Yang slid to the bottom of the chip counts during short-handed action. 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). He for all-in with pocket queens and found himself at risk against the pocket kings of Feiyue Wu. Salas Alam’s run in this event came to a brutal end thanks to another preflop cooler. This time his top pair, top kicker held against the middle pair of Vishnu Chada (7th – $25,912) to narrow the field to six. Meng found no help from the board and was eliminated in eighth place ($20,324).Īnaya’s rise up the leaderboard continued thanks to another knockout. Dong Meng followed moments later thanks to a preflop cooler, with his pocket queens running into the pocket kings of Garrett Anaya. 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). Heading into the final table, 2007 WSOP main event champion Jerry Yang held the chip lead, while Paredes sat in third chip position. This tournament featured two starting flights and then two more days of action. 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. In addition to the title and the money, Paredes also earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win.

This win was Parades’ first-ever six-figure score, and it increased his lifetime live tournament earnings to $484,912. But to finally get it done in the main event is a huge relief,” said Paredes after coming out on top.

Vegas, Reno… everywhere, except here, which doesn’t make any sense because it’s only an hour and a half away. “I have won a lot of tournaments but I have never won one here. The Modesto, California native was relieved to finally secure a ring at what he told WSOP reporters was his ‘home casino’. 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.

Thunder valley poker chip counts