John Cynn Wins 2018 WSOP Main Event After Record 10 Hour Heads-Up Battle

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Monday, July 16th, 2018 | Written by Stephen Smith

The 2018 WSOP Main Event produced the second largest field in the tournament’s five decade long history, with 7,874 players putting up its $10,000 buy-in to create a prize pool worth a massive $74,015,600. It then took 10 days of action to reach its final heads-up phase between US players John Cynn and Tony Miles, but a record breaking 10.5 hours of play would ensue before Cynn was eventually crowned this year’s champion.

Cynn subsequently collected a prestigious gold bracelet and a colossal $8.8 million first place prize for his remarkable victory, and commenting later upon his life-changing win, said:

“Right now, I do feel pretty overwhelmed. The money is very significant, but I do like to think that I don’t need the money to be happy, but at the same time, practically, it’s going to make things a lot easier, things I want to do in life.”

11th Place WSOP Finish in 2016

This was not Cynn’s first deep run in the Main Event as the Indiana resident fell just short of a final table appearance in 2016. After being reduced to 10bbs, Cynn was ultimately forced to shove preflop holding Q-10, but exited in 11th place ($650,000) after Gordon Vayo looked him up with A-K.

Although Cynn said that he felt no regrets concerning his elimination that year, this time around, Cynn could hardly contain his disbelief over managing to come back and take down the whole tournament, stating:

“I mean, really, neither is supposed to happen. To make 11th is insane on its own, and then to win, that’s literally something that you like dream of but you just never expect to happen.”

$10k WSOP Main Event

In a departure from previous years, the 2018 WSOP Main Event paid an unprecedented 15% of the field. Amongst the notable players making impressive runs in the tournament was Kelly Minkin, who became the last woman standing after being eliminated in 50th place for $156,265. Impressively, the 28-year old former attorney managed the same feat back in 2015, although that year she exited the competition in 29th place for $211,821.

Other recognizable pros finishing high up in the money included the likes of James Obst in 46th ($156,265), Shannon Shorr in 39th ($189,165), Ivan Luca in 20th ($282,630), and Frederik Jensen in 12th ($575,000).

Final Table

On Day 7, the final table was set in the most spectacular fashion during a three-way hand in which Nicolas Manion (A-A) eliminated Yueqi Zhu (K-K) in 10th place, while reducing France’s Antoine Labat (K-K) from a 2nd place standing to the shortest stack at the table.

The following day, Manion (Q-Q) polished Labat (K-K) off in 9th after both players were all-in preflop, and the dealer subsequently laid out an A-Q-5-9-A board. Next, Aram Zobian (K-Q) took care of Ukraine’s Artem Metalidi (5-5) in 8th, while John Cynn (K-Q) busted Australia’s Alex Lynskey (6-6) in 7th to eliminate the last remaining non-US player from the final table.

On Day 9, Michael Dyer (A-8) sent a short stacked Aram Zobian (8-6) to the rail in 6th. It was then the turn of the 2009 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada (10-10) to leave the proceedings after Tony Miles called the former’s three-bet all-in holding Big Slick.

It may have been pocket kings that propelled Manion to the chip lead on Day 7, but the cowboys came back to haunt him in the end, with Cynn’s pocket kings besting his A-10 holding to exit in 4th place. Following Dyer’s (A-10) departure in 3rd at the hands of Miles (A-J), the heads-up battle was set between John Cynn and Tony Miles, with tournament poker’s most prestigious title on the line.

Record Heads-Up Battle

The previous longest Main Event heads-up battle took place in 2016 between Gordon Vayo and Qui Nguyen, and lasted more than eight hours and 181 hands. That record was smashed on Sunday, with the ten and half hour marathon finally decided at around 5 o’clock in the early hours of the morning.

In the deciding hand, Cynn (Kc-Jc) raised and then called a re-raise by Miles (Qc-8h). After the flop came Kh-Kd-5h, Miles opted to lead out for 32m, while Cynn simply called his bet. An 8d on the turn saw Miles move all-in for his remaining 114m in chips, and a minute later Cynn made the call, effectively concluding this year’s Main Event.

Commenting upon his record breaking heads-up battle, Cynn called Miles a great player, and said that 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 $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