AOTW: Adam Hendrix’s journey from Alaska to poker stardom

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Adam Hendrix made waves in the poker world last month with his sixth-place finish at the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event, which netted him a $1.9 million prize.

Before he was reeling in millions, however, Hendrix grew up reeling in fish during Alaska’s summers.

“When we weren’t halibut fishing, I would stay back sometimes and turn on the TV and ESPN would show the World Series of Poker Main Event,” he recalled of his many visits to his grandmother’s house in Homer.

While Hendrix’s family left Alaska when he was young, Hendrix still claims the Last Frontier and represents it on the brightest stages, to increasing success.

His most recent WSOP result moved him up to 11th on poker stats database The Hendon Mob‘s Global Poker Index, and extended his lead on Alaska’s all-time winnings list.

“When I come up from Vegas — after the World Series, I always come up to Alaska for like three weeks to a month,” Hendrix told Alaska’s News Source’s sports team during one such visit.

“Just to visit my family and get away from poker and spend time in nature.”

The time away can be valuable for any poker pro, even from a game many who aren’t familiar with it wouldn’t figure to be too draining.

“If you haven’t sat at a poker table before, it’s obviously funny to say, ‘Oh, it’s so grueling,’” he said. “These guys are sitting at a table looking at cards and throwing in chips, right?

“Think about golf,” he explained. “You play a tournament for three or four days.

“Our main event you play nine days, and it’s 12-hour days at a time.”

That’s not to say that the fatigue has affected Hendrix at the tables recently.

“I’ve never even made money at this event in eight tries,” he said. “This was my eighth time and I got sixth, so it’s really nice to get — even some money from it.

“And then also the sixth place is a really hard feat and something that I’ve dreamed of.”

Aside from the competitive aspect, Hendrix has always enjoyed poker for the interactions it cultivates.

″You just get randomly assigned to a table of eight other people," he described.

″Probably in real life, it’s hard to sit down with eight random people and just sit there for 10 hours playing a game.“

To his part, he uses the ample small-talk opportunities his profession provides to give his peers a taste of home.

“It’s always fun to tell people about Alaska,” he said. “They always ask the silly questions like, ‘Does the sun go down ever?’ ... and I like telling them to just go out and explore it.”

Hendrix is on a temporary pause from poker tournaments after his WSOP run, which will include getting married to his fiancée — a wedding which he says now has a slightly larger budget.

He did, however, take part in a friendly game with our sports team, which you can watch below.

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