A young man becomes a millionaire and bags his first World Series of Poker bracelets while a not-so-young man wins his seventh as the WSOP finishes its first week.
Hennigan grabs #7
Poker Hall of Famer John Hennigan grabbed his seventh WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 dealer’s choice six-max event. The win puts him in a three-way tie for fourth most bracelets alongside Billy Baxter and Men Nguyen. The tournament attracted 530 entries and Hennigan took $138,296 for the win.
“Very happy to win the tournament. I mean to me, the best thing about winning the tournament is not losing it. Not getting second, or knowing they’re still playing and wandering around after you go broke,” Hennigan told WSOP reporters afterwards. “It’s just very satisfying to come out on top.”
Hennigan, 53, has done it six times prior, all in events that feature games other than no-limit games. he started his run 24 years ago with a victory in the 2002 $2,000 stud hi-low event for $117,320. He scored his second two years later in a $5,000 limit hold’em event for $325,360.
It took another 10 years before Hennigan won his third bracelet, and his biggest WSOP cash, in the 2014 $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship, good for $1.5 million. He won three more in the $10,000 “championship” events: 2016 triple draw deuce-to-seven lowball championship ($320,103), the 2018 H.O.R.S.E. championship ($414,692), and the 2019 stud championship ($245,451).
He also won the $5,000 Ante up for Africa event at the 2008 WSOP, but it wasn’t a bracelet event. In total, he has 55 WSOP cashes for $6.3 million.
He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2018.
New millionaire minted
Malcolm Trayner was born the year Hennigan won his first bracelet. The 24-year-old from Turramurra, Australia never even played in a WSOP event in Las Vegas before entering the $1,000 Mystery Millions, which has quickly become one of the more popular events of the WSOP.
Trayner won his first bracelet and the $1 million top prize yesterday, topping a gargantuan field of 18,409 entries who built a prize pool of $16,199,920. Caesars took $300 of each entry for a gross of $5,522,700.
Although this is Trayner first time at the Big Kahuna that is the WSOP, he has 71 cashes in live and online events, according to the Hendon Mob. The 70 cashes before his biggest totaled close to $500,000.
Here’s what he told WSOP reporters on how he felt after his win:
“A bit of mix, everything. Lots of excitement. Overwhelmed. I just I can’t believe what’s happened. A lot of happiness as well.
I mean, not gonna lie, I was a bit nervous going in, like, I made a few mistakes earlier on with falling out of turn and things like that.
But once I got used to it and settled, then it was just a matter of doing what I’ve done a few times or many times before, online and live as well. Just playing final table and just try to disassociate from the money and just think about the chips you have in front of you and just trying to win everyone else’s chips. That was my goal.”
Goal achieved.
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