Adrian Attenborough: 2022 WSOP Main Event Runner-Up
POKER HALL OF FAME
Inducted 2014
Adrian Attenborough is an Australian professional poker player best known for finishing runner-up in the 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event. His $6 million payday from that run transformed an already established international tournament career and remains his largest recorded live cash.
As of September 21, 2026, The Hendon Mob lists Attenborough with $7,500,978 in total live tournament earnings. His record includes results in Australia, Macau, the United States and other major poker destinations, with significant scores dating back more than a decade.
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Who Is Adrian Attenborough?
Adrian Attenborough is an Australian tournament poker professional originally from Queensland who has also been listed as a Las Vegas resident by The Hendon Mob.
PokerNews reported during his 2022 WSOP Main Event run that Attenborough learned poker at 16 after being introduced to the game by family and friends. By the time he reached poker's most famous final table, he had already accumulated more than $1.4 million in recorded live tournament cashes.
His career has been centered primarily on No-Limit Hold'em tournaments. Results across Australia, Asia and the United States established him as an international tournament player years before his breakthrough on poker's largest stage.
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Adrian Attenborough's Early Poker Career
Attenborough began posting significant tournament results in Australia during the middle of the 2010s.
In February 2017, he won a HK$25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event at the Macau Poker Cup 26 for HK$1,499,130, recorded by The Hendon Mob at approximately $193,000. That victory became one of the defining results of his pre-WSOP Main Event career.
Later that year, Attenborough traveled to Las Vegas and finished third in the $10,400 Bellagio Cup XIII Main Event for $361,660. The score remained his largest live tournament cash until 2022.
His 2017 results also included multiple WSOP cashes and additional finishes in Australia and Macau. Those performances helped establish a pattern that would continue throughout his career: competing across several international poker markets rather than concentrating exclusively on one tour.
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International Tournament Success
Attenborough continued producing notable results after his 2017 breakthrough.
In February 2019, he won a six-handed No-Limit Hold'em event at the Asian Poker Tour in Taiwan for a recorded $67,280. Later that year, he finished runner-up in a A$5,000 challenge event during the WSOP International Circuit stop in Sydney, earning approximately $108,908.
He followed that result by reaching the final table of the WSOP Circuit Sydney Main Event, finishing eighth for approximately $34,550.
Those results demonstrated that Attenborough's résumé was already substantial before the tournament that would make him widely recognizable to poker fans.
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2022 WSOP Main Event Runner-Up
Attenborough's defining career performance came in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em World Championship at the 2022 World Series of Poker.
The Main Event attracted 8,663 entries and generated a prize pool of more than $80 million. Attenborough navigated the field to reach the final table and eventually advanced to heads-up play against Norwegian professional Espen Jorstad.
Jorstad won the championship and its $10 million first prize, while Attenborough finished second for $6 million.
The result remains Attenborough's largest live tournament cash and accounts for the majority of his recorded career earnings.
His run also drew attention because of several consequential hands late in the tournament. PokerNews highlighted a river bluff in which Attenborough moved all-in with six-high and induced a fold, along with other difficult decisions made under the pressure of enormous Main Event pay jumps.
At the final table, Attenborough eliminated Michael Duek in third place to reach heads-up play. He ultimately fell to Jorstad in the championship match, ending one position short of the Main Event bracelet.
PokerNews' 2022 WSOP Main Event recap records Attenborough's runner-up prize at $6 million.
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How Much Has Adrian Attenborough Won in Poker?
As of September 21, 2026, The Hendon Mob lists Adrian Attenborough with $7,500,978 in total live tournament earnings and a best live cash of $6 million.
Live tournament earnings are not the same as career profit. Database totals generally represent recorded tournament payouts and do not account for buy-ins, travel expenses, staking arrangements, swaps, taxes or other costs associated with professional poker.
Attenborough's $6 million WSOP Main Event result is by far the largest individual cash on his record, but his career also includes six-figure scores in Macau, Las Vegas and Australia.
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Does Adrian Attenborough Have a WSOP Bracelet?
No. As of September 21, 2026, the WSOP player database lists Attenborough with zero WSOP bracelets and zero WSOP Circuit rings.
