After the madness of the November Nine era, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event returned to some sort of sanity in 2017 as Scott Blumstein took home the title. The American was followed up by another home country hero one year later, as the final six players in the World Championship were all from the United States. When the dust settled, both the World Championship and the Big One for One Drop saw millionaires celebrating life-changing results.
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Early Showings for Poker Legends
With a record-breaking 78 WSOP events in 2018, early events went the way of legends. Elio Fox took down the $10,000-entry No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty event, Nick Petrangelo won the NLHE High Roller by beating Elio Fox heads-up, and Paul Volpe beat Eli Elezra to claim bragging rights in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship.
In the $3,000-entry NLHE Shootout event, Joe Cada won four nine-man tables in a row to win $226,218 and his third WSOP bracelet. ‘The Kid’, who won the 2009 World Championship by beating the late, great Darvin Moon, played great and reached multiple final tables throughout what would be one of the best years in his career.
The Year of Bonomo
Justin Bonomo won the $10,000 Heads-Up NLHE Championship for $185,965 for his first bracelet of the series, and further bracelet wins took place for poker legends such as John Hennigan, the late Steven Albini, Shaun Deeb – twice – along with Scott Seiver, Phil Galfond, Galen Hall and Phil Hellmuth. By the time the 49th WSOP Main Event began, excitement was at a fever pitch.
Overall, there were 7,874 entrants in the 2018 WSOP Main Event, with previous winners mostly performing below average. Only four made the money, with the 1987 and 1988 winner Johnny ‘The Orient Express’ Chan once again running deep only to bust in 612th place. The 1983 winner, Tom ‘Grand Rapids’ McEvoy, left in 430th before 2010 champ Jonathan Duhamel (409th) fell a few rounds later. That left only Joe Cada, the 2009 world champion, who made it all the way to the final table.
Could ‘The Kid’ win his second bracelet of the series by taking the Main Event title for the second time and joining the list of legends like Chan, Ungar, and Brunson?
The Second Coming of the Kid
When nine players made the final day of the World Championship, six Americans dominated the chipcounts, with Nick Manion (112.7m), Michael Dyer (109.1m), Tony Miles (42.7m) and John Cynn (37m) holding over 80% of the chips in play. Behind them, Australia’s Alex Lynskey (25.9m), Joe Cada (23.6m), Aram Zobian (18.8m), Ukraine’s Artem Metaldi (15.4m) and the shortest stack, French player Antoine Labat (8m). Labat bowed out first for $1m before Metaldi (8th for $1.25m) and Lynskey (7th for $1.5m) hit the rails, leaving the final six as an all-American showdown.
Aram Zobian was short when he shoved with eight-six of diamonds but ran into Dyer’s ace-eight, and the dominating hand won, leaving Zobian on the rail in his first-ever Main Event for a score of $1.8m. Cada went next, as his dream died on a coinflip, his shove with pocket tens for 45 big blinds was called by Tony Miles with ace-king. A flop of K-9-8 paired Miles’ king before a queen on the turn meant Cada was chasing a jack or a ten to survive. Instead, a nine landed, and Cada shook his opponents’ hands and went off to collect $2.15m for fifth place.
Shortly after, Miles had collected even more chips as Michael Dyer went all the way to the river calling Miles’ bets. Dyer flopped two pair, but it was no match for Miles’ flopped bottom set and rivered full house. These newfound chips elevated him into the lead with 182 million chips. Nick Manion was the man who missed out on the podium places, shot down with ace-ten against John Cynn’s pocket kings. A board of Q-6-3-2-6 sent Manion from the action with just over $2.8m as Cynn rose in the ranks ahead of the final day to second place on 128.7 million chips. Miles was the chip leader on 238.9m, with Michael Dyer very short on 26.2m chips.
Epic Heads-Up Breaks Vegas Records
Michael Dyer swiftly exited on the final day, busting in third for $3.75 million when he ran ace-ten into Miles’ ace-jack. The board ran clean for Miles, who, with 198.8 million chips, had the most marginal of chip leads over Cynn who was sitting with 195 million. Miles lost a big pot with nine-six on a board showing 9-5-3-J when Cynn held pocket fives for middle set on the flop.
A three on the river prompted a big bet from Cynn and Miles made the call, losing a massive pot and handing the first definitive lead of what would be an epic, four-hour final duel. When a board of K-K-5-8 fell, Miles shoved with queen-eight and got a call from Cynn holding king-jack as he was shown Miles’ hand. Miles reacted in disgust, telling his rail that he was slow-rolled by the winner as Cynn celebrated becoming world champion with his adoring fans.
Taking home $8.8 million in first place compared to $5m for Miles as runner-up, John Cynn’s victory may not have been the most spectacular, but it remains the longest-ever heads-up battle and a bemusing, lengthy last call to win the World Championship.
One Drop in the Ocean
There was still time for two more pieces of WSOP history. Joe Cada won The Closer event to make sure that he did claim two bracelets in 2018. In other years, maybe it would have been his year, but the domination of Justin Bonomo across events outside the WSOP and in Las Vegas meant that 2018 would forever be referred to as ‘The Year of Bonomo.
Justin Bonomo’s triumph in the $1m-entry Big One for One Drop was the result of the year, even including the WSOP Main Event. With just 27 entries, the top prize of $10 million was won by Bonomo after a heads-up showdown with German ‘phenom’ Fedor Holz, who eventually finished as runner-up for $6 million. With Dan Smith (3rd for $4m), Rick Salomon (4th for $2.84m), and Byron Kaverman (5th for $2m) all cashing, players who reached the eight-handed final table but missed out on profit included Phil Ivey, Nick Petrangelo and David Einhorn, with the businessman bubbling in sixth place.
Despite the heroics of both Bonomo and John Cynn, neither of them won the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year. After years of knocking at the door, two titles, four final table appearances, and an astonishing 20 cashes meant the American poker hero Shaun Deeb made sure his banner would be up the following year in a super series. Overall, Deeb took home $2.54 million across those 20 cashes.
In 2019, the run of three American world champions was to come to a close as a drought for home country heroes began. The 50th WSOP Main Event champion would be the last before a period that poker had never experienced in its half century.
| Player | Country | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | John Cynn | United States | $8,800,000 |
| 2nd | Tony Miles | United States | $5,000,000 |
| 3rd | Michael Dyer | United States | $3,750,000 |
| 4th | Nicolas Manion | United States | $2,825,000 |
| 5th | Joe Cada | United States | $2,150,000 |
| 6th | Aram Zobian | United States | $1,800,000 |
| 7th | Alex Lynskey | New Zealand | $1,500,000 |
| 8th | Artem Metalidi | Ukraine | $1,250,000 |
| 9th | Antoine Labat | France | $1,000,000 |
2017 WSOP Main Event 2019 WSOP Main Event
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.