Justin Bonomo Wins 2018 Big One for One Drop for $10M

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Wednesday, July 18th, 2018 | Written by Adam Brown

The 2018 World Series of Poker was one of the most exciting ever witnessed, with the 78 event series ending in dramatic fashion after Justin Bonomo joined Sean Deeb and Joe Cada in picking up two bracelets this year in Las Vegas. Furthermore, Bonomo also collected the festival’s biggest prize worth a massive $10 million after defeating the world’s best players at the $1 Million Big One for One Drop, in the process moving ahead of Daniel Negreanu to top the ‘All Time Money List’ on a staggering $42,979,591 in live earnings.

“This year has been absolutely incredible,” explained Bonomo following his winning performance. “It’s more money than I’ve ever played for in my life. I buckled down during all my breaks. I studied. Took the day off the day before and studied all day. I took this as seriously as I possibly could and tried to stay as focused as possible. It paid off.”

All Time Money Leader

Canada’s Daniel Negreanu finished second to Antonio Esfandiari at the 2014 Big One for One Drop, and subsequently collected a $8.2 million prize, propelling him to the top of the ‘All Time Money List’ with $29.7 million in career winnings. Negreanu was back in action again at the 2018 Big One for One Drop, by which time he had increased his lifetime winnings to $39,656,196, further consolidating his prestigious position as the world’s number.

This year, however, just five players would receive a cash payout for their $1 million buy-ins, with Daniel Negreanu going home home empty-handed after only managing a 16th place finish. Justin Bonomo, on the other hand, was the player in form going into the competition, and had already earned $14,945,435 this year before picking up his latest $10 million paycheck.

Not only does Bonomo now become the world’s top money earner after his Big One for One Drop success, but the $24,945,435 he has won over the first seven months of 2018 is also the highest amount ever won by a poker tournament player in a single year. Interestingly, Bonomo secured the record after defeating Fedor Holz, who in 2016 amazed the poker world after winning $16,093,402 throughout the year, although that sum was still less than the $22,389,481 won in 2014 by Dan Colman, which included taking down that year’s Big One for One Drop for $15,306,668.

2018 Big One for One Drop

The $1 million tournament was held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, and saw 27 players stump up its huge buy-in to crate a prize pool of $24,840,000, with the remaining money going to the One Drop charitable foundation. Needless to say, only the world’s best players took part in the ultra nosebleed high-stakes poker game, and amongst those bowing out with nothing to show for their efforts was Adrian Mateos (22nd), Brian Rast (17th), Dominik Nitsche (12th), Erik Seidel (9th), and Phil Ivey (8th).

The competition paid just 5 money places, and the unfortunate player busting on the bubble was David Einhorn, a billionaire hedge fund manager and avid poker fan who in 2012 finished The Big One for One Drop in 3rd place for $4,352,000. The philanthropist traditionally gives his poker winnings to charity, and after eliminating him from the tournament, eventual champion Bonomo stated:

“To be totally honest, I almost feel guilty for knocking David Einhorn. I will give a lot to charity but I’m not as well off as him to give it all to charity. It’s an honor to be part of the money that’s donated to One Drop.”

Final Table

Bonomo took a sizeable chip lead into the final table against fellow competitors Fedor Holz, Dan Smith, Rick Salomon and Byron Kaverman. Nevertheless, Holz (10-10) scored a double elimination against Byron Kaverman (A-5) and Rick Salomon (A-K), who exited in 5th and 4th places respectively following an A-K-2-Q-10 board.

Soon after, Bonomo (K-10) and Dan Smith (Q-10) were all-in preflop. The latter was then sent to the rail in 3rd after the dealer laid out an A-9-6-J-Q board, in the process leaving Bonomo and Holz to battle it out for the title, with a $4 million gap separating first and second places.

Bonomo began heads-up behind in chips, but managed to move ahead to a 4-1 chip lead when the deciding hand was played. Holz (A-4) moved all his remaining chips to the center of the table preflop, only for Bonomo to look him up holding a dominating A-J hand. The K-8-3-2-Q board which ensued subsequently ran out smoothly for Bonomo, who later heaping praise on his final opponent, stated:

“Almost everyone out there respects the game of both myself and Fedor. I certainly respect his game a great deal. It definitely felt like a storybook ending playing against Fedor with him starting with the chip lead and having to grind my way back.”

Meanwhile, Justin Bonomo dedicated his win to his father, and said that he was looking forward to celebrating his famous victory with all those friends who supported him from the rail.