Scott Blumstein Wins 2017 World Series Of Poker Main Event

After nearly two weeks of grueling, high-pressure play in the most prestigious tournament of the year, the poker world had its latest main event champion.

The game’s ambassador for the next 12 months will be 25-year-old Scott Blumstein. The Morristown, New Jersey native steamrolled the final table of the 2017 World Series of Poker main event in late July to secure his first career bracelet and the $8.15 million first-place prize, as well as 3,300 Card Player Player of the Year points. His win capped off poker’s richest tournament festival, held annually in Las Vegas.

Finishing second for $4.7 million was Pennsylvania poker pro Dan Ott, also 25 years of age. Ott had under $4,000 in earnings before entering the event, and this summer was actually his first ever WSOP. Not bad for a rookie year.

Blumstein, who was the youngest player at the final table, was playing in his very first main event. In fact, he had only recorded a few WSOP cashes prior to his win. Blumstein’s largest score before the main event came in July of 2016, when he took down a $560 buy-in event at the Borgata Summer Poker Open for $199,854.

Although he came into the final table with the chip lead, it was a cooler with fellow big stack John Hesp on the first night of the final table that gave Blumstein a chip lead he would never relinquish. From there, it was just a matter of applying pressure to the short stacks as they looked to ladder up the payout list.

Blumstein graduated from Temple University with a degree in accounting four years ago, but chose to play poker professionally instead. Blumstein honed his game online in New Jersey’s regulated internet poker market.

“I’m still in shock,” Blumstein said after the win. “This is just the best feeling, I can’t even put it into words.”

The final day of action started with three-handed play and Blumstein holding nearly two-thirds of the chips in play. However, it was Ott who made some big moves early. Ott scored a double up from France’s Benjamin Pollak in a classic coinflip situation, and when Ott doubled through him again, Pollak was left as the short stack three-handed.

Then came the hand that many thought would end the tournament. Pollak shoved all-in from the button, and Ott moved all-in behind him from the small blind for slightly more. Blumstein, who was sporting a massive chip lead, looked down at A♥ Q♠ and made the call, putting both of his opponents at risk.

Pollak held Q♣ 10♦, Ott held K♣ 9♦ and both caught a piece of the K♦ J♠ 3♦ flop. A ten would have won the tournament for Blumstein, but the 4♣ on the turn and the 6♠ on the river let Ott survive while busting Pollak in third place, earning $3.5 million.

The 34-year-old French poker pro had $2,967,782 in lifetime tournament earnings prior to the main event run. Remarkably, Pollack had a 27th-place finish in the 2013 WSOP main event, which helped him reach the top 10 on France’s all-time money list. He’s now fourth, trailing the likes of Antoine Saout, who also made this year’s main event final table. Pollak had 12 WSOP cashes and $466,826 in earnings at the series prior to his deep run in the no-limit hold’em championship.

After doubling up a couple of times, Ott still faced an uphill climb with a 5:1 chip disadvantage. Things were looking up, however, when he got it in with A♦ 8♦ against the A♥ 2♦ of Blumstein. The flop fell J♠ 6♠ 5♥, and Ott remained in the lead. The turn was the 7♥, making Ott a 93-percent favorite to double and start a brand new heads-up match with some momentum. Instead, the 2♥ on the river sent shock waves through the crowd piled into the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino Convention Center, sending Ott to the rail and giving Blumstein the title.

“Is there a better way to win a main event than hitting a three-outer on the river? A normally inconsequential deuce just changes my life,” Blumstein said. “I wish I could say that I was thinking it was coming the whole time, but I was mentally preparing for 40-big blind poker. And somehow… the river was a deuce, and the rest is history.”

Making The Final Nine

The WSOP announced earlier this year that for the first time in nearly a decade there would be no November Nine. The move was widely supported by the poker community. Instead, the finalists took a two-day break before restarting play on July 20. Blumstein was crowned champion shortly after midnight on July 23.

