Persistence Pays Off as Nick Yunis Finally Claims WPT Glory

Some poker players are blessed enough to win a major title early in their careers. They explode onto the scene with a flourish and go on to a career with various successes and failures along the way. Others have to fight for every last chip, navigating through heartaches and close calls that seem to twist the wrong way at the last second, every single time.

The latter is the path Nick Yunis has found himself on over the last 16 years of traveling the live tournament circuit. Despite online successes, including wins in PokerStars’ SCOOP and WCOOP series, a signature live win eluded him. Victory had been just beyond his fingertips on a few occasions, only to slip away. Two years ago at the 2022 World Series of Poker, for example, Yunis was heads-up for a gold bracelet and took a lead of 4-to-1 against his opponent, only for the cards to turn at the last possible moment.

But the struggle can make the triumph even sweeter when it finally comes. That’s the feeling Yunis got to experience on Tuesday in Jacksonville, as he tasted that long-awaited victory in the WPT bestbet Scramble. The 40-year-old Chilean-born, Miami-raised poker pro fought his way past a WPT legend and a couple of young upstarts on his way to $315,791 – the biggest cash of his career – and the victory in the spotlight that he’s been chasing for the better part of two decades.

“It’s very hard,” said Yunis. “I think that most poker players, you know, have all kinds of superstitions, and it’s just hard because tournaments are so emotional. You get so deep, you put in so many hours. You’re tired, you’re emotional, and then you take a bad beat. When that happens over and over and over again, you start to think it’s never gonna happen, and it’s just the nature of the beast. It’s a really tough game in that sense.”

After locking up his place at this WPT bestbet Scramble final table Monday night, Yunis received council from another player who has experienced an outsized amount of heartbreak late in big WPT and WSOP events – and those words broke through something for Yunis.

“I had a little advice from a friend this time, a guy that I look up to a lot in poker, Farid Jattin,” said Yunis. “He actually told me, ‘Disconnect yourself from the result completely. Just try to be in the zone. Play your game, no matter what happens. You should be proud of yourself.’ And that, I think, was very key for me, you know, you just have to not think about the result, because at the end of the day, that’s just anxiety. You don’t need that while you’re trying to perform.”

Yunis’ resolve was tested several times early on at Tuesday’s final table. On two separate occasions, Yunis played large pots against three-time WPT champion Eric Afriat in which Afriat hit a three – once on the turn, once on the river – that cost Yunis a significant amount of his chips.

Rather than spiraling, Yunis buckled down and settled back down in a hurry.

“I feel like this tournament in particular, I had an easier time than usual,” said Yunis. “Again, I think that that little message I got from Farid where he basically told me, ‘What’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen. So don’t worry about the result,’ That just became my mentality. Throughout this whole tournament I had a pretty steady trajectory upward, but I had a few times where I dipped down and I just felt like everything was gonna be okay. I can’t even explain why.”

Yunis got the last laugh, though. With three players remaining, Yunis ran a bold river bluff against Afriat and then showed his queen-high after Afriat folded. It secured the chip lead for Yunis, Afriat was dispatched in third place soon thereafter by Yunkyu Song, and Yunis took control from there on out.

There’s one final twist in Yunis’ road to victory. Throughout his run to the WPT bestbet Scramble title, another friend was on hand to support Yunis on his way to victory – Michael Wang, the winner of the recent WPT Playground Championship in Montreal.

And as good a week as it’s been for Yunis, who was able to shake off 16 years of close-call baggage, it was made all that much sweeter by paying off his friend’s confidence in his abilities with another substantial financial windfall.

“I met Mike through a mutual friend Mark Dube,” said Yunis. “We used to do poker business together, and we became friends. And as you know, many tournament players, from time to time, need a stake, and I developed that kind of relationship with Mike. He’s an awesome guy. He’s just one of the nicest people in the world.

“We talk poker and all the things that poker players do. I’m very happy that he won the last event, and now at the very next stop, his horse takes it down.”