Adam Hendrix
How was your Friday?
Adam Hendrix crushed his.
The Anchorage poker pro racked two final table appearances at the 2022 Stairway to Millions tournament at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas to pocket a smooth $51,390 and continue a blistering year that marks his most lucrative since giving up his regular job as a software engineer and devoting himself to poker full-time.
First, Hendrix sat down at the final table in the $5K No-Limit Hold ‘em event, where he finished fourth in a field of 42 to earn $14,340. Hendrix went all-in with pocket kings, but was eliminated when Stephen Song flopped two pair, which held through the turn and river.
Still, Hendrix’s finish earned him a seat in the next event, a 10K No-Limit game that opened play later Friday with 18 entrants. He again made it to the final table, and then to the final three, who decided to play to a winner rather than extend the game to Saturday.
Hendrix went heads-up with Michael Rocco, who owned a chip advantage of more than 2-to-1 and eventually won when his king-queen held up against the jack-deuce of the short-stacked Hendrix.
The runner-up finish earned Hendrix $37,050 and a seat in the $26K event that is scheduled to begin Sunday.
Earlier this month, Hendrix finished sixth in an event at the World Poker Tour’s 2022 Legends of Poker in California to add $119,000 to his bankroll. And that came after he cashed 14 times at the World Series of Poker this summer to seize a combined $317,000.
Hendrix has won well more than $1 million this year and his career earnings are approaching $4 million, according to a couple of poker databases.