Los Angeles's Jorden Fox adds Event #22 win to growing poker resume
11 June 2019 (Las Vegas) – Jorden Fox has earned a $420,693 winner's payday and his first coveted WSOP gold bracelet by outlasting a 3,253-entry field in Event #22 of the 2019 World Series of Poker, $1,000 Double Stack No-Limit Hold'em.
This fast-paced event stretched into an originally unscheduled Day 3 due to its massive field, with 11 players returning to battle for the tourney's largest payouts and the bigger share of a huge $2,927,700 prize pool.
Fox moved his career WSOP earnings to $788,178 with the largest cash of his career and his 12th WSOP cash overall, including a run to the final three tables in the 2018 WSOP Main Event. The 32-year-old Fox, who lives in Los Angeles, finished off his triumph by eliminating Jayachandra Gangaiah for the title.
Gangaiah, of Peoria, Arizona, collected $259,834 for the near miss on his own first bracelet win, while also improving on his previous best WSOP performance, a 16th-place finish in this same tournament one year ago.
Third-place winnings of $191,789 went to this final table's only prior bracelet winner, Jeffrey Smith, of Carlsbad, California, who earned $191,789. France's Simon Legat finished fourth for $142,648 in his first-ever WSOP cash.
Fox first gained attention in the poker world last July, when he logged a 27th-place finish in the Main Event worth $282,630, his largest cash until today. He's a full-time poker pro these days after previously working in film production and mobile tech.
“It's the most amazing thing,” said Fox, moments after his win. “I'm about to have a baby next month. I was only here to play three tournaments and this was the third one. I took 27th in the Main Event last year, which I thought was the best run ever, but this one was amazing. The field was really good and big, and the turbo structure was fantastic.”
Fox caught one big break on his way to the win, when his A-Q cracked Smith's pocket aces. “I played with Jeff a lot; he was really good, probably the best player, I thought, in the rest of the field. We played a lot together yesterday. We kind of got into a raising war there; we were three- or four-handed and he woke up with aces. I flopped a queen and I knew I had a little bit of life there, and the queen on the turn was magic. I knew I had to win the tournament after that."
As for the big score, Fox's immediate thought was, “I''m going to buy a lot of baby diapers! And probably presents for my wife, and... I don't know... probably keep living nice and playing poker. I've been playing poker for 12 years, and to win a bracelet now, at 32, is an absolute dream come true.”
Fox hasn't played as much poker in recent months following his 2018 Main Event run, but he promised himself a three-event trip to the Rio, along with three other poker-playing family members. Those included his barely-restrained father, who led the charge through the rail to celebrate Jorden's win and to relay the news back to family in Los Angeles. Fox has to return home in the morning, and won't return again this series, but he hopes to play a fuller WSOP slate in 2020.
Eleven players returned to the Day 3 conclusion of Event #20, led by Fox and Smith. In the first 45 minutes of play, Sridhar Natarajan (11th) and Atrayon Trevino (10th) busted to set the official final table.
Sweden's Christopher Andler was the first to bust the official final, earning a $36,484 ninth-place payday. Andler's day ended when he tried to steal from the small blind with . Big blind Smith called with , and that held up as the board ran out , giving Smith a Broadway straight and the knockout.
Eighth-place money of $47,173 awaited New Jersey's Andrew Glauberg just a few hands later. Glauberg was short-stacked and moved the last of his chips with , but Fox was also in the hand with , and that held up on an runout.
Seventh spot and $61,480 went to LA's Scott Vener. Vener got his chip stack in preflop with against Smith's and stayed in front on the flop. The turn was the , though, putting Smith in front, and the river ended Vener's run.
Another LA-area player, Ryan Teves, was on the short stack when he moved all in with . Next to act was Gangaiah and he moved all in as well, with what turned out to be . The pocket fives held up on a board that gave Teves hope all the way, though he ended up with sixth-place money of $80,760.
Brazil's Marco Garcia finished in fifth for $106,97 after losing a race against Gangaiah for the last of his chips. Garcia had to Gangaiah's , and the eights stayed good on a board.
France's Legat followed Garcia to the cashier's cage just a few hands later to collect his $142,648 fourth-place cash. Garcia was short-stacked when he moved all in with , and it was again Gangaiah who delivered the knockout, this time with an hand that dodged Legat's outs through an runout.
That left three players, with Fox on the shortest stack until he cracked Smith's aces to move into the lead. Smith's late run-bad continued 12 hands later, when he and Fox again got the chips in before the flop. This time Smith had , but Fox had and connected immediately with the flop. The turn and river ended Smith's day with a $191,789 cashout.
Fox led Gangaiah by roughly 10:1 when their heads-up duel began, though Gangaiah did double up twice to make it interesting. However, Gangaiah's rally ended in another all-in preflop hand, where Fox jammed with and Gangaiah called it off with . Agan Fox hit the flop, which brought . Gangaiah needed a deuce or runner-runner help to survive, but a turn and river instead sealed Fox's triumph.
Event #22, $1,000 Double Stack No-Limit Hold'em, drew 3,253 entries to create a $2,927,700 prize pool. 485 entrants cashed, with a min-cash worth $1,501.
Other Notables:
Among those running deep in Event #22 were Erkut Yilmaz (12th, $28,443), Cosmin Joldis (13th, $22,354), Timur Margolin (20th, $20,149), Zachary Donovan (26th, $14,149), Blake Whittington (41st, $9,257), Adam Levy (49th, $7,982), Steven Spunt (55th, $6,263), Manig Loeser (78th, $4,385), Bernard Lee (96th, $3,179), and Alan Sternberg (108th, $2,742).
Click here for Full Results.
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Final-Table Payouts:
1st: Jorden Fox, $420,693
2nd: Jayachandra Gangaiah, $259,834
3rd: Jeffrey Smith, $191,789
4th: Simon Legat, $142,648
5th: Marco Garcia, $106,917
6th: Ryan Teves, $80,760
7th: Scott Vener, $61,480
8th: Andrew Glauberg, $47,173
9th: Christopher Andler, $36,484