Player of Week: John Hennigan

June 26, 2018

Sean Chaffin Contributor

John "Johnny World" Hennigan is having the type of World Series many players have in their dreams. The deep runs just seem to keep coming and other players have certainly taken notice. With a few weeks still remaining in the WSOP, John Hennigan has already won his career's fifth bracelet and notched a runner-up finish among his six cashes. His stellar series earns Hennigan Player of the Week honors – and he’s hoping for even more.

"It was a good learning experience for me because I was so tilted and kind of fell apart and got saved by the deck really."

As the summer heated up in the Rio, Hennigan cashed in three straight events including seventh-place finishes in $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed ($11,930) and $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship ($32,796).

Then Hennigan really caught fire. In the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E., Hennigan locked up bracelet No. 5 and $414,692 in cash on June 12. He battled a tough final table and spoke about overcoming tilt on his way to a victory.

"It was a high-pressure final table,” he said after the win. “Iraj Parvizi yesterday was really putting everybody on tilt, me especially. The only guy I thought that held it together was David Baker. He played a great tournament in my opinion. It was a good learning experience for me because I was so tilted and kind of fell apart and got saved by the deck really. I had some very lucky situations when I was short, and it's just a really nice win."

While he may have had some help from the deck, Hennigan’s skills proved to help quite a bit as well. After snagging another bracelet, Hennigan was excited for the accomplishment but wasn’t letting it get to his head and thinking too much about another bracelet.

"We'll see what happens,” says Hennigan, who hails from Philadelphia. “I'm not too preoccupied with it, but five does feel better than four."

While he may not have expected it, a chance for another bracelet came soon. On June 19, Hennigan was heads-up against Michael Mizrachi for the title in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. While it didn’t quite go as he hoped – Mizrachi won his third bracelet in the event – Hennigan pocketed another $765,837. Hennigan won the event himself in 2014.

Another cash a week later after a 12th-place finish in the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet pushed his winnings this summer to $1.24 million with plenty of time left to add to that total.

“I'm not too preoccupied with it, but five does feel better than four."

The deep runs have vaulted Hennigan in the Player of the Year running, sitting just behind Shaun Deeb now after he won the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed High Roller on Saturday for $1.4 million.

In his illustrious career, Hennigan has more than $8 million in live tournament winnings which include wins in numerous variants of poker. In 2002, Hennigan captured the U.S. Poker Championship for $216,000 as poker began to grow. Earlier that year, he won his first bracelet in the $2,000 H.O.R.S.E. for $117,320.

In 2007, Hennigan scored another massive win – taking down the $10,000 World Poker Tour Championship at the Borgata in Atlantic City for $1.6 million. Just on the WPT alone, he has ten cashes for combined winnings of more than $2 million.

The poker community has taken note of Hennigan’s summer. Will this Player of the Week be seated at yet another final table soon? Don’t bet against it.

John Hennigan - 2018 $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship Winner — John Hennigan won his fifth bracelet in the 2018 WSOP $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio.com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.

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