Scott Seiver Wins Fifth Career World Series of Poker BraceletVegas-Based Poker Pro Defeats 197-Entry Field In $10,000 Omaha Eight-or-Better Championship To Earn $426,744 |
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Scott Seiver won his first World Series of Poker bracelet back in 2008, taking down the $5,000 no-limit hold’em event for his first piece of WSOP hardware. Seiver then had to wait another decade before securing his second title at the series, which kicked off a spree. He has now won four bracelets in the last six years, with his most recent coming in the 2024 $10,000 Omaha eight-or-better championship. Seiver defeated a field of 197 entries to earn his fifth overall bracelet and the top prize of $426,744.
“I made a decision this summer to really focus on tournaments and try to give it my A-game, at a level that I haven’t always done here… so to just come and win the first $10k, it feels very validating,” said Seiver in an interview with PokerGO reporters after coming out on top.
The 39-year-old New York native, now based out of Las Vegas, has accumulated nearly $26.2 million in career tournament earnings during his career despite not being a year-round tournament grinder. Three of his five WSOP wins have come in $10,000 championship events, with the previous two being the 2018 limit hold’em championship and the 2019 razz championship. His fourth bracelet came in a $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em freezeout event.
Seiver is currently one of just 37 players in poker history to have won five or more bracelets.
This was the first title and final-table finish of the year for Seiver, who earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. He also secured 427 PokerGO Tour points, enough to catapult him inside the top 20 on that high-stakes-centric leaderboard.
This event ran over the course of four days. The top 30 finishers earned a share of the $1,590,300 prize pool, with six-figure paydays for the final five. Plenty of big names ran deep, including two-time bracelet winner Tom Koral (18th), seven-time bracelet winner John Hennigan (17th), bracelet winner Naoya Kihara (16th), four-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi (14th), bracelet winner and 2010 WSOP main event runner-up John Racener (11th), Jared Bleznick (8th), Jake Schwartz (7th), and five-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser (6th).
Day 3 ended after the elimination of Sami Saad El-Dein in fifth place ($101,853). Seiver bagged up the chip lead among the remaining four. Paul Zappulla was the first to fall, with his AJ105 getting scooped by the A864 of four-time bracelet winner Calvin Anderson, who flopped quad fours and made the second-nut low by the river. Zappulla cashed for $140,273 as the fourth-place finisher.
Three-handed play lasted nearly five hours, with plenty of swings along the way. Eventually, Anderson got the last of his stack in preflop with QQ22 facing the AA85 of Seiver. The board ran out 77563 and Seiver’s aces won the high side, while his A-8 played for the low. Anderson earned $197,582 as the third-place finisher, growing his career total to $6.2 million.
Heads-up play began with Seiver holding roughly a 3:1 chip advantage over Jonathan Cohen, a bracelet winner from Canada. Seiver pulled even further ahead before the final hand of the tournament was dealt. He raised from the button with A984 and Cohen called all-in for less than two big blinds with K854. The board came down KJJ710, giving Seiver a jack-high straight for the scoop. Cohen earned $284,495 as the runner-up, a new-high score for the Montreal resident. His prior top cash was the $245,678 he earned for winning the 2022 WSOP $10,000 limit hold’em championship.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
1 | Scott Seiver | $426,744 | 840 | 427 |
2 | Jonathan Cohen | $284,495 | 700 | 284 |
3 | Calvin Anderson | $197,582 | 560 | 198 |
4 | Paul Zappulla | $140,273 | 420 | 140 |
5 | Sami El-Dein | $101,853 | 350 | 102 |
6 | Benny Glaser | $75,678 | 280 | 76 |
7 | Jake Schwartz | $57,570 | 210 | 58 |
8 | Jared Bleznick | $44,864 | 140 | 45 |
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Photo credits: PokerGO / Miguel Cortes.