The event went from 27 players to the final nine on the seventh day of play. Two notables who fell short near the end were 25th-place finisher Jake Bazeley, who has had deep runs in previous years, and Dutchman Marcel Luske, who finished 23rd. Luske had top-300 finishes in both 2013 and 2012, as well as a famous 10th-place finish from the 2004 main event and a 14th from the 2003 championship.

The final table bubble was Michael Ruane, who earned $825,001 for his efforts finishing 10th. His missed out on the chance to make back-to-back main event final tables. Ruane defied the odds in 2017, but unfortunately fell just short of outdoing his fourth place finish last year for $2.5 million. Mark Newhouse was the last player to make back-to-back final tables, doing so in 2013 (9th) and 2014 (9th).

One player who fell well short of back-to-back final tables was Qui Nguyen, who topped a field of 6,737 last year to win the bracelet. Nguyen was eliminated on the second day of the tournament.

The First Day Of The Final Table

Poker fans got to see just 75 hands of play, but instead of silent, statuesque players, the audience was treated to action flops, and players unafraid to show emotion. In fact, on the very first hand of the day, the fan-favorite Hesp eagerly showed a bluff that he pulled off against Saout. It was a great start for the Englishman making his first career WSOP cash, but it didn’t last long.

Before Hesp could get involved again, however, former WSOP main event finalist Ben Lamb made his final move with A♥ 9♥ only to run into the A♣ Q♥ of Jack Sinclair. The board offered no help to Lamb, considered the best player at the table, and he was awarded $1 million for his ninth-place finish.

The 32-year-old Las Vegas poker pro is no stranger to final tables, having finished third in the 2011 main event, which earned him a little over $4 million. He also won that year’s $10,000 pot-limit Omaha championship for his first career bracelet. He now has lifetime tournament earnings of $8.2 million and is widely regarded as one of the best high-stakes cash game players in the world.

After the Lamb elimination, it looked like Sinclair was poised to keep running up the leader board, but he gave up some chips when he doubled up Saout.

Then came the hand of the night, a clash between the two biggest stacks at the table. Blumstein raised from under-the-gun and Hesp called in the big blind. The flop came down A♣ 7♦ 5♥ and both players checked. The turn was the 10♠ and Hesp checked again. This time Blumstein bet three million. Hesp check-raised to seven million, and Blumstein reraised to 17 million. The raise prompted Hesp to jump out of his chair, take a few steps away from the table and then return with an all-in move.

Blumstein immediately called, producing the largest pot of the tournament. Hesp held A-10 for top two pair, but he was drawing dead against the A♦ A♠ for top set. Blumenstein doubled up, giving him 43 percent of the chips in play with eight left. Hesp was left in the middle of the pack, searching for answers.

Sinclair, still recovering from dropping some more chips, made his final move with K♠ J♠ only to run into the pocket aces of Bryan Piccioli. The flop of K♥ 4♣ 3♥ gave Sinclair some hope, but the turn and river were bricks to send him to the rail in eighth place, good for $1.2 million.

The 26-year-old Londoner was another finalist with minimal prior WSOP results, having just $13,500 in live tournament earnings before the final table, but he had two deep runs in no-limit hold’em events this summer, preparation for wading through the main event. Sinclair is an online poker pro with more experience in that space than in the live setting. He played 11 events at this year’s series and cashed in three.

Final Table Day 2

Blumstein entered the second day of the final table with 178.3 million chips, roughly half of the amount in play. The first player to hit the rail when play resumed was 42-year-old Damian Salas, the first person ever from Argentina to make the final table.

Ott raised, and Salas called from the big blind. The flop brought the A♥ 3♥ 2♦ and Salas checked. Ott moved all-in, and Salas called instantly with the A♣ 10♥ for top pair. Ott held the 4♠ 4♦ and was drawing to a straight or a set. The turn brought the 6♦ and the river the 5♠ to give Ott the straight and send Salas to the rail in seventh place, earning $1.425 million.

