Doubling Down: Jonathan Cronin Looking to Add Main Tour to WPTDeepStacks Title

By Sean Chaffin

As the final table of the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble kicks off, one player has a bit of extra incentive beyond the $331,480 top prize. If he’s able to take down the tournament, Jonathan Cronin (pictured) becomes only the second player to win a WPT Main Tour and WPTDeepStacks titles.

Cronin entered the final table fourth in chips, but hoped to run that up to a Bounty Scramble title. In March 2018, he took down a WPTDeepStacks event at bestbet, topping a field of 372 entries on his way to a score of $107,386.

“It’s exciting,” he says of the opportunity to join the exclusive WPT Champions/WPTDeepStacks Club. “I didn’t even know, but any time you can make the final table of a major it’s always great.”

The only other player to win titles on both tours is Simon Brandstrom, who won the WPTDeepStacks Barcelona in March for his first cash on the tour. He then won the WPT UK in Nottingham on October 6 to complete the double up.

Now just over a week later, Cronin has a chance to become only the second person to complete the accomplishment with both of his wins possibly coming on American soil.

The 39-year-old from Savannah, Georgia, is a single father of two boys and owns an IT business. He doesn’t get out too much to play poker as family life and running his business keeps him busy.

“I have a wonderful family to help watch them when I have a few weekends to travel,” he says. “But I don’t put in near the volume as I did before.”

When not playing poker or spending time with his children and family, Cronin plays some chess and darts and gets out for some hunting and fishing occasionally. He got into poker after playing nickel-dime poker in his dorm room while in college.

What’s his strategy going into this final table? Does he feel he has a bit of an advantage over some of his opponents after winning a WPTDeepStacks event at this property?

“I’m always confident in my game, but as many hands as I’ve seen, I know it can go any way,” he says. “Anything can happen and it’s best to just kind of live in the moment and enjoy wherever you’re at.”

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.