The 2024 World Series of Poker Online International Main Event concluded Tuesday after just over four hours of final table action. When the dust cleared, Moritz Dietrich stood alone as the 2024 WSOP Online Main Event champion, laying claim to the highly-coveted bracelet and the $4,021,012 top prize. The entirety of the final table streamed live, with cards up coverage, on the GGPoker YouTube channel and featured commentary from Jeff Gross and Phil Laak.
GGPoker set a $25,000,000 guarantee on the $5,000 buy-in event, but the 6,146 entries garnered across 17 starting flights blew past that figure to generate a prize pool of $29,193,500. Both the top prize and total prize pool set new records for online poker events. With only nine players remaining to start the day, each of the surviving players entered the final table having locked up $502,771, but all eyes were on the first-place payday.
Seven countries at final table
The International Main Event lived up to its name, with seven countries represented at the final table. Russia's Evgenii Akimov, playing from Mexico, entered as the chip leader with a stack worth 86BBs. Not far behind him were Portugal's Rui Ferreiraand Germany'sDietrich, with 67BBs and 57BBs respectively. The middle of the pack saw Belarusian Ilya Anatski(43BBs) holding a slight edge over American Isaac Baron(34BBs), also playing from Mexico,and China's Hai Pan(30BBs).
Lithuania's Audrius Stakelis led the bottom contingent of the chip counts with 20BBs, while Portugal's Diogo Coelho (17BBs) and Germany's Benjamin Rolle (14BBs) started proceedings squarely in the danger zone. Notably, Coelho finished 10th in the 2024 WSOP Main Event, bubbling the final table, but banking an $800,000 score for his efforts. Rolle, founder of the training site Raise Your Edge, recently made waves in the community with his comments on women in poker.
Baron dominates early stages
After starting on the shortest stack, Rolle managed to find an early double through chip leader Akimov. Facing an open from the Russian, Rolle moved all in from the small blind with 
. Akimov snap-called with 
and Rolle needed a lot of help to survive. The 
flop provided no such assistance, but the 
turn came to Rolle's rescue and now Akimov needed to connect with a three-outer. Instead, both players improved on the 
river, but it was Rolle who scooped up the virtual chips with two pair.
With Rolle out of the danger zone, Stakelis assumed the short stack role and quickly found a hand with potential to relieve him of that position. From UTG, the Lithuanian min-raised with 
off a stack of just over 15BBs. The action folded around to Baron in the small blind, who put in a small re-raise with 
. Stakelis had a hand he wanted to see all five cards with and moved the rest of his chips in the middle. Baron made a quick call and the cards hit their backs for one of poker's classic flips. The 
flop kept Baron firmly in the lead, but the 
turn left him dodging his own set outs, plus Stakelis' overcards. The river 
improved only Baron, however, and Stakelis' run ended with a ninth-place finish.
Isaac Baron and his pocket queens score the first elimination.
Not long after, Rolle was the one all-in and at risk after committing his stack from the small blind against an open from Akimov and a flat-call from Baron. Rolle's move with drew a fold from Akimov's 
, but Baron made the call with 
, looking to score another elimination. With over 40BBs in the middle, Rolle needed to hit to continue his spin up, but the 
flop connected only with his opponent, and the turn 
left him drawing dead against Baron's full house. The 
on the river added insult to injury and Rolle's day ended with an eighth-place finish.
Following the two eliminations, Baron took the chip lead and immediately went to work on widening the gulf between him and the stacks nearest his. Despite Baron's chip-up frenzy, the next elimination came from Dietrich in a blind versus blind confrontation with Pan. After the action folded to him, Dietrich moved all-in with 
and Pan quickly called off his remaining 13BBs with 
. Dietrich needed to connect to win the pot, and score the knockout, and connect he did on the 
flop. With only two outs available to him, Pan was left drawing thin and the turn and 
river ended his day in a seventh-place finish.
Seven-figure territory and an untimely disconnect
With Pan's exit, all remaining players crossed the seven-figure cash threshold, but with plenty left to play for no one wanted to be next on the chopping block.
Just before the first break, Anatski ran into a cooler when his ran into Coelho's 
. The two players committed all the chips pre-flop, with Anatski covering slightly. The 
board provided a turn sweat for the Belarusian, but the river left him with just ace-high and a sub-10BB stack. When the players returned, Anatski quickly found a spot to commit the rest of his chips. Facing an open from Baron, Anatski chose to flat-call from the button with 
, leaving less than a big blind behind. Baron's remained best on the 
flop and the rest of the chips went in the middle. Anatski needed to pair up to score a double, but the 
left him drawing dead and ended his run with a sixth-place finish.
Following Anatski's elimination, an unfortunate, and potentially controversial, moment came during a blind versus blind hand between Ferreira and Akimov. Ferreira's limp from the small blind with drew a check from Akimov and his . The action went check, check on the flop, but the turn saw Ferreira bet small. Akimov's call brought them to the river 
and Ferreira, still confident in his hand, bet once again. After thinking for a few moments, Akimov put in a raise and Ferreira folded his hand instantaneously before the "Sitting Out" icon appeared over his avatar. The livestream chat exploded with theories and accusations of poor etiquette whilst commentators Gross and Laak tried to make heads or tails of what they just saw.
