Steven Jones has made two deep runs in high-stakes competitions. One paid him $6.5 million, and the opposite a whopping $0.
The poker participant from Arizona almost conquered the $4,560,000 winner-take-all Squid Recreation: The Problem actuality TV recreation present on Netflix earlier this week. However he suffered a soul-crushing ending to the ultimate problem and left the sport with nothing.
PokerNews caught up with Jones — Participant 183 — on Wednesday throughout the Movie star Poker Tour (CPT) Invitational at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. He dished on his highly-publicized feud with the runner-up, Dajah Graham — Participant 102 — and comparisons between working deep within the 2023 World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) Principal Occasion and the Netflix competitors.
Jones Discusses Squid Recreation: The Problem Run
Jones fell simply quick in a discipline of 456 rivals on Squid Recreation: The Problem, a nine-episode present that concluded on Tuesday, though it was filmed in early 2025. The 2023 WSOP runner-up to Daniel Weinman mentioned he had utilized to look on a special recreation present however “then I acquired an e-mail saying ‘we’re additionally casting for Squid Recreation,’ and I used to be like all proper, I am right here, so I will simply apply, and I acquired a name again.
Squid Recreation: The Problem, in its second season, is a derivative of the long-lasting Squid Recreation, a South Korean drama collection. Jones had seen the unique model, however was unfamiliar with The Problem earlier than he was chosen to compete.
“So, after I acquired casted, I had to return, watch The Problem, and be like, all proper, what did I simply sign-up for?” he mentioned.
Regardless of having minimal data of The Problem, he did not spend a lot time getting ready for the competitors, though he had a stable concept of the kind of video games he’d must grasp to run deep. However the restricted preparation was greater than sufficient, as he maneuvered his manner by means of 451 gamers to succeed in the five-player finale.
Squid Recreation: The Problem differs from a poker event in that one participant wins all the cash. Jones, when he completed second out of 10,043 gamers within the 2023 WSOP Principal Occasion, knew lengthy earlier than the event ended that he was assured to win cash. That wasn’t the case on the truth present, however he mentioned The Problem was “manner much less disturbing” than his Principal Occasion run.
“I went in there simply not harassed in any respect, as a result of I am getting into for enjoyable, not considering, ‘oh, I’ll win $4.5 million,” Jones defined. “I wasn’t harassed in any respect. The Principal Occasion, the entire time clearly you are simply harassed till you are busted.”
That mentioned, Jones considers his Squid Recreation elimination “far more soul-crushing” than his heads-up defeat to Weinman, who gained $12.1 million.
“My coronary heart sank,” he mentioned. “Once I acquired squibbed, I simply, I knew I tousled.”
Shedding out on profitable the cash was tough, however he’d struck up a bitter feud with Graham late within the recreation. Seeing Graham attain the ultimate two whereas he sat on the sidelines following elimination wasn’t simple. Graham relished in the truth that Jones had been eradicated, and he admitted he wasn’t precisely upset when his rival misplaced on the finish to Perla Figuereo (Participant 072). However he mentioned the meat has lately been squashed, because the finalists have been out collectively on the interview tour.
“We’re all on good phrases now. However in that second, I used to be laughing she did not win,” Jones mentioned.
Figuereo gained $4,560,000 and was the one participant who obtained a penny. It is customary in poker tournaments for gamers on the remaining desk or remaining few gamers to succeed in a chop settlement and break up the prize pool. However Jones defined that there was no chop reached on Squid Recreation.
“I attempted, man,” Jones mentioned of his efforts to suggest a chop. “Folks did not perceive the chop. I used to be making an attempt to speak to individuals, they usually had been simply nervous about it. They only did not get the entire chop.”
The producers of the present will not facilitate chops, so even when the gamers had verbally agreed to a chop, Jones cautioned that there would have been a “belief issue” in play. He’d constructed up some enemies, which made it much more troublesome to rearrange a deal. However he mentioned had he reached the ultimate two, he “one-hundred %” would have proposed a chop.
Jones did not win any cash, however he loved the expertise and gave the poker group a sweat. Squid Recreation: The Problem, all 9 episodes, is accessible solely on Netflix.
WSOP Principal Occasion Runner-Up Comes Up Brief in Squid Recreation Winner-Take-All Finale
