With the 2023 World Series of Poker simply across the nook, PokerNews is constant to have a look at previous WSOP Principal Occasion champions and what they have been as much as since successful poker’s large one.
Our final installment of the collection seemed on the winners from 2015-17, with this version specializing in John Cynn, Hossein Ensan, and Damian Salas who all triumphed in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.
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John Cynn: 2018 Principal Occasion Champion ($8,800,000)
| Entries | Prize Pool | Locations Paid | Min-Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7,874 | $74,015,600 | 1,182 | $15,000 |
John Cynn should have thought he’d blown his probabilities of turning into the WSOP Principal Occasion champion when he busted in eleventh place through the 2016 version of poker’s most well-known reside match. The $650,000 Cynn received that day after outlasting a lot of the 6,737 entrants may have gone some approach to numbing the ache, however the nature of large-field poker tournaments means most gamers don’t get many pictures at a life-changing prize.
Fastforward three years and Cynn was considered one of 7,874 entrants within the $10,000 WSOP Main Event, the second-largest Principal Occasion in historical past on the time. After ten days of intense poker motion, together with a closing desk spanning 442 palms, Cynn had redemption for his close to miss, and turn into poker’s world champion.
Cynn discovered himself heads-up in opposition to Tony Miles in what turned the last word slugfest. Cynn and Miles butted heads for ten hours earlier than one thing lastly gave, and Cynn clinched the title.
With blinds of two,000,000/4,000,000/500,000a, Cynn opened to 9 million earlier than calling a 34 million three-bet. Miles led out for 32 million on the king-king-five flop, Cynn known as, and an eight landed on the flip. Miles moved all-in for 114 million, sending Cynn into the tank for over a minute, earlier than he emerged with a name. Cynn confirmed king-jack for journey kings, and was manner forward of Miles’ queen-eight. The inconsequential 4 on the river introduced the curtain down on an epic one-on-one battle.
2019 WSOP Principal Occasion Last Desk Outcomes
| Place | Winner | Nation | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Cynn | United States | $8,800,000 |
| 2 | Tony Miles | United States | $5,000,000 |
| 3 | Michael Dyer | United States | $3,750,000 |
| 4 | Nicolas Manion | United States | $2,825,000 |
| 5 | Joe Cada | United States | $2,150,000 |
| 6 | Aram Zobian | United States | $1,800,000 |
| 7 | Alex Lynskey | Australia | $1,500,000 |
| 8 | Artem Metalidi | Ukraine | $1,250,000 |
| 9 | Antoine Labat | France | $1,000,000 |
Cynn Since Turning into World Champion
Cynn has not been overly energetic since reeling within the $8.8 million first-place prize of the 2018 WSOP Principal Occasion. Certainly, Cynn has solely managed six cashes since turning into world champion.
Two of these scores tipped the scales at six figures. Cynn completed fourth in a $25,000 Excessive Curler on the partypoker MILLIONS South America competition for $110,000 in March 2019.
In March 2020, Cynn was the runner-up in a $25,500 Quick Deck occasion on the partypoker MILLIONS Sochi Tremendous Excessive Curler Collection for $252,000.
Cynn’s final recorded in-the-money end got here through the 2022 WSOP Main Event, the place his 550th place end got here with a $25,500 prize.
Hossein Ensan: 2019 Principal Occasion Champion ($10,000,000)
| Entries | Prize Pool | Locations Paid | Min-Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8,569 | $80,548,600 | 1,286 | $15,000 |
Iranian-German poker professional Hossein Ensan triumphed within the 2019 WSOP Main Event, which was the second-largest Principal Occasion on the time. Ensan overcame 8,568 opponents to get his palms on $10 million of the $80,548,600 prize pool, including a WSOP bracelet to the WSOP Circuit ring and European Poker Tour (EPT) title he already possessed.
Ensan navigated his approach to the nine-handed closing desk with greater than a 3rd of the chips in play, however the victory was removed from a carried out deal as a result of there have been some supremely proficient gamers in rivalry for the title.
Finally, Ensan discovered himself heads-up in opposition to Italian celebrity Dario Sammartino. On the 301st hand of the final table‘s motion, and with blinds of two,000,000/4,000,000/4,000,000a, Ensan made it 11 million to go along with pocket kings, and Sammartino seemed him up with eight-four of spades. Sammartino check-called a 15 million guess on the ten-six-deuce flop, which had two spades.
