Jason DeWitt Wins 2016 World Series of Poker $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold'em Event

For the first time ever the World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em Millionaire Maker event sported a $1 million guarantee to both first and second place in 2016. A total of 7,190 entries turned out for the event, making it the eighth largest live tournament in poker history. In the end, Jason DeWitt emerged victorious, captured his second gold bracelet and the top prize of $1,065,403.

DeWitt, a 32-year-old poker pro currently based in San Diego, California already had nearly $2 million in live tournament wins to his name and a prior WSOP title. This is definitely the biggest win of his career, but the soft-spoken pro said this score isn’t life-altering money.

“Nothing’s going to change," DeWitt told a WSOP reporter. “I’m not going to get a new car. I already have a good lifestyle.”

It had been six years since his last win, but DeWitt admitted that is to be expected seeing that he specializes in the type of games that draw the largest turnouts.

“It’s hard to get through these big fields,” said DeWitt. “I usually play just no-limit and pot-limit and they draw the biggest fields. So it’s not surprising that it would take so long to get back here again. I mean, these fields are so big. To win a tournament with a 7,000-player field is just insane. It’s just incredible."

DeWitt came into the final day in second chip position with 15 players remaining. In the end it came down to a three-handed battle between DeWitt, Garrett Greer and Vancouver, Washington kindergarten teacher Lisa Meredith. There was a huge $500,000 pay jump between third and second place which really impacted the dynamic between the final three.

“The difference between first and second was only $65,000 so I could play aggressively," noted DeWitt. "I’m just glad I didn’t finish third. The payout was (only $500,000). I just didn’t want to be short at three-handed. It would have been painful to get third when first and second were at least $1 million.”

In the end, the school teacher was the player to hit the rail in third place, leaving a heads-up battle between the two poker professionals with DeWitt holding a slight lead. DeWitt won the majority of hands during the heads-up battle, and by the time the final cards were dealt he had built more than a 10-to-1 chip advantage.

On the final hand Greer moved his last seven blinds into the pot with the Q7 and DeWitt called with the K8. The board ran out 106235 and DeWitt’s king high was enough to secure the pot and the title, sending Greer to the rail as the runner-up with a million dollars worth of consolation.

Other notables to make deep runs in the event included Frank Rusnak (4th), Sofia Lovgren (12th), Simon Deadman (27th), Upeshka De Silva (29th), Brett Shaffer (33rd), Loni Harwood (34th), Mohsin Charania (35th), Benny Chen (39th) and Max Silver (46th).

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2016 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

*Winner photo courtesy of the WSOP.

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