Aaron Johnson started playing poker professionally in 2014, and very quickly made a name for himself on the mid-major tournament circuit and even had a couple of deep runs in the World Series of Poker main event.
Johnson broke through in 2018, cashing 11 times on the Mid-States Poker Tour including a win, two runner-up finishes, and a fourth-place showing. It was more than enough to crown him MSPT Player of the Year and place him in the tour’s Hall of Fame.
If that wasn’t enough, he also had quite the year on the Heartland Poker Tour, making three final tables with a win. As a result, he was also named HPT Player of the Year, holding both titles simultaneously.
Johnson has since added two more MSPT titles and a runner-up finish to cement his place in the tour’s Hall of Fame, but he has also upped the stakes with some massive scores in the last two years. In 2024, the Minnesota pro finished second in the WSOP Monster Stack event, pocketing a whopping $732,000 from his initial $1,500 investment.
Most recently, Johnson outlasted a huge field of nearly 10,000 entrants in the $1,100 World Poker Tour Prime Championship at Wynn Las Vegas for a career-high payday of $1,010,400. Card Player caught up with him to discuss a couple key hands from his latest victory.
Event: 2025 WPT Prime Championship
Buy-In: $1,100
Entrants: 9,876
Prize Pool: $9,579,720
First-Place Prize: $1,010,400
Craig Tapscott: About a decade ago you lost 90 pounds and have kept it off ever since. I learned that you credit the decision to get in shape for your poker success as well as your personal health.
Aaron Johnson: I think exercise and fitness translate directly to performing better on the felt. So many aspects are improved: brain power, focus, discipline, stamina, table presence, general confidence, posture, etc.
On days where my routine is dialed in, I will legitimately feel more zoned-in and fresh at hour 10 than I was at hour one. But it’s common for other players to feel miserable as they count down the minutes until bagging.
CT: What were a few of the key takeaways for your game going forward after winning the WPT Prime Championship?
AJ: My goal is to continue to improve and refine my game. It’s easy to become complacent after big wins, but complacency will destroy you in a game like poker. I played okay this tournament but still made too many mistakes. My plan is to get right back to running miles and working on my game.
I surprised myself by how effortlessly I was able to dissociate from the money on day three down to the final table. I got very fortunate to have a cooler set up in my favor the first level, and after that I was chip leader or near-chip leader for all of day three. My only objective was to apply constant pressure and accumulate chips for the final table.
Deep runs like this win and my runner-up finish in the Monster Stack provided invaluable experience and confidence for future tournament runs. I can’t take these experiences for granted.
CT: It was a huge field with a lot of re-entries. What’s your best advice to navigate the early levels in an event like that?
AJ: Adapt to the table. Every table is going to be different in a large event like this. Some tables you’ll be able to get away with murder; others you’ll need to walk on eggshells. Tailor your strategy accordingly.
Also, simply try harder, from the very first hand you’re dealt. It boggles my mind how lackadaisical some players can be in the first few levels of the tournament. Are you there to play poker or doomscroll Tik-Tok?!
Hand No. 1
Stacks: Aaron Johnson – 4,500,000 (56 BB) Stephen Song – 6,500,000 (81 BB)
Blinds: 40,000-80,000 with a 80,000 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 125
CT: When did this hand occur?
AJ: This was very late on day 2. We were only a few hands away from bagging for the night. I went into the last break of the night with just over 2,000,000 in chips but had built up to around 4,500,000 when this hand occurred.
I was on the button and Stephen Song was in the big blind with a covering stack. For the uninitiated, Stephen is one of the best US regs and one of the most capable players out there. He’s also a previous winner of this event. (2022)
We had managed to not play any large pots versus each other for the few hours he had been there, but sometimes poker violence is unavoidable.
Johnson raised from the button to 160,000 holding K♥J♥. Song reraised to 640,000 from the big blind, and Johnson called.
CT: What was the plan?
AJ: I think everything was fairly standard here. At somewhat shallower depths I think I can consider a four-bet all-in with K-J suited. It has great properties of purging his A-X bluffs and has good equity retention against value hands like pocket sevens through tens, or AQ.
