Jacob Thibodeau went from playing baseball and basketball for JDHS to playing for big stakes in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy pokernews.com
Jacob Thibodeau’s week-long run at the World Series of Poker Main Event ended on Sunday after his good fortune wasn’t in the cards.
The 2015 Juneau-Douglas graduate went all-in with an ace high against a pair of 6s and couldn’t win the flop as the clock ran out on his deepest run on poker’s greatest stage in Las Vegas.
Thibodeau finished 43rd in a tournament field of 9,208 and pocketed $215,000 after seven days at the table. Not bad for a $10,000 investment. This was his sixth cash at this month’s WSOP, earning him total winnings of $262,207.
“It was awesome, man,” Thibodeau said late Sunday. “I feel great. A lot of hard work has been put in for me over the 10 years. A combination of being lucky and being ready for the tournament.”
This was his best finish in five career appearances at the Main Event, improving on his 74th-place finish in 2019. He also cashed in 2021, 2024 and 2025 before popping off for his biggest payday this year.
Thibodeau celebrated by having drinks with his wife, nothing too fancy. He wants to get back on the tables, but not right away.
“I don’t jump into another tournament the same day after busting the main. I’m just too emotional, etc., to make good decisions in another tournament,” he said.
Thibodeau started Sunday’s action with 8.2 million chips, fueled by a scintillating Saturday that saw him knock out three players and take down pocket aces in another hand.
“Luckiest man on Earth today,” he wrote on social media.
His first victim was Brian Feck, who had pocket queens against Thibodeau’s big slick of ace, king. He caught a king on the flop to win the hand.
Later, he sent Michael Stembera to the rail after his ace, king hole cards held up.
Five hours later, he busted Xingyu Liu’s pocket aces after earning trip kings on the turn and a full house on the river.
“C’mon, now!” Thibodeau said as he jumped up from his seat.
Moments later, he knocked Liu out of the tournament after scoring a 3 on the river to earn a straight, beating Liu’s pair of jacks as the field dwindled to 90 players.
That got Thibodeau to 6.5 million chips. He added another 2 million chips before the night ended, and that’s where he hovered going into the first break on Sunday.
He started the tournament with 10,000 chips and piled up 148,000 by the end of Day 1. By the end of Day 2 his total was 230,000 and at the close of Day 3 his chip count had swelled to 671,000. By Day 5, he had 1,650,000 and after a magical Day 6 he started the day with 8,500,000.
The end of the road came on the afternoon of Day 7 in a head-to-head showdown with John Weiss, whose pocket 6s held up against Thibodeau ace, jack in the big blind position. He couldn’t have asked for a better situation in that spot. The cards just didn’t fall his way.
This was the second year in a row that an Alaskan made a deep run in the WSOP’s marquee event.
Last year, there was two of them as Anchorage’s Joey Padron placed 10th and Anchorage’s Adam Hendrix was sixth – the highest finish for an Alaskan since Anchorage’s Perry Green was fifth in 1991.
