing a high roller out. He recorded second-place finishes in the WSOP high rollers in 2022 ($75,000) and 2023 ($25,000 6-Max).

Johannes Straver – 2,865,000
WSOP bracelets: 0
Live Career Earnings: $2,482,675

Johannes Straver has made three career WSOP final tables, with a career-high $411,279 in 2022 when he finished second in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em freezeout. He also has a handful of cashes on the Triton Super High Roller Series, with one final table appearance. A result of fifth place or better would give Straver a new career high.

Morten Klein – 2,210,000
WSOP bracelets: 0
Live Career Earnings: $1,917,953

Norwegian Morten Klein has repeatedly knocked on the door of a major title. He finished third at EPT Copenhagen in 2010, and in World Poker Tour Season XI he finished second at WPT Copenhagen. Klein’s also made two Triton final tables, recording a career-high $309,000 in May in Montenegro.

Robert Salaburu – 1,920,000
WSOP bracelets: 0
Live Career Earnings: $1,750,749

Robert Salaburu burst into poker’s consciousness in 2012 when he participated in the WSOP Main Event. He ultimately finished eighth for $971,360, and with the exception of a win at the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza for $360,398 in 2017, Salaburu has remained largely silent when it comes to live poker results in the 12 years since followed. This will be his first recorded live tournament cash since December 2019, when he finished 28th at the WPT Five Diamond Poker Classic.

Artur Martirosian – 1,660,000
WSOP bracelets: 2
Live Career Earnings: $15,225,012

Artur Martirosian had a breakout year in 2023. He showed off his high roller skills by finishing second in the WSOP $250,000 Super High Roller, finished sixth at the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas and won two WSOPs. wristbands at online events.

Martirosian’s first win at the 2024 WSOP was a run to the semifinals of the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.

Bruce buffer zone – 1,365,000
WSOP bracelets: 0
Live Career Earnings: $354,804

The player with the shortest stack on Day 3 of a major tournament rarely receives much attention, but Bruce Buffer is certainly a notable exception. The longtime UFC announcer has deep ties to the poker world. Buffer was a former “red pro” at Full Tilt Poker, had a poker room named after him in Luxor, and reached the final table of the WPT Invitational in Season III, finishing sixth. He also appeared in an episode of Poker After Dark on NBC.

This will be the biggest cash of Buffer’s career, regardless of outcome, and the biggest buy-in event Buffer has ever cashed by far.