John Cynn Avenges 2016’s Near Miss to Win 2018 WSOP Main Event

The $10,000 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event has come to an end thanks to John Cynn and three kings.

John Cynn avenges his 11th place finish in the 2016 Main Event to become the 2018 world champion. (Image: WSOP)

After welcoming the second largest field in its history, the WSOP Main Event played down to a conclusion in the early hours of July 15. With just three of the original 7,874 runners left standing, the final session inside the Rio was a tense affair.

Three Become Two Within 20 Hands

At the start of play, Cynn and Tony Miles both held commanding chip leads over the short stack, Michael Dyer. With little in the way of options, the American was forced to get aggressive with his 20 big blinds.

Eventually, after biding his time, Miles found enough of a hand to call Dyer’s shove with A♥T♦. Staring down at A♠J♥, Miles made the call and watched as the board ran out Q♣5♠3♦J♣Q♥ to earn him the pot and a place in the final showdown with Cynn.

Heads-up, both players started with almost identical stacks and neither was willing to go down without a fight. However, try as they did, something had to give and by hand #442 the match was over.

A raise from the button by Cynn with K♣J♣ started prompted a three-bet from Miles with Qc 8h. Calling the raise, Cynn took a passive line on the K♥K♦5♥ flop as his opponent continued to push the pace.

Kings Beat Queen to End WSOP Main Event

By the time the 8♦ fell on the turn, Miles jammed for 114 million to keep pressure on Cynn. Despite holding three kings, Cynn took his time before making the call to leave his counterpart drawing dead.

The meaningless 4♠ on the river brought the tournament to a close and officially made Cynn the new world champion. Discussing his win after the fact, the American pro said that coming back to win after busting the Main Event in 11th back in 2016 was an incredible feeling.

“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,” Cynn told the WSOP’s live reporting team on July 15.

WSOP Main Event Result

1 – John Cynn – $8,800,000

2 – Tony Miles – $5,000,000

3 – Michael Dyer – $3,750,000

4 – Nicolas Manion – $2,825,000

5 – Joe Cada – $2,150,000

6 – Aram Zobian – $1,800,000

7 – Alex Lynskey – $1,500,000

8 – Artem Metalidi – $1,250,000

9 – Antoine Labat – $1,000,000

Cada Caps Off A Memorable WSOP

As the latest world champion celebrated his victory, more bracelets were being handed out inside the Rio. Unlike previous years, the Main Event hasn’t closed this show this year which has given some familiar faces a final chance to shine.

While Ben Yu was busy taking down the $50,000 High Roller event for $1,650,773, Joe Cada hot-footed his way from a fifth-place finish in the Main Event to win the $1,500 Closer. The remarkable feat was not only netted Cada another $612,886 but his second WSOP bracelet of the summer.

With all but one event complete, the eyes of the poker world will now be focused on the outcome of the $1 million Big One for One Drop which concludes on July 17.