However, I think a call was preferred in that environment. We headed to a flop with 1,400,000 in the middle.
FLOP: 9♥6♥4♣
Song bet 750,000, and Johnson called.
AJ: Clearly a great flop for my hand with two overs and a flush draw; but a so-so flop for my range. Stephen’s range is stronger here with his obvious overpair advantage.
CT: I’m curious why you didn’t move all in? Was that play on your mind at all?
AJ: It did cross my mind. I think there are good arguments for simply jamming. We would immediately get his bluffs to fold, and we would ensure our equity is fully realized. It is disastrous to just call and then face a turn jam unimproved.
I decided to go the call route and was prepared to turn my hand into a bluff on a later street if necessary.
TURN: J♦
Song bet 1,000,000, and Johnson called.
AJ: The turn was obviously wonderful. With top pair I was able to call a triple barrel, and my hand needed essentially zero protection.
CT: Did you contemplate other options on this turn?
AJ: I think call is the only play. We want to keep in his bluffs and we’re still behind (most of) his value. Unimproved river jams will be slightly uncomfortable, but we’ll now be snapping off for our tournament.
RIVER: 3♣
AJ: The river is a brick. Stephen takes a bit of time and ends up…
Song checks.
AJ: I took a moment and…
Johnson checked. Song revealed A♠2♠, and Johnson won the pot of 4,900,000.
AJ: It was an unsurprising high-pressure play from Stephen, and I do like his decision to give up on the river. I think my decision to check back river is somewhat mandatory. He’s mostly going to have bluffs that have given up.
There was an outside chance of a better hand that’s mixing in a check versus a range like that, and there is virtually no benefit in betting. I was content to show down and bring a top 10 stack into day 3.
Hand No. 2
Stacks: Aaron Johnson – 207,000,000 (51 BB) Fernando Martin Del Campo – 188,000,000 (47 BB)
Blinds: 2,000,000-4,000,000 with a 4,000,000 big blind ante
Players remaining: 2
Del Campo limped from the button. Johnson checked his option from the big blind holding A♠5♠.
CT: Why not raise in this spot?
AJ: Fernando is going to be limping a fairly balanced range here consisting of many different hand classes.
My hand often should three-bet for value, but I was fairly content with keeping pots small, especially out of position. I had begun heads-up play with a 2.5-1 or so chip disadvantage and had just taken the chip lead. I was fine staying the course.
FLOP: 8♥8♦4♣
Both players checked.
AJ: My check is standard. His check back is also relatively standard, though I expected a fairly high bet frequency on this texture. Not too much to glean from the action so far.
TURN: 2♦
Johnson checked, and Del Campo bet 8,000,000.
CT: What do you make of this bet on the blank turn?
AJ: Things felt a little off. The turn was quite bricky and he was using a two-thirds bet size, trying to represent moderate-heavy value.
Johnson called.
AJ: The decision to call was still very easy with ace high and a gutter. I was ahead of all bluffs and had additional equity if needed.
RIVER: K♣
Johnson checked, and Del Campo bet 25,000,000.
AJ: When he bet close to pot size my immediate instinct was to snap it off. The king on the river is about as bricky as you can get.
CT: Please take us through your breakdown.
AJ: He shouldn’t have many (if any) K-X that are betting that size on turn. He was somewhat polarized to 8-X plus and bluffs. When someone is repping that narrow heads-up, you often just need to make them prove it — especially if you have a reasonable bluff catcher.
I, however, did not make him prove it. After using several time extensions and considering the possibilities I ended up talking myself out of the call and sending my cards into the muck.
Fernando ended up having 10♣7♣ for a bluff.
CT: You can’t win every pot, but your instincts were spot on. I don’t know if that makes you feel any better about the fold though.
AJ: Somewhat. But one of the most frustrating aspects of poker is going against your intuition and being wrong. My intuition was truly screaming ‘call!’
The river just felt like a bluff. The story he was telling wasn’t totally adding up. However, the fear of calling and him rolling over a trickily played 8-X and regaining the clear chip lead led me to fold.
Find Johnson on Twitter/X @AyeGeeJay.
- Photos courtesy of World Poker Tour