Dong Meng Wins 2024 WSOP Tournament of Champions
More than 1,000 players qualified to play in the 2024 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.
They qualified through 2023 WSOP bracelet events in the US, Czech Republic, and Bahamas, as well as throughout the 2023/2024 WSOP Circuit international and domestic seasons. There was $1M put into the prize pool, a sort of freeroll, though money had been taken from prize pools throughout the past year to pay for the million. Even so, it was a chance to play with no buy-in required and win bonus money to finish out the season.
However, the Tournament of Champions took place at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles just one week before the WSOP was scheduled to start in Las Vegas. Most players anticipated that the TOC would be a part of the WSOP, as it had been the previous two years, but the recent announcement put it in Los Angeles. That appeared to be one of the reasons that only 559 of the 1,176 qualifying players actually showed up to compete.
For comparison, the 2023 Tournament of Champions brought in 741 of the 960 qualifying players.
Lessons learned, perhaps. One person who had no complaints, though, was Dong Meng.
Numbers and Payouts
As noted, the 2024 TOC was at Commerce Casino and brought in 559 players. Among them were 2023 WSOP Main Event champion Dan Weinman, 17-time WSOPC ring winner Ari Engel, and 16-time WSOPC ring winner Maurice Hawkins.
Day 1 played the field down to 104 players, just a few from the money bubble. And by the time Day 2 ended, there were the final table after David Nguyen busted in 11th place, Albert Gorelik followed in tenth, and John West departed in ninth place.
Day 3 brought eight players back, all seated at the final table with Kevin Will leading:
- Kevin Will = 4,830,000 chips
- Cody Bell = 4,805,000 chips
- Ramon Kropmanns = 3,365,000 chips
- Dong Meng = 3,065,000 chips
- Nathan Wasson = 2,015,000 chips
- Rick Gebhart = 1,535,000 chips
- Alan Merdita = 1,510,000 chips
- Scott Dulaney = 1,475,000 chips
Final Table Roller Coaster
As soon as play began, Kropmanns took from Bell and grabbed the chip lead, but then Dulaney doubled through Kropmanns to stay in action. Gebhart doubled through Dulaney to stop that excitement, while Bell proceeded to oust Merdita in eighth place.
Wasson doubled through Kropmanns. Bell got aggressive and took from opponents, including Meng. But Meng then doubled through Kropmanns and eliminated Dulaney in seventh place.
Bell and Meng led the six-handed pack, though Will doubled through Bell to take some of those chips. Gebhart eliminated Kropmanns in sixth place.
Bell continued to lose ground, and Gebhart eliminated him in fifth place.
Will doubled through Gebhart to soar into the lead, though Meng was nearby with a similarly impressive stack. Soon after, Meng sent Gebhart packing in fourth place to take the clear lead.
Meng stayed on top of it, taking a pot from Will to climb to 14M chips and then take some from Wasson. Will did double through Meng, though, and Wasson did the same through Will. But Meng busted Wasson in third place with pocket queens over pocket deuces.
Heads-up play began with Meng holding 16,675,000 chips to the 5,225,000 of Will. Will doubled when K-5 outflopped Meng’s pocket sevens. But Meng stayed aggressive and chipped up through Will. That left Will down to 4.5M chips, which he jammed with K-5 again. Meng called with A-Q, and though a five hit the turn, Meng rivered a queen for the win.
Final Results
Dong Meng won $200K for winning the TOC, and he also won an official WSOP bracelet. That makes a second one for him, as Meng won the $1K Flip & Go tournament at the 2023 WSOP. The softspoken Californian said that a lot of luck helped him win, though he also said he felt comfortable at Commerce. The second bracelet “means a lot,” he told Natalie Bode on the GGPoker livestream. “I’m not a professional player, just an amateur, but I really enjoy it.”
- 1st place: Dong Meng ($200K)
- 2nd place: Kevin Will ($120K)
- 3rd place: Nathan Wasson ($87K)
- 4th place: Richard Gebhart ($63K)
- 5th place: Cody Bell ($46K)
- 6th place: Ramon Kropmanns ($35K)
- 7th place: Scott Dulaney ($26K)
- 8th place: Alan Merdita ($20K)
The full GGPoker livestream of the final table is available.
