WSOP 2017: Scott Blumstein Wins Main Event For $8.15 Million

Scott Blumstein
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  • PG News July 24, 2017
  • 3 Minutes Read

The 25-year-old pro from Morristown, New Jersey Scott Blumstein (cover image) has taken down the most prestigious title in tournament poker i.e. WSOP Main Event for a life-changing $8.15 Million (~INR 52.47 crores) payday.

Blumstein was the commanding chip leader all throughout the final table and eventually went the distance to take home the title! One could say this was expected as Blumstein started the final table as the overwhelming chip leader and his advantage was so huge that his confidence could be read in his relaxed body language all three days on the final table.

On the final day, the three finalists battled all night long, but Blumstein was the dominant force all throughout and kept a tight rein on his game, displaying his objectivity during opposition and made sure to never make a false move.

The New Jersey based online grinder beat a field of 7,221 players to clinch the coveted gold and diamond bracelet along with taking home the life changing $8,150,000 (~INR 52.47 crores) for his historic win.

His countryman Dan Ott made a runner-up finish banking a cool $4,700,000 (~INR 30.26 crores) while Frenchman Benjamin Pollak took third place for $3,500,000 (~INR 22.53 crores).

With this win, Blumstein joins an elite list of players who hold the World Championship title like Johnny Moss, Stu Ungar, Johnny Chan, Carlos Mortensen and Martin Jacobson.

When the final table began on July 22, only one other player was anywhere close to Blumstein i.e. John Hesp of Bridlington, UK, who over the course of the play became a crowd favorite and seemingly a favorite of poker fans everywhere. He was already a conspicuous presence in the tournament room thanks to his fashion sense. He was always decked out in a flashy, colorful blazer and a panama hat, and he garnered even more attention with his genial, welcoming personality. He became instant friends with every other player at his table. A true amateur player, incredibly this was Hesp`s first WSOP cash and his first recorded tournament cash over $1,000. Seemed like no one, except his opponents, wanted to see Hesp eliminated. But eventually, his dream run ended in fourth place, making him richer by $2.6 Million.

Poker is booming in the world’s biggest economy – India with a lot of online poker websites and start-ups making their effort to mainstream the mind sport by hosting a range of value tournaments. The live tournaments happening across the year in Goa and Bengaluru have also played an instrumental role in nurturing young talent in the country and this is evident from the fact that a lot of upcoming players got a chance to attend WSOP thanks to the various satellites being hosted by poker rooms both live and online. Over 40 Indian challengers flew down to the Mecca of Poker to play the WSOP this year with a number of them making notable finishes. The ones that truly stood apart were of Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java who claimed the first bracelet for the country with the latter bringing home two bracelets this summer, a feat which was achieved by just one more player in the series i.e. David Bach.

India's first bracelet winners Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java
India’s first bracelet winners Aditya Sushant and Nipun Java

There were a lot of first time Bracelet winners including Aditya Sushant, Liv Boeree, Igor Kurganov, John Racener, Chris Moorman, Christopher Frank, Dmitry Yurasov, Max Silver, James Obst, Mohsin Charania, Jens Lakemeier, Tom Koral, Elior Sion and Chris Klodnicki.

Notably quite a few previous bracelet holders added another shiny ornament to their collection namely Doug Polk, Bryan Yoon, Jesse Martin, Abe Mosseri, Mike Wattel, Frank Kassela, David Singer, Adrian Mateos and John Monnette.

 

Final Day Recap

The final day got underway with only three players remaining. There was the big stack of eventual champion Blumstein who started with over 226 million in chips, Dan Ott was in the middle with 88 million while the short stack Benjamin Pollak had 46 million in chips.

With blinds starting at 1 and 2 million, there was play for all involved. Benjamin Pollak tweeted he had nothing to lose and everything to win, and that’s how he played.

Pollak started getting shorter and was open shoving quite a few spots to get some back but then Ott doubled up through him leaving the Frenchman with only 12 big blinds. Pollak however got his chips back by doubling up through the chip leader Blumstein and climbed back to become the second biggest stack.

Even after losing a big pot, Blumstein had over four times the chips as his closest competitor.

Soon, it seemed that the heads-up battle between the two Americans was imminent as Pollaks’s swingy journey continued and he gave Ott a double up. This time he was down to fewer than 8 big blinds but tripled up the very next hand!

Six hands later, Pollak was at risk again and this time he couldn’t survive and hit the rail. The hand in question saw Pollak announcing all in with and Ott decided to move all-in behind him with . Action fell on the chip leader Blumstein who called to put them both at risk, tabling the best hand . Ott hit a king on the board to triple up eliminating Pollak in the process.

Benjamin Pollak
Benjamin Pollak

 

Heads-up

The championship title was now to be decided between the two Americans – Blumstein and Ott with the former still the overwhelming chip leader.

The long heads up match was characterized by conservative play by Ott, while Blumstein appeared to be a bit more at ease during the mano-a-mano duel. On top of that, Blumstein made more hands that helped him extend his lead considerably.

After 65 hands of heads up, Ott managed to score a healthy double up that opened up some possibilities for him but it all came crashing down for him the very next hand.

Blumstein limped and Ott raised to 8 million only to see Blumstein announcing all-in with . Ott went into the tank and called after about a minute tabling . Ott may have just about pulled off a great comeback before the dealer opened the on the board. The miracle river secured Blumstein the title and his rail erupted in joy!

Ott went over to his rail to be with his supporters and was visibly disappointed, but he pocketed a more than generous consolation prize of $4.7 Million for his runner-up finish and that too on his first-ever WSOP appearance.

Dan Ott
Dan Ott

“I lost some big pots early so my strategy was to keep playing my game — the same game I’ve been playing for 15 days now. At the end the chips didn’t go my way. The cards didn’t go my way. But I got second place in the third largest Main Event ever. I can’t complain about that.I’ll definitely be able to play a lot more tournaments. I’m going to come back next year for sure. It was an amazing experience. I’ll never pass this up again. Just keep playing, and try to win next time,” said Ott in the post event interview.

The proud champion was his usual humble self and went on to say, “I don’t have an ego in this game. I check my ego at the door. Just two weeks ago I was a New Jersey online grinder and nothing has really changed. Having the money, am I going to play a little more live poker? Probably. But I’m probably going to choose where I go based on location and what works for me as opposed to the buy-in of the tournament.”

“Money doesn’t really motivate me, it doesn’t drive me. I didn’t want to win this thing for the $8 million, but with that being said it’s nice to have some freedom now. The goal was to get to a point where I can do whatever I want to do. And I think I’m going to have that opportunity now whether it’s poker, business, going back to school. I have the freedom to do that now. That’s the American dream in my eyes and finding happiness is part of that. What a good way to get there.”

Scott Blumstein
Scott Blumstein

Final Table Results

1. Scott Blumstein – $8,150,000

2. Dan Ott – $4,700,000

3. Benjamin Pollak – $3,500,000

4. John Hesp – $2,600,000

5. Antoine Saout – $2,000,000

6. Bryan Piccioli – $1,675,000

7. Damian Salas – $1,425,000

8. Jack Sinclair – $1,200,000

9. Ben Lamb – $1,000,000

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