Cash game player wins WSOP Main Event for the eighth time and advances to Day 8.

Cash game player Jamie Shaevel has won his eighth WSOP Main Event title and advanced to Day 8 for the first time, becoming one of the final 21 players to earn at least $325,000 in prize money.

Jamie Shaevel has made it a habit to win in the WSOP Main Event over the years, but this time he has a real chance to win a life-changing prize, and perhaps a gold bracelet.

This Southern California native isn't even a tournament player. He rarely participates in tournaments outside of the main event, yet he has won eight times in this tournament since 2011, and this is his first time making it to day eight.

Shaevel's Hendon Mob page shows that he has only 35 live tournament winnings since 2009, averaging about two per year. Nearly a quarter of those winnings came from the same tournament. Since 2017, he has only won six times in any tournament, four of which were in the WSOP Main Event, and he has an explanation for this.

"This was basically the only tournament I played all year," Shaevel told PokerNews. "It was the best. Nothing compares."

From cash games to the WSOP Main Event final table?

Shaevel doesn't stop playing poker 365 days after the main event. He plays regularly, but only in cash games at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.

Despite limiting his tournament entry to this specific event in Las Vegas, Shaevel has been winning money for half the time he's been playing, and now he's one of the final 21 players, guaranteed at least $325,000, with a remaining chance to compete for the $10,000,000 first-place prize. So how does a cash game player achieve such success in the world's most prestigious tournament?

"I think it suits my cash game background better because it's deeper than most tournaments. Its structure is slower," he replied.

Shaevel, 36, has participated in the Main Event every year since 2010 (excluding the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020). His previous best prize was $54,851 in 2011 (100th place), just three wins shy of tying the record held by Allen Cunningham and Johnny Chan.

He said this deep journey "felt completely different to me than any other year when I played deep."

"I cherish all of this more. There's less pressure, and I'm just very grateful for the opportunity to be here and for everything that comes with it," Shaevel said.

Shaevel isn't worried about the pressure of a deep run in the Main Event, given the huge prize jumps: "In all these situations, I feel as little pressure as possible. Obviously, there's still a little. But ultimately, my life isn't going to change. I have a game in Commerce on Tuesday, and I'm going there anyway. Hopefully, I'll go there with more money. But it won't change my life."

Shaevel, who describes himself as a "family man with two kids," will return to the field at 11 a.m. on Monday with 17,100,000 chips, ranking 14th out of 21 players. Malcolm Trayner leads Day 7 with 63,200,000 chips. Defending WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb (31,300,000), 2019 WSOP Main Event champion Hossein Ensan (29,700,000), and Poker Hall of Famer Todd Brunson (7,800,000) are all still in contention.

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