John Cynn is the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event champion after beating Tony Miles in the longest heads-up match in the event’s history, two years after the agony of finishing 11th.

Two-years ago, John Cynn did the unthinkable by finishing 11th in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. We barely remember the people who finish second, let along 11th, but they never forget.

Cynn won $650,000, but I doubt that mattered for the longest time. As a poker player, a berth in the final table would have been on his bucket list, a win, the stuff of dreams.  In the 2016 archives, there is a photograph of Cynn taken by Joe Giron at the moment his run came to an end at the hands of Gordon Vayo. Sitting on his butt, staring at the monitors above the final table with a dejected, resigned look on his face.

Two years later, and Joe Giron took a much better shot.