His closest run at a bracelet remains his second-place finish in the 2022 WSOP Main Event.
The runner-up result nevertheless places Attenborough among the small group of players to have reached heads-up play for poker's world championship.
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Adrian Attenborough's Playing Style
Attenborough's public tournament record is not broad enough to justify assigning him a fixed stylistic label such as loose-aggressive or tight-aggressive.
His 2022 Main Event run did, however, provide several visible examples of his willingness to make difficult decisions in high-pressure situations. PokerNews specifically documented a late-stage six-high river bluff and other major river decisions as the field approached the final table.
Those hands became part of the story of his Main Event run because they showed a willingness to apply significant pressure even when millions of dollars in potential prize money were at stake.
It is more accurate to view those hands as examples from a particular tournament rather than definitive proof of how Attenborough approaches every game or opponent.
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Major Poker Accomplishments
Runner-up in the 2022 WSOP Main Event for $6,000,000
More than $7.5 million in recorded live tournament earnings as of September 21, 2026
Winner of a HK$25,000 No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2017 Macau Poker Cup 26
Third place in the 2017 Bellagio Cup XIII Main Event for $361,660
Winner of a six-handed No-Limit Hold'em event at the 2019 Asian Poker Tour Taiwan
Runner-up in a 2019 WSOP International Circuit Sydney challenge event for approximately $108,908
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Adrian Attenborough's Recent Poker Results
Attenborough has continued recording live tournament results after his 2022 Main Event breakthrough, although his schedule in public databases has been considerably lighter than during some earlier periods of his career.
His recorded 2025 results included a cash in the WSOP Circuit Montreal Main Event and a 19th-place finish in an Ultimate Bounty event at the Venetian DeepStack Championship Poker Series in Las Vegas.
The Hendon Mob lists three live cashes for Attenborough at the Star Gold Coast QLD Shot Clock Super Stacks in February 2026.
He won the A$900 Superfers Paradise Deepstack on February 14 for A$8,869, recorded at approximately $6,275. Four days later, he finished eighth in The Dominator, and on February 20 he placed seventh in the Super Stack Main Event.
The February 20 result is his most recent live tournament cash listed by The Hendon Mob as of September 21, 2026.
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Why Adrian Attenborough Matters in Poker
Attenborough's place in modern tournament poker is defined primarily by his run to the final two of the 2022 WSOP Main Event.
Reaching heads-up play in an 8,663-entry Main Event put him on poker's largest tournament stage and produced one of the biggest Australian live tournament scores on record.
The result did not emerge from an otherwise empty résumé. Attenborough had already spent years competing internationally, winning tournaments in Macau and Australia and recording substantial finishes in Las Vegas and on the WSOP International Circuit.
His career therefore illustrates the long development that can precede a player's breakthrough in the Main Event. By 2022, Attenborough had been recording live tournament results for years before converting that experience into a $6 million performance against one of the largest Main Event fields ever assembled.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Adrian Attenborough?
Adrian Attenborough is an Australian professional poker player best known for finishing second in the 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event.
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How much has Adrian Attenborough won in live poker tournaments?
As of September 21, 2026, The Hendon Mob lists Adrian Attenborough with $7,500,978 in total live tournament earnings.
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What is Adrian Attenborough's biggest poker cash?
His largest recorded live tournament cash is $6 million, earned for finishing runner-up in the 2022 WSOP Main Event.
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Who beat Adrian Attenborough in the 2022 WSOP Main Event?
Espen Jorstad defeated Adrian Attenborough heads-up to win the 2022 WSOP Main Event. Jorstad earned $10 million, while Attenborough received $6 million for second place.
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Does Adrian Attenborough have a WSOP bracelet?
No. The WSOP player database lists Adrian Attenborough with zero bracelets as of September 21, 2026.
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Does Adrian Attenborough have a WSOP Circuit ring?
No. The WSOP player database lists Attenborough with zero WSOP Circuit rings as of September 21, 2026.
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Is Adrian Attenborough still playing poker?
Attenborough has continued recording live tournament results. The Hendon Mob lists three cashes from the Star Gold Coast QLD Shot Clock Super Stacks in February 2026, including one tournament victory, with his February 20 result the most recent recorded live cash as of September 21, 2026.