The 42-year-old Salas had $919,525 in poker tournament winnings prior to the main event. He made a final table at the WSOP in 2016, one of his 15 career cashes at the annual summer poker festival. Salas led the main event after day 4 (297 players left) and was able to turn it into a final table.

Ott also scored the second knockout of the night. Action folded to Piccioli in the small blind and he moved all-in for less than ten big blinds. Ott snap-called with the K♠ K♣ The board improved neither player, and the 28-year-old poker pro was awarded $1.675 million for his sixth-place finish.

Piccioli has $3.5 million in lifetime earnings thanks to his main event run. The card player won a bracelet in a 2013 WSOP Asia-Pacific event. Piccioli, who hails from Allegany, New York, has more than $6 million in winnings online. This marks the third consecutive year he has cashed in the WSOP main event, having placed 84th in 2016 and 958th in 2015.

Blumstein was still well out in the lead at this point, and he only cemented his advantage further when he scored the next knockout. Blumstein raised to 4.2 million from the button, and Saout called from the small blind.

The J♣ 7♦ 6♣ hit the flop, and Saout checked. Blumstein checked behind, and the 4♣ hit the turn. Saout check-called a 5.6 million bet from Blumstein, and the J♥ completed the board. Saout checked yet again, and Blumstein moved all in. Saout, who sat with 26.1 million, thought it over for a while before electing to call for his tournament life with the K♣ J♦ for trip jacks, only to have Blumstein show him the 5♠ 3♠ for a turned straight. With that hand Blumstein surpassed the 200 million mark while Saout was sent to the rail in fifth with $2 million for his second main event final-table finish.

Making his second final table in less than a decade, Saout has accomplished one of the rare feats in poker. The Frenchman finished third in the 2009 main event for $3,479,670. What’s even more amazing about Saout is that he finished 25th last year for $269,430. The 33-year-old poker pro currently has $7.5 million in earnings, second on his country’s all-time money list. Only Bertrand Grospellier has more.

Play ended for the night following the elimination of Hesp. The 64-year-old father of four and grandfather to seven wasn’t ever really able to build any momentum after the big hand with Blumstein and he eventually found himself as the shortest stack.

His stack was ground down to just under 12 million by the time his final hand went down. It folded to Hesp, and he moved all-in from the cutoff and Pollak moved all-in from the small blind. Nobody else called and Hesp revealed the 9♣ 7♣. Pollak was ahead with the A♦ J♠ and scooped the pot after a K♠ 10♠ 6♥ 4♣ 4♣ run-out. With that hand, Hesp was sent to the rail in fourth place, earning $2.6 million for his incredible run in the biggest poker tournament in the world.

The Brit had just $2,207 in lifetime tournament earnings and no WSOP results before the main event. Hesp was the oldest player at the final table. He could have been the oldest main event winner since 1974. Johnny Moss was 66 when he won the event that year, still the oldest on record.

After Hesp’s knock out the final three competitors bagged and tagged their chips for the final night. Blumstein held about 63 percent of the chips in play.

WSOP Main Event By The Numbers

The 2017 main event drew 7,221 players, creating a prize pool of $67,877,400. The turnout was the third largest in WSOP history, trailing only 2006 and 2010. A record 1,084 players made the money this year, with a min-cash worth $15,000.

There were 361,050,000 million worth of chips in play, which was also an all-time high for the tournament. Each player began the event with 50,000 in chips. As for the quantity of chips, there are 245,514 individual chips in play. There were 920 dealers used, and they dealt a combined 1,626 decks of cards.

As for the demographics of the 7,221 players:

Eighty-three countries were represented this year, though 5,218 (72 percent) came from the United States. Canada was second with 380 players.

California was the leading U.S. state with 922 players. Nevada was second with 554.

The average age in the main event was 40.59 years of age, up from 40.08 last year. The oldest player was William Wachter of Mahopac, New York. The 96-year-old has been the oldest in the event for five straight years.

The 26-35 age bracket accounted for 2,998 players (41 percent).

There were 272 female participants in the main event, up from 268 last year. ♠