DJ Mackinnon has entered his 15th consecutive WSOP Main Event, but he’s seeking his first cash in poker’s World Championship.
The longtime grinder has found success over the years in various tournaments. But the Main Event isn’t one of them, although that could change this week. Mackinnon took his seat at the start of the Day 1d session on Sunday, the final Day 1 flight. Over 7,500 players had registered four days in, with registration still open through two levels on each Day 2 session.
Mackinnon, who has over $1.2 million in live tournament cashes recorded by The Hendon Mob database, would like to be one of likely around 1,500 players who will finish in the money.
Can DJ Mackinnon Finally End the Drought
Mackinnon, who had around 45,000 chips on the dinner break, has four WSOP final table appearances, the last in 2018, but he’s never won a bracelet. He told PokerNews on break that he reached 80,000 chips — players started with 60,000 — at one point but “ran kings into aces for a little bit.”
The lack of cashes in the Main Event isn’t getting the poker player down, nor has it shattered his confidence. He explained that “at the end of the day, it’s just 14 tournaments,” citing variance.
“It’s not a big sample-size in the grand scope of tournament poker,” Mackinnon said. “You know, 14 times busting isn’t like … if it was a normal tournament at the beginning of the summer, no one would really think about it. So, it’s just amplified because it’s the Main Event. Everybody is just hyper-focused on this tournament.”
Mackinnon hasn’t reached the money in the Main Event, which typically occurs late on Day 3 or early Day 4. But he has “a bunch of Day 3’s.”
“I either just come in (to Day 3) short or just lose the big flip. There are a couple of times I lost pretty big flips or just standard cooler spots for big stacks,” he said.
As for his earliest elimination in the WSOP Main Event, he said he’s been eliminated before dinner break on Day 1 a couple of times. Mackinnon recently took a job with Blez Sports Cards, run by WSOP commentator and high-stakes poker player Jared Bleznick. But he’s still going to continue playing the Main Event, no matter how long it takes him to cash.
“There’s different pressure on me now, because I actually have a job, and it’s not, you know … I think everybody who plays poker for a living obviously circles the Main Event on their calendar. It’s their chance to make it in poker.”
Mackinnon’s moving away from playing poker for a living now that he’s working for Bleznick. So, “it’s not a big deal” to him if he fails to cash in the Main Event.
“It’s a little refreshing that I can come play some tournaments down at the WSOP and not be so hyper-focused on what happens,” he explained. “All I have to do is play as well as I can and see what happens.”
Mackinnon, who has done some consulting work helping the WSOP create its schedules, said he “always wants to be involved with poker” whether he plays for a living or, now, as a recreational player. But will he ever change up his Main Event strategy if he continues to miss out on cashing?
“Maybe I’ll start coming Day 2 like everybody else. Maybe that’s what I need to do.”
Mackinnon was still standing on Day 1d at the time of publishing, perhaps on his way to cashing for the first time in an event he first entered in 2011.
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