Sammartino checked once more on the offsuit 9 flip, opening the door for Ensan to fireside a 33 million guess. Sammartino responded with an all-in check-raise of 140 million, which Ensan snapped off. The river wanted to be a spade to forestall Ensan from successful the WSOP Principal Occasion, and though the queen on the river was black, it was a membership. Ensan banked $10 million, leaving Sammartino to console himself with a $6 million comfort prize.
2019 WSOP Principal Occasion Last Desk Outcomes
| Place | Winner | Nation | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hossein Ensan | Germany | $10,000,000 |
| 2 | Dario Sammartino | Italy | $6,000,000 |
| 3 | Alex Livingston | Canada | $4,000,000 |
| 4 | Garry Gates | United States | $3,000,000 |
| 5 | Kevin Maahs | United States | $2,200,000 |
| 6 | Zhen Cai | United States | $1,850,000 |
| 7 | Nick Marchington | United Kingdom | $1,525,000 |
| 8 | Timothy Su | United States | $1,250,000 |
| 9 | Milos Skrbic | Serbia | $1,000,000 |
Ensan Since Turning into World Champion
Ensan nearly added a second WSOP bracelet to his wrist a couple of months after his Principal Occasion victory, when he completed third within the €25,500 WSOP Europe Platinum High Roller. It was a consequence that added €251,837 ($281,436) to Ensan’s bankroll.
Though Ensan has racked up greater than a dozen cashes since his WSOP Principal Occasion victory, solely his close to miss within the WSOP Europe Excessive Curler and a 14th place end within the 2022 EPT Prague Main Event weigh in at greater than $50,000
Damian Salas: 2020 Principal Occasion Champion ($2,550,969)
| Entries | Prize Pool | Locations Paid | Min-Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,379 | $13,238,400 |
Argentina’s Damian Salas will without end be remembered for successful the strangest WSOP Principal Occasion in historical past. The 2020 WSOP was severely disrupted by international COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted within the WSOP heading on-line to the digital felts of GGPoker and WSOP.com.
There have been on-line editions of the WSOP Principal Occasion held for Individuals on WSOP.com and for the remainder of the world on GGPoker. Combining these fields meant there have been 1,379 entrants in 2020, and mixed prize swimming pools of $13,238,400.
Salas reached the ultimate desk of the worldwide leg of the 2020 WSOP Principal Occasion, which happened within the reside setting of King’s Resort in Rozvadoz, Czech Republic. That closing desk ought to have performed out nine-handed, however China’s Peiyuan Solar opted to not journey, in order that they obtained ninth-place cash.
The Argentinian came out on top and hauled in $1,550,969 for his victory, whereas incomes the best to play the WSOP.com Main Event champion, Joseph Hebert, heads-up for $1 million in Las Vegas in April 2021. Salas defeated Hebert in Vegas, taking his complete take-home pay to $2,550,969.
2020 WSOP Principal Occasion Last Desk Outcomes
| Place | Winner | Nation | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Damian Salas | Argentina | $1,550,969 |
| 2 | Brunno Botteon | Brazil | $1,062,723 |
| 3 | Manuel Ruivo | Portugal | $728,177 |
| 4 | Ramon Miquel Munoz | Spain | $498,947 |
| 5 | Marco Streda | Switzerland | $341,879 |
| 6 | Dominykas Mikolaitis | Lithuania | $234,255 |
| 7 | Stoyan Obreshkov | Bulgaria | $160,512 |
| 8 | Hannes Speiser | Austria | $109,982 |
*China’s Peiyuan Solar has opted to not journey and completed in ninth place ($75,360) as per the principles
Salas Since Turning into World Champion
Salas is sort of a prolific poker match participant, significantly within the on-line poker world. Simply three months after defeating Hebert in Las Vegas, Salas won his first PokerStars Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) title, earlier than including one other within the 2022 SCOOP.
2022 was a stable yr for Salas, who completed twenty seventh within the WSOP Principal Occasion for $262,300 and busting in eighth-place within the €10,300 EPT Barcelona Excessive Curler for €115,780 ($116,489).
