Reigning World Champ Koray Aldemir Quietly Crushing it at 2024 WSOP
June 18, 2024 Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.
Koray Aldemir is 🍉 off to a strong start at the 2024 World Series of Poker, a rare occurrence for reigning world champions.
Seven months 🍉 ago, the German poker pro who resides in Austria won the WSOP Main Event forR$8 million, life-changing money even for 🍉 a player who was already an accomplished grinder.
At the 2024 WSOP, he's already racked up six cashes, reached two final 🍉 tables, and entered Friday ranked sixth in the Player of the Year standings.
On the surface, what Aldemir's accomplished this summer 🍉 might not seem so incredible or worth mentioning. But when you consider the past history of Main Event champs and 🍉 how they performed at the WSOP the following year, you'll realize how rare his performance has been.
One Year After Winning: 🍉 WSOP Champs Since 2007
The list of players crushing it at the World Series of Poker the year following a Main 🍉 Event title is slim during the 21st century. In fact, most of the world champions since 2000 haven't gone on 🍉 to accomplish much at the WSOP after their big win. Aldemir, on the other hand, is still crushing it and 🍉 likely will for many years.
Prior to winning the Main Event, the German poker pro had overR$12 million in live tournament 🍉 cashes, according to Hendon Mob. So, he's cut from a different cloth than, say, Jerry Yang, the 2007 champion who 🍉 has just eight cashes in bracelet events in the past 15 years.
WSOP Cashes in Year Following Main Event Title Since 🍉 2000
Winner Year Player Cashes Following Year 2024 Koray Aldemir 6* 2024 Damian Salas 2 2024 Hossein Ensan 2 2024 John 🍉 Cynn 0 2024 Scott Blumstein 1 2024 Qui Nguyen 0 2024 Joe McKeehen 5 2014 Martin Jacobson 2 2013 Ryan 🍉 Riess 3 2012 Greg Merson 1 2011 Pius Heinz 2 2010 Jonathan Duhamel 2 2009 Joe Cada 0 2008 Peter 🍉 Eastgate 1 2007 Jerry Yang 0 2006 Jamie Gold 2 2005 Joe Hachem 4 2004 Greg Raymer 3 2003 Chris 🍉 Moneymaker 1 2002 Robert Varkonyi 0 2001 Carlos Mortensen 0 2000 Chris Ferguson 6
*Unfinished series
Aldemir already has more cashes than 🍉 any other world champ since 2000 during the ensuing WSOP, except for Chris Ferguson, who had six cashes in 2001.
Ferguson, 🍉 the 2024 WSOP Player of the Year, is the only Main Event winner this century to win a bracelet the 🍉 year after. The average Main Event winner since 2000 has averaged just 1.85 cashes at the WSOP the following year. 🍉 Aldemir's already more than tripled that average in less than three weeks.
On Friday, Aldemir had a rough day. He entered 🍉 two bracelet events and failed to advance into the money in either. But he's already cashed for overR$360,000 thus far 🍉 at the 2024 WSOP, and we haven't yet reached the midway point in the series.
For his lifetime, Aldemir has overR$21 🍉 million in live tournament cashes, one bracelet, and 40 cashes at in World Series of Poker events. At age 32, 🍉 he's on pace for a Hall of Fame career one day.
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