Manjunath Mulinti Wins WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley Main Event

Manjunath Mulinti won the fall edition of the $1,700 buy-in WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley main event, outlasting 599 entries to earn his first ring and the top prize of $172,325. Mulinti, who is from just outside San Jose, California, had to contend with Northern California poker legend J.C. Tran at the final table, with the two-time World Poker Tour champion and double bracelet winner from Sacramento ultimately finishing in eighth place.

Mulinti's career earnings, all of which have come in 2026, now sit at $257,356, and could grow exponentially before the close of the year. As a Circuit ring winner, Mulinti now has an opportunity to go to WSOP Paradise, earning a $5,000 prize package that includes a seat in the $2,750 Circuit Championship mystery bounty event in December.

A total of 90 players earned a share of the $907,485 prize pool in this event, including bracelet winner Andrew Ostapchenko (85th), 2024 WPT Rolling Thunder winner Casey Sandretto (78th), WSOP broadcaster Jeff Platt (62nd), two-time bracelet winner Barry Shulman (17th), and 2025 WSOP main event final tablist Jarod Minghini (10th). Tran saw his tournament end in the most cliché of preflop races, with his A♦K♠ falling to Henry Acain’s Q♣Q♦. Mulinti extracted even more value from his overpair pocket jacks against Acain’s pocket nines and Nguyen’s K♥Q♥, significantly boosting his stack while Nguyen hit the rail in sixth place ($29,510). Dvorak was then eliminated by Wang’s hands. Wang was the first to go, in third place ($79,490). This victory earned Mulinti 840 Card Player Player of the Year points.