Rui Ferreira's untimely disconnect saw him lose a pot he could have won.
Ferreira busts countryman Coelho, Baron downed by bad beat
Five-handed play saw the pace of the action slow as the pay jumps became even more consequential and no clear short stack on the table. It took over an hour for the next elimination to come and when the moment arrived, it was the two Portuguese players locking horns. Ferreira came in for a min-raise with from UTG, and the action folded to Coelho in the big blind. With 
and a little more than 10BBs, Coelho moved all-in over the top and Ferreira quickly called. The runout offered no help to Coelho, and his run ended with a fifth-place finish.
As four-handed play began to drag on, the stack sizes leveled out until each player held nearly the same amount of chips. That is, until, a blind versus blind, ace-high versus ace-high clash saw Ferreira's stack decimated by Akimov. From the small blind, Ferreira moved all-in with 
only to see Akimov quickly call with . The 
runout kept Akimov's ace-high holding best to give him an overwhelming chip lead and left Ferreira with only crumbs.
Akimov entered bully mode while Ferreira's sub-10BB stack handcuffed the other two players, neither of whom wanted to go out before the short stack. After repeated shoves with less-than-spectacular hands made it through, the Russian misstepped when he moved all in from the button with . Baron, in the small blind, picked up and made the call despite Ferreira's standing. With more than half the chips in play in the middle, the 
flop left Baron with nearly 97% of the equity. The turn 
provided Akimov's hand with an unlikely route to victory and Baron remained an 86% favorite to win the hand. Devastation came for Baron on the river , however, as Akimov completed his backdoor straight draw to snatch the pot away in brutal fashion.
Jeff Gross was visibly shocked as Isaac Baron suffered brutal beat.
Shortly after, Akimov scored another knockoutwith what is now likely his favorite hand. Again, from the button, Akimov moved all-in, this time with a different combination of his unbeatable holding: . Dietrich got out of the way, but Ferreira made the call with . The looked as safe as it gets, but there's always a sweat and the turn provided Akimov with all sorts of outs to win on. Another favorable river fell for the Russian as the peeled off to give him a flush and down Ferreira's two pair.
Akimov vs. Dietrich for online poker's biggest-ever prize
Akimov began heads-up play with nearly a 6:1 chip advantage in his favor, but an early double-up for Dietrich saw the stacks draw close to level. With a chance to win it all, Akimov needed to connect with the runout as his went up against Dietrich's . The board improved only his opponent, however, and Akimov sent a full double up in Dietrich's direction.
Akimov struck back quickly to once again widen the gulf between him and his opponent before a stunning runout saw Dietrich vault into a commanding chip lead. From the button, Akimov raised with and Dietrich defended his big blind with . On the 
flop, Akimov continued to bet and Dietrich decided to float with just queen-high. The turn paired Akimov and brought in a gutshot straight draw for his opponent. Another bet led to another call and the two players went to the river - the ultimate action card. Dietrich, having made the nut straight, checked once more to Akimov, who now held two pair. With a little more than a pot-sized bet left for the German, Akimov opted for an overbet all-in sizing, which Dietrich called instantly to take a commanding chip lead of his own.
With a little more than 6BBs left after the blind level increase, Akimov completed from the button with and Dietrich checked his option with 
. The flop connected with both players, giving Dietrich the lead with middle pair and Akimov additional outs with a gutshot straight draw. The Russian, in position and facing a check from his opponent, bet out for 1BB. Dietrich made the call and the turn 
changed nothing. After considering his options for a moment, Akimov moved all-in for a little more than a pot-sized bet. Dietrich, with only 15 seconds remaining in his time bank, couldn't afford the luxury of a long tank and called after just a few seconds.
All of it – the money, the title, the bracelet, the prestige – came down to the peel of a single card. Akimov needed to find one of his seven possible outs to keep his chances alive and Dietrich needed to fade those outs to claim online poker's biggest-ever tournament prize. Both Gross and Laak watched intently, as did thousands of live viewers, as the GGPoker software peeled the card as slowly as possibly programmed: the . After four hours of final table action and countless others in the preceding days, Dietrich laid claim to the 2024 WSOP Online International Main Event title and the $4,021,012 top prize.
2024 WSOP Online International Main Event final table results
| Place | Player | Nationality | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moritz Dietrich | Germany | $4,021,012 |
| 2 | Evgenii Akimov | Russia | $3,099,896 |
| 3 | Rui Ferreira | Portugal | $2,390,418 |
| 4 | Isaac Baron | USA | $1,843,337 |
| 5 | Diogo Coelho | Portugal | $1,421,478 |
| 6 | Ilya Anatski | Belarus | $1,096,180 |
| 7 | Hai Pan | China | $845,342 |
| 8 | Benjamin Rolle | Germany | $651,921 |
| 9 | Audrius Stakelis | Lithuania | $502,771 |
