Scott Blumstein wins World Series of Poker
July 23, 2017
Scott Blumstein beat a field of more than 7,000 players to win the poker series' no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The 25-year-old, of Brigantine in the US state of New Jersey, took home $8.1 million (6.95 million euros) in prize money as well as a gold bracelet made from white and yellow gold, diamonds and rubies.
Prior to the tournament, Blumstