Tuiofu Hunkin (pictured) topped a field of 678 entries to win the WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley Main Event on Monday at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California. Hunkin earned his first WPTDeepStacks title, and $121,000 in first-place prize money, which included a $3,000 championship prize package. This is the biggest win of Hunkin’s poker career, and his career tournament earnings now stand at $200,734.
“Hard work, I’ve been playing a long time, I have really good support from my wife and my mom and my brother. God is good, for sure,” said Hunkin when Matt Savage asked him about his hot streak to start the year (Hunkin also won the $1,000 preliminary event at Bay 101 Shooting Star a few weeks ago).
“It’s really good, I never devalued my stack. I kept grinding, got lucky in a few spots, and it paid off,” said Hunkin when he was asked about his comeback victory at today’s final table.
“It feels awesome, WPT runs some of the best tournaments for sure so I’m excited,” said Hunkin when Savage asked him if he was looking forward to playing in the WPTDeepStacks Championship event that he won a seat for today.
WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley Final Table Results
1st: Tuiofu Hunkin – $121,000
2nd: Yury Klimenkov – $84,500
3rd: Mike Abratique – $54,690
4th: Nick Wooderson – $40,060
5th: John Hadley – $30,645
6th: Aaron Dalnoot – $24,485
7th: Patrick Johnson – $20,280
8th: Kindah Sakkal – $16,145
9th: Patrick Dunn – $12,120
The eliminations kicked off when Patrick Dunn fell in ninth place a few minutes into the day. After that Kindah Sakkal (eighth place), Patrick Johnson (seventh place), Aaron Dalnoot (sixth place), and John Hadley (fifth place) all busted during a crazy level of play.
Yury Klimenkov then scored a double up, and Tuiofu Hunkin scored his second double up of the final table at the expense of the chip leader Mike Abratique. The players then took their first break, and when they returned Nick Wooderson (fourth place) and Abratique (third place) soon hit the rail.
Hunkin took a large chip lead into the final match with 14.5 million against the 5.27 million held by Klimenkov. The final battle was a short one, and the first time the chips got into the middle the tournament came to a close.
On the final hand, both players contributed 300,000 to the pot preflop, and the first three cards were dealt 
. Klimenkov bet 350,000, and Hunkin reraised to 1.45 million. Klimenkov reraised all in for 5.15 million, and Hunkin called to cover him. Here is a look at their cards.
Hunkin: 
Klimenkov: 
Turn and River: 
Klimenkov was eliminated in second place, good for $84,500. That made Hunkin the WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley champion, and he took home $121,000, which includes the $3,000 championship prize package.
Congratulations to our new WPTDeepStacks champion – Tuiofu Hunkin!
That concludes our coverage from WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley. Thanks to Thunder Valley Casino Resort for hosting another great stop on the tour.
Up Next for WPTDeepStacks in the United States
The next stop on the WPTDeepStacks schedule in the United States is WPTDeepStacks Pittsburgh. The Main Event runs from April 25-29 at Rivers Casino in Pennsylvania.
Looking to win your way to a World Poker Tour event for your shot at becoming a WPT champion? Play for your chance on ClubWPT.com, where eligible VIP Members can play for over $100,000 in cash and prizes each month, including seats to WPT events, no purchase necessary.