Aaron 'aejones' Jones Wins DraftKings FFWC for $5 Million
Poker players have historically found a tremendous amount of success at daily fantasy sports, or DFS. In fact, one of the first DFS sites, DraftDay, was founded by poker pros. Over the weekend, another longtime poker pro hit it big… $5 million big.
Aaron ‘aejones‘ Jones won $5 million on Sunday after taking down the DraftKings Fantasy Football World Championship, or FFWC. Jones Tweeted when the tournament ended, “I recommend winning $5 million if you guys have a chance. It was fun and I would do it again… This was an incredible experience and I really appreciated everyone’s positive energy in the final 10… Ty @DraftKings for a great event and the chocolate-covered strawberries.”
Jones amassed 352 points during the FFWC, beating the second place player, ‘danny1234‘, by 14. Second place was worth $2 million, a pretty solid consolation prize.
The FFWC’s scoring system combined scores from Week 15 in December with the Divisional Round, a four-game slate that took place over the weekend. ‘CONDIA‘ held the lead by almost 30 points entering the Divisional Round, while Jones was almost 50 points back to start the weekend and in fifth place, which would have been worth $300,000.
Two Divisional Round games took place on Saturday and by the time they ended, Jones and ‘danny1234’ were neck-and-neck for the $5 million top prize.
The difference-maker for the former poker pro ended up being Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Martavis Bryant, the team’s de facto #1 option in the passing game with Antonio Brown out with a concussion. Bryant was in three of the 10 lineups, including Jones’. He joked to DraftKings, “I owe a fruit basket to Martavis Bryant.”
Hopefully a gold-plated fruit basket.
Jones was all-in on the Arizona Cardinals in the Divisional Round, as his roster included quarterback Carson Palmer, running back David Johnson, wide receiver Michael Floyd, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, and the Cardinals defense. Johnson largely disappointed, but Floyd scored twice and the aging Fitzgerald turned back the clock to the tune of almost 200 yards receiving, including the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
‘CONDIA’, who was leading entering the Divisional Round, finished in third place for $1 million. As DraftKings recapped, “He came in with a whopping 30-point lead over the field, but a major injury to Randall Cobb early in the Packers game left him with a 0 in his lineup and an uphill climb on the leaderboard. He was overheard telling friends late on Sunday that he was hoping for 3rd place and that’s exactly where he ended up, despite finishing 8th in the Final 10 round.”
Week 15 featured a 200-lineup live event in San Diego, while the FFWC finale took place up the coast in Los Angeles.
Here’s how the final 10 cashed out:
- aejones – 352.96 points, $5 million
- danny1234 – 338.56 points, $2 million
- CONDIA – 327.16 points, $1 million
- underjones – 321.88 points, $500,000
- rockhaven – 316.86 points, $300,000
- huggins8168 – 308.02 points, $200,000
- dandydon – 307.14 points, $100,000
- box_97 – 302.30 points, $100,000
- Cory315 – 293.48 points, $100,000
- Stuckcee 264.38 points, $100,000
In the poker world, Jones was well-known for his high-stakes cash game play. He also bubbled the WPT Festa al Lago televised final table in 2009 for $129,000 and finished eighth in a $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Mixed-Max event during the 2014 WSOP for $112,000.
Jones is ranked #50 on the DFS tracking site RotoGrinders and #4 on the NFL leaderboard. His average buy-in over the last 365 days is $20.
