(Credit: Photo courtesy of Bankrollmob)This year’s World Series Of Poker has come and gone and the lucky winner of the $8.15 million has been chosen.
Scott Blumstein, a 25 year old from New Jersey, lead the way in chip counts into the final table. He then produced some amazing poker plays hand after hand, and continued to display his dominance throughout much of the final three days of the Main event. This ultimately lead to his unquestionable victory, awarding him the status of 2017 WSOP Champion, and taking home the cash prize along with the ever prestigious WSOP bracelet. Not too shabby considering this was his first ever WSOP event!
In a move that could only be described as the “Right” one after the fact, Blumstein decided to miss the initial 72 events of the 2017 WSOP. The through process behind this decision was purely to get his body and mind in the right place, ready for the one event he had tunnel-visioned in on right from the start – the $10,000 Main Event World Championship. He didn’t want to be distracted by the other events, nor wanted to waste energy on them. He knew what was important. He knew what he wanted. He went for it, and now he’s the Champion.
His friends said he went so far as to claim he was “just going to win” the tournament. Many would’ve considered that to be over-confidence, or simply cockiness even. Whatever the case may be, Blumstein proved he wasn’t all talk.
“I’m still in shock,” Blumstein said to the reporters afterwards. “I thought I would get even more emotional that what I got in real time but it’s just the best feeling, I can’t even put it into words.”
One of the highlights of the final round took place where Blumstein, Benjamin Pollak and fellow American young-gun Dan Ott went all-in, which could’ve easily ended with a historic double-knockout to end the tournament. Luckily for Ott, he was able to survive just a little longer with his pair of Kings. This was, however, the end of the line for Pollak, sending him to the rail in 3rd place for $3.5 million.
Having lead majority of the way through the Main Event, Blumstein went into heads-up with Ott with almost a two-to-one chip advantage. From then onwards, it was just a matter of slowly but surely grinding Ott down, and whittling his stack away into nothing. The last hand was a test of nerves for Blumstein as he was at a disadvantage after going all in with his Ah, 2d versus Ott’s Ad, 8d all the way until a fortuitous river card finished his first WSOP journey as one only possible in dreams.
It Pays Off To Be Friends With The Champion
It sure is nice to celebrate a friend’s victory, especially one as reputable and esteemed as a WSOP Championship. However, it’s even better when you’re able to gain a little something too.
In what is not an uncommon practice, some players help to reduce the risk in high buy-in events by selling off some of the action in an agreement to reward the buyers with equivalent shares of the winnings. Blumstein was no exception to this. Four of his friends chipped in $60 towards the $10,000 buy-in, and he also sold additional pieces of the action to other family friends, which he did not specify how much exactly. For his four friends, their $60 turned into $40,000 each. A rather nice ROI if you asked me.
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