WSOP Finalist Jerry Wong Wins Florida Tourney for $250k

Back in 2016, Jerry Wong famously made the WSOP Main Event final table, eventually finishing in 8th place for a $1,100,076 payday. A little over 6 months later, and the pro from Cocunut Creek in Florida has taken down a tournament in his own home state, after emerging atop of the $360 buy-in WPT DeepStacks SHR Lucky Hearts Poker Open Ultimate Re-Entry Event.
A total of 4,576 players entered the tournament to create a prize pool worth $1,426,800, making it the second biggest ever held in the state of Florida. Three days later, and Jerry Wong would eventually triumph over the field, including last woman standing Nancy Thomas heads-up, to claim the title, as well as its $250,000 first place prize.
Following a victory which now takes his career earnings to $3,048,192, Wong commented:
“I didn’t win that one [WSOP ME], but it feels good to win this one. I played with some pretty tough players and had a nice run of cards, especially after the dinner break.”
After the final table got underway, Wong (J-J) doubled up his 20bb stack against Jose De La Cruz (A-K) to put himself back in contention, after which he was dealt A-K himself before eliminating Michael Laake (A-Q) in 6th place for $34,830.
Continuing his run, Wong (J-J) sent Chris Arcidiacono (A-2) to the rail in 5th ($45,765), and with just four players remaining a deal was then struck in which Wong, now with two-thirds of the chips in play, received $250,000, while the others, including Nancy Thomas, Steven McKoy and Figueroa guaranteed themselves almost $100,000 a piece.
“After the [WSOP] Main Event, this is the largest field I’ve been deep in,” explained Wong. Before adding that “Everyone did what was in their best financial interest, and we reached a deal.”
Final Table Results:
1: Jerry Wong $250,000*
2: Nancy Thomas $104,113*
3: Victor Figueroa $103,826*
4: Steven McCoy $91,241*
5: Chris Arcidiacono $45,765
6: Michael Laake $34,830
7: Fabio Pereira $26,730
8: Jose De La Cruz $19,440
9: Gal Erlichman $13,770