Nick Schulman Takes Down $25,000 Poker Masters High Roller

The price of poker has gone up at the 2023 Poker Masters high-stakes tournament festival. After six $10,100 buy-in tournaments to start the series, event no. 7 the buy-in increase to $25,200. A total of 44 entries were made in the no-limit hold’em tournament, creating a prize pool of $1.1 million. After two days of top-flight tournament action, it was Nick Schulman who emerged victorious with the title and the top prize of $374,000.

This was the second title of the year for Schulman, who won his fourth career World Series of Poker gold bracelet in the $1,500 seven card stud event this summer. The 39-year-old now has nearly $16.6 million in lifetime tournament earnings. His largest score remains the $2.1 million he earned as the champion of the 2005 World Poker Tour World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

In addition to the title and the money, Schulman was also awarded 420 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his ninth final-table finish so far, bringing his point total for 2023 to 2,430. As a result, he climbed into a tie with Yuri Dzivielevsk for 99th place in this year’s POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

The High Stakes Poker commentator earned 224 PokerGO Tour points after taking down this event, enough to move into sixth place in the race for the Poker Masters Purple Jacket.

This event played out over the course of two days inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The second day began with six players remaining, with Ren Lin (7th – $44,000) being the only player eliminated after the money bubble burst late on day 1. Lin scored 105 POY points for his 22nd final-table finish of the year. With two titles and nearly $3.7 million in to-date POY earnings, he currently occupies the fifth-place spot on the POY leaderboard.

Two-time bracelet winner Justin Saliba’s run ended in sixth place when his pocket threes lost a race against the A-10 of six-time bracelet winner Brian Rast. Saliba secured $66,000 and 140 POY points for his 11th final-table showing of 2023. He is now ranked 13th in the POY standings as a result.

Schulman scored the next two knockouts. First, his pocket nines held against the A-4 suited of Victoria Livschitz (5th – $88,000). Then he shoved from the small blind with 9-8 suited into the short stack of two-time bracelet winner Chris Brewer, who woke up with A-Q. Brewer made the call and was ahead through the flop, but an eight on the turn saw Schulman take a sizable lead in the hand with one card to come. A blank on the end officially sent Brewer home in fourth place ($121,000).

Brewer has been one of the hottest players on the live circuit this year, cashing for more than $11 million in POY earnings across 21 final-table finishes. With five titles and 7,670 POY points, he now sits in third place in the POY race heading into the final few months.

The next big preflop showdown saw two-time bracelet winner Nick Petrangelo raise from the button with pocket sixes and call a three-bet shove of around 14 big blinds from Rast, who had A-2. Rast added a gutshot to go with his overcard on the flop. The turn brought a six to give Petrangelo a set, leaving Rast in need of a four on the river. A king rolled off the deck instead, ending the Poker Hall of Famer’s run in third place ($165,000). He now has just shy of $25 million in lifetime tournament earnings.

Heads-up play began with Petrangelo holding 3,625,000 to Schulman’s 2,975,000. The final two agreed to ratchet up the blinds a few levels. The first few pots all went Schulman’s way, resulting in more than a 4:1 lead by the time the final hand of the tournament arose roughly 10 minutes later. Schulman open-shoved from the button for 12.5 big blinds effective holding AJ. Petrangelo called off with A4 and the board ran out QJ310J to give Schulman trip jacks for the win. Petrangelo took home $242,000 as the runner-up, growing his career earnings to $32.1 million.

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

Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

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