John Hinds‘ deep run in the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event may have been less surprising if it were played in Atlantic City instead of the Rio in Las Vegas. He had over 40 live tournament cashes in his career, most of which had been at the Borgata. In local grinder style, he amassed cash after cash after cash, mostly in tourneys with buy-ins of $500 and lower.

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Hinds had one cash at the WSOP prior to the Main Event, coming in 2015 in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Extended Play Event. He finished 29th in that one for $11,420. He also had four cashes on the WSOP Circuit. Hinds’ biggest cash, by far, came in 2012 when he won a $350 + $50 re-entry tournament at the Borgata, good for nearly $69,000.

Hinds was second in chips in the 2015 WSOP Main Event at the Day 6 dinner break with 10.96 million, one of just two players above the 10 million mark.

He acquired around half his stack on a single hand, a cooler if there ever were one. According to the WSOP.com report, Hinds opened to 145,000 pre-flop and Brian Hastings raised him up to 430,000. Hinds four-bet it to 1.08 million, at which time Hastings decided to shove all-in for 5.5 million total.

Hinds insta-called for about the same amount, flipping over pocket Aces. Hastings had – you guessed it – pocket Kings. The board was of no help to Hastings and, as he was just barely covered, he was eliminated in 49th place. Hinds took the chip lead at that point with 11.2 million. He ultimately finished in 20th place for $262,000.

Hinds had been sending out the occasional Tweet of his progress over at @JABistro, finishing many of the posts with the optimistic #WhyNotMe or its shortened version, #WNM.