Jared Kingery Wins First WSOP Bracelet In $2,000 NL Hold’em Event

Jared Kingery came close to winning his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2022, finishing second in a $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event and earning $433,255. However, he narrowly missed out on the gold.

This year, the Washington-based player achieved his goal by winning the $2,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, which concluded on June 19. Kingery took home the top prize of $410,359, bringing his career earnings to over $900,000.

“I’m definitely not a professional player. I’m actually a longshoreman back in Washington, so I don’t play that much. That Housewarming score was my first WSOP tournament ever. I was just sun-running,” Kingery told reporters after his victory.

Kingery was in Las Vegas for just nine days this summer, but he made the most of his time with this significant win. The $2,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event drew 1,561 participants on day 1, creating a prize pool of $2,778,580. The top 235 players each took home at least $4,000.

Day 2 saw 235 players return, with only 17 advancing to the final day. Among them was Card Player Publisher and two-time bracelet winner Barry Shulman, who finished in 17th place after running into a preflop cooler. Other notable players who went deep included Jack Sinclair (18th), Lou Garza (20th), Chris Moorman (39th), James Carroll (81st), Andy Hwang (94th), and Jack Duong (99th).

When the final table began, Kingery was in the top half of the stacks, but everyone was chasing chip leader Javier Gomez, who had more than twice the chips of his closest competitor. Kingery remained relatively quiet as the first few players were eliminated but scored a crucial double-up during six-handed play to keep his stack alive.

Kingery doubled again during five-handed play, this time with his aces holding up against Yunkyu Song’s A-Q, propelling him up the standings before the dinner break. He then took control of the final table during four-handed play, eliminating Juan Carlos Vecino in fourth place to solidify his chip lead.

Kingery continued his momentum by knocking out Song in third place, giving him a nearly 3:1 chip advantage over Gomez for the final heads-up match. The heads-up play lasted only 10 minutes before Gomez got his remaining chips in on a board reading 10-8-6-A, holding A-J. Kingery, however, held A-Q, and the river card did not change the outcome, sending Gomez to the rail in second place with a consolation prize of $273,581—the largest score of his tournament career, bringing his total earnings to over $400,000.

$2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results