John Cynn Crowned 2018 WSOP Main Event Champion

The 2018 WSOP Main Event produced one of the most epic heads-up battle ever witnessed, with the 10 hour long marathon eventually decided after John Cynn saw off Tony Miles to claim the most prestigious title in the whole of poker. Ultimately, however, the 33 year-old Indiana pro triumphed over a huge field of 7,874 players, the second largest ever seen in the competition’s 49-year history, to claim the Main Event’s enormous $8.8 million, and commenting later on what the victory meant to him, explained:

“I do like to think that I don’t need the money to be happy, but at the same time it’s practically going to make things a lot easier. Things I want to do in life, things for my family, and my parents. To my parents this is money that they could have never imagined. It’ll definitely be life-changing.”

If At First…

John Cynn entered the 2018 WSOP Main Event with $944,786 in tournament winnings to his credit, $650,000 of which was accounted for by a deep run he made in the same competition back in 2016. That year, Cynn saw his stack dwindle to just 10bbs before shoving preflop holding Q-10, leading to his exiting in 11th place after Gordon Vayo made the call with A-K.

Since that bittersweet moment, Cynn has added a further $200,000 in tournament winnings to his bankroll, but naturally the thoughts of ‘what if’ would have continued to occupy his mind from time to time. As the saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed try, try and try again,” except this time Cynn did not have to wait too long for a second chance, and this time around he certainly made the most of his golden opportunity.

Following his take down of the Main Event, Cynn now boasts $9,744,786 in career winnings since his first live cash back in 2010, and commenting on how he now feels having accomplished the incredible feat, stated:

“Feels very different. I mean really neither is supposed to happen. To make 11th is insane on its own and to win that’s literally something that you dream of but you just never expect to happen. Right now I do feel pretty overwhelmed.”

Michael Dyer Out in 3rd

Day 10 of the Main Event saw three hopefuls return to the Rio in Las Vegas, with Tony Miles the chip leader on a 238,900,000 (149bbs) stack, followed by John Cynn on 128,700,000 (80bbs). Michael Dyer, on the other hand, had just 26,200,000 (16bbs) behind him, and had his work cut out if he was to mount a challenge to his two rivals sitting on giant stacks.

Dyer shipped his stack a few times early on, but failed to get any action from his two patient opponents. On hand number twenty, he then made the same move again after being dealt A-10, but unfortunately for him Tony Miles had been dealt a dominating A-J and made the call. The Q-5-3-J-Q board which ensued subsequently ended Dyer’s Main Event aspirations for this year, but the 32 year-old Houston player still walked away with a huge consolation prize worth $3,750,000.

“I wanted a little more, but it was pretty good. I can’t complain. Third place, that’s more than you can dream for when you start the tournament,” commented Dyer.

Marathon Heads-Up Battle

The stage was now set for an epic heads-up battle, which eventually turned into a marathon that beat the previous one set by Gordon Vayo and Qui Nguyen in 2016. Unlike the latter, however, this was to be no snoozefest, and the lead changed hands on 11 occasions before at 5 a.m the 442nd hand proved to be a decisive one.

On the button, Cynn (Kc-Jc) raised to 9m, inducing a re-raise to 34m by Miles (Qc-8h) on the big blind. Cynn made the call, and after the flop came Kh-Kd-5h, Miles bet 32m, while Cynn opted to call. The 8d on the turn then saw Miles pair his eight and push his remaining 114m chips to the center of the table. Cynn still took about a minute before calling his opponent’s huge bet, though, but once the cards were flipped over, Cynn could see that his opponent was drawing dead. The meaningless 4s on the river subsequently concluded this year’s Main Event.

The rapport between the two players was evident throughout their heads-up battle, and heaping praise on his competitor, Miles said that Cyn is “gonna be a great champion and I’m really happy for him.”

Likewise, Cynn described Miles as “an amazing guy”, and commenting upon their tough encounter, explained:

“He put me in a lot of tough spots. I probably had to adjust during that match three, four, five.. I don’t even know how many times. And it seemed whenever I would adjust, he would adjust right back. I definitely ran amazing against him.”

Final Table Results

1: John Cynn (US) $8,800,000
2: Tony Miles (US) $5,000,000
3: Michael Dyer (US) $3,750,000
4: Nicolas Manion (US) $2,825,000
5: Joe Cada (US) $2,150,000
6: Aram Zobian (US) $1,800,000
7: Alex Lynskey (AUS) $1,500,000
8: Artem Metalidi (UKR) $1,250,000
9: Antoine Labat (FRA) $1,000,000