Victor Paredes Wins 2022 World Series of Poker Circuit Thunder Valley Main Event

Victor Paredes defeated a field of 587 total entries in the 2022 World Series of Poker Circuit Thunder Valley $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, earning his first WSOPC gold ring and the top prize of $169,294 as the champion. The Modesto, California native was relieved to finally secure a ring at what he told WSOP reporters was his ‘home casino’.

“I have won a lot of tournaments but I have never won one here. Vegas, Reno… everywhere, except here, which doesn’t make any sense because it’s only an hour and a half away. So it’s been frustrating. But to finally get it done in the main event is a huge relief,” said Paredes after coming out on top.

This win was Parades’ first-ever six-figure score, and it increased his lifetime live tournament earnings to $484,912.

In addition to the title and the money, Paredes also earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year, but it alone was enough to catapult him up the rankings and into a tie for fourth place with recent Wynn Signature Series $1,1000 buy-in event winner Philip Chun.

This tournament featured two starting flights and then two more days of action. Heading into the final table, 2007 WSOP main event champion Jerry Yang held the chip lead, while Paredes sat in third chip position.

Yang added to his lead in the early going by picking up pocket aces and holding to eliminate short stack Brian Foley (9th – $16,140). Dong Meng followed moments later thanks to a preflop cooler, with his pocket queens running into the pocket kings of Garrett Anaya. Meng found no help from the board and was eliminated in eighth place ($20,324).

Anaya’s rise up the leaderboard continued thanks to another knockout. This time his top pair, top kicker held against the middle pair of Vishnu Chada (7th – $25,912) to narrow the field to six.

Salas Alam’s run in this event came to a brutal end thanks to another preflop cooler. He for all-in with pocket queens and found himself at risk against the pocket kings of Feiyue Wu. Alam picked up a gutshot straight draw on the flop and a flush draw on the turn, but a blank on the river sent him to the rail with $33,445 for his sixth-place showing.Wu also secured the next knockout at the final table, with his pocket nines holding up against the A-9 of Lian Liu (5th – $43,694).

Yang slid to the bottom of the chip counts during short-handed action. With around 18 big blinds left, he three-bet all-in over the top of Paredes’ button raise with A2. Paredes called with 88 and flopped middle set to take a massive lead in the hand. A blank on the turn left Yang drawing dead. The 2007 world champ earned $57,772 as the fourth-palce finisher. This was only his second live tournament cash since 2015. It was also his third-largest payday ever, behind the $8,250,000 he secured as the main event winner and the $75,000 he locked up as a quarterfinalist in the 2010 NBC National Heads-Up Championship.

Feiyue Wu was ultimately the next to be eliminated. He got all-in on a 943 flop with A4 and was up against the A9 of Paredes. The turn and river brought no help for Wu and he was sent home with $77,294 as the third-place finisher.

With that Paredes took just shy of a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Anaya. The final hand began with Paredes raising to 500,000 on the button with AA. Anaya three-bet to 1,700,000 with AQ. Paredes shoved and Anaya called all-in. A jack-high runout secured the pot and the title for Paredes. Anaya earned $104,629 as the runner-up.

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

Winner photo credit: @TVPokerRoom Twitter account. Yang photo via WSOP live updates.

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