Aaron Johnson had to hurry up and wait to win the WPT Prime Championship on Saturday night, where a brutal heads-up battle stood between him and his first million dollar payday.
The hurry up part was the first hour of the final table, where four players hit the door before thirty hands were dealt. The wait came next. It was another three hours before Johnson would raise two trophies in the Latour Ballroom at Wynn Las Vegas.
"I’ve had good runs, good years, and good results, but this one tops everything by far," Johnson said after the win in what is probably an understatement. Johnson is a frequent flyer on mid-stakes tours, most notably the Major Series of Poker (former Mid-States Poker Tour), where he has won two Main Events and finished in the top ten 13 times. His Hendon Mob profile will now swell over $3.6 million with tonight's result.
As far as "good runs," the Minnesota native's previous best were a runner-up finish in the Monster Stack at the 2024 summer series and a top-100 finish in the WSOP Main Event in 2016. The Monster Stack win was good for $732K, but it left him waiting for his first major win until now.
Everyone leaves early
The man who tried to stop Johnson, Fernando Martin Del Campo, played a big part in the early carnage. The Mexico native had only a handful of live Hendon Mob entries before today, but plenty to show for in online results. And he may not have been there at the end at all, but a seven of hearts on the river sent Tim Burden to the door in fifth place and put Del Campo on a rocket ship to over $900K.
It happened on the 23rd hand of the televised final table, and it started with Del Campo's big raise from the button. The bet (30M) was enough to cover Burden's last 16.3M, and in it went with 
. Del Campo turned over 
and looked for an ace, but the 
flop put a new spin on things. Now needing a seven or ace, the 
turn was a blank before the fateful 
fell on the river.
Del Campo's rail went crazy and Burden accepted defeat, but there were even bigger fireworks to come. Now armed with the chip lead, Del Campo only had to wait five hands before he found himself in a pot worth 100 big blinds. This time it was against Qing Liu, who had already given up the start-of-day chip lead when Johnson doubled on the third hand of the night.
The big pot started with a simple raise from Liu, and then a three-bet from Del Campo on the button. Liu fired back for 36 million and Del Campo returned volley with his entire stack of 159 million. After a few beats, Liu called with less (125 million) and turned over . Del Campo had 
, and it was all but over after a 
fell on the flop. The rest of the board was no help for Liu ahd he was gone in fourth.
The real winner in all of this was Safiya Umerova, who stood by and watched with two big blinds as Liu hit the door and triggered a $145,000 pay jump. It was on the next hand that Umerova tossed them in, but her 
was toast against Johnson's 
.
Not so easy
Johnson entered heads-up play with a lot of work to do, holding only 46 big blinds against the 119 in Del Campo's stack, but he went on a quick tear in the first ten hands to bring the stacks near even. Not to be out done, Del Campo fought back and put Johnson on the ropes again, but the champ eventually returned to health with a six-high straight right before the break at the end of Level 45.
It had been almost three hours, and the blinds were at 3M/6M/6M, which meant just over 60 big blinds remained on the table between the final two players. The chip stacks were relatively even, so the duo used the 20-minute break to have a sensible conversation. They returned with adjusted payouts, now awarding $942K to second instead of $775K, reducing the winner's take to $1,010,400.
That was all Johnson needed to hear. Within 10 hands he had the biggest lead of the night and the tournament was over just six hands after that. Johnson, who now had all but three big blinds, put Del Campo at risk with 
. Del Campo turned over 
and took an early lead on the 
flop, but the board finished up with 
to finish the job and hand Johnson his first million dollar prize.
The WPT will now turn its eyes to the final table of the World Championship, where Soheb Porbandarwala will try to close out a massive chip lead to win $2.5 million while Jeremy Becker tries for a career-defining victory. Tune in once again on the World Poker Tour's YouTube channel for live coverage shortly after cards go in the air at 4pm Vegas time.
Images courtesy of Rachel Kay Miller/World Poker Tour.
