The Five Up and Coming Players to Watch at the 2024 WSOP
This summer’s Las Vegas World Series of Poker will provide an opportunity for players of all levels to compete for the most highly-prized poker trophy of all – a WSOP gold bracelet. Among the hundreds of thousands of attendees are some well-known sharks circling for gold, the multiple bracelet winners like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey.
But what about the players who are crushing right now but aren’t so much of the popular list of predicted winners? Backing an outsider for a bracelet win, whether by investing in them via a staking site such as PokerStake or Stake Kings can be lucrative, but equally fun is the $25k fantasy draft organized by Kid Poker himself.
Let’s take a look at five players to keep your eye on this summer.
1. Victoria Livschitz
In the past few years, the rise of Victoria Livschitz has been one of the best stories in high roller poker. Starting her poker journey by binge-watching high roller final tables during the COVID pandemic, Livschitz is now one of the best players in those events and will be a major threat in the No Limit Hold’em events that cost anything over $5,000 to play.
Equally comfortable in high rollers and massive tournament fields, Livschitz has won the bulk of her $1.75 million in the past four years. A focused, determined individual, she has stated as recently as last week that her aim is to become the best poker player in the world. With 100+ events taking place in Las Vegas or online this summer, Victoria Livschitz is a name to watch.
2. Jovan Kenjic
The relatively unknown Serbian player Jovan Kenjic is in terrific form heading into the summer too, and has cashed ten times in 2024 already, winning almost all of his career-long million-dollar haul in poker in the past four months. Having recently won the Mediterranean Poker Party’s Grand Final for $365,000, Kenjic is a man in roaring form heading into the WSOP.
Curiously, Kenjic’s form does not include any cashes at the World Series of Poker, so there’s a chance that the European-based player avoids the series as in the past. But given his recent form and the fact that American players won’t know his traits at the poker table, Kenjic will be well worth backing if he arrives in Sin City this summer.
3. Landon Tice/Jeremy Becker
The prop bet between Landon Tice and Jeremy Becker – as well as between Matt Berkey and Daniel Negreanu, the two players coaches – threatens to be one of the most fascinating match-ups of the summer. Neither Tice or Becker might have been anyone’s top pick heading into the WSOP unless they’d booked their $100,000 crossbook bet for WSOP bracelets and profits.
The fact is, however, the bet was booked and since then, the hype has been real. From tournament ‘matchups’ to a serious beef between Matt Berkey and Daniel Negreanu, the escalating personal stakes between the pair are likely to rumble all summer. Both players are yet to win a WSOP bracelet, but money counts too and with the WSOP Player of the Year race sure to feature both men if they get off to a good start, the entertainment should match the value.
4. Masato Yokosawa
The Japanese player Masato Yokosawa is a star of the ‘new age’ of poker that relies on external content as much as it does the action at the felt. Streaming, videos, top poker action, Yokosawa has cashed in dozens of WSOP Events dating back over a decade ago and last year, won $188,400 when he finished 45th in the WSOP Main Event.
Utterly fearless yet somehow still without a bracelet, Yokosawa is a great pick. Not only will you be cheering on a great player who is fun to watch, you’ll be backing someone who has won events and made final tables all around the world. Highly backable, Yokosawa is a great player to put your hard-earned on if you like a fun sweat and plenty of content.
5. Alexandra Botez
GGPoker’s starlet Alexandra Botez is out final tip of the summer and is a confirmed outside pick given her preference for playing chess as a grandmaster rather than poker as a rookie. We say rookie, but Botez has a superb attitude to poker and has already starred on the PokerStars show Mystery Cash Challenge.
While Botez would be an outside bet to land a bracelet, there are a number of low stake events where her obvious tournament stamina from chess transfers and she may well pair up with a premium player such as fellow GGPoker Global Ambassador Daniel Negreanu in something such as the Tag Team event. Poker pairs such as Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov – who won the 2017 $10,000 Tag Team Championship has already laid down markers in the past and Botez could be a fun player to watch in her pursuit of her first major title in poker.
