John Hennigan Wins The 2014 World Series of Poker $50,000 Poker Players Championship

Card Player’s 2014 WSOP coverage is sponsored by CarbonPoker.

John Hennigan has won the 2014 World Series of Poker $50,000 Poker Players Championship, arguably the most prestigious tournament in poker. For topping the elite field of 102 players in the eight-game mix event he earned his third gold bracelet, the $1,517,767 first-place prize and the honor of his name being etched on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

Despite that, all Hennigan wanted to do was go over and take his seat in the $10,000 limit hold’em championship event. He had already registered earlier while at the final table and despite earning a career-defining title and a seven-figure payday all the man known as “Johnny World” really wanted to do was get back to doing his job.

“I’m already regged’ and I’m hemorrhaging chips over there,” Hennigan told the assembled poker media after graciously giving his time for photos and interviews before hustling over to his 16,000 stack that remained from the 30,000 in chips he paid for.

Hennigan is a longtime poker professional who primarily focuses on high-stakes mixed cash games, but has six prior tournament wins to his name including two bracelets and a World Poker Tour main event title. He had cashed in this event twice before, including a third-place finish in 2013 for $686,568.

“It’s a very fulfilling moment to win this tournament,” said Hennigan after the win. “I came in third last year and my buddy was telling me, ‘It would have been nice to see you win it, you’ve been playing mixed games for so long.’ I didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation last year when I came in third, so to come back this year and win it, it’s amazing.”

Hennigan has had quite the 2014 WSOP now, with this huge win and a runner-up finish in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event for $319,993. As you’d expect in this prestigious event Hennigan had to contend with some of poker’s brightest stars at this final table, outlasting the likes of Allen Kessler (8th – $134,101), the first female ever to cash in this event Melissa Burr (7th – $165,435), Frank Kassela (6th – $212,829), Abe Mosseri (4th – $402,696) and Jesse Martin (3rd – $594,570).

In the end it came down to a heads-up battle between Hennigan and the breakout star of the summer Brandon Shack-Harris. The 33-year-old poker pro from Chicago, IL has had an incredible run at the Rio this year, winning his first bracelet in a $1,000 pot-limit Omaha event, finishing runner-up in the $10,000 razz championship and then placing third in a $1,500 limit hold’em event. Shack-Harris entered the final table as the chip leader and but entered heads-up play with Hennigan at a 2-to-1 chip disadvantage.

Hennigan was able to extend the lead, pulling away in the final round of limit triple draw deuce-to-seven and then landing the final blow in no-limit hold’em when Shack-Harris moved all-in from the button with the K7 and was quickly called by Hennigan with the A10. The board ran out JJ944 to secure the pot and the title for Hennigan. Shack-Harris hit the rail in second place, earning $937,975 for his fourth top-three finish of the summer.

In addition to the hardware and the money there were also plenty of Card Player Player of the Year points awarded at this final table. Hennigan earned 1,020 POY points for the win. When combined with his points from his earlier second-place score he now sits in 24th place in the overall standings, with 1,920 points and year-to-date earnings of $1,837,760. For his runner-up showing Shack-Harris earned 850 points, enough to catapult him into fifth place in the overall standings with 2,890 points and year-to-date earnings of $1,405,740.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table;

For more coverage from the 2014 summer series, visit our WSOP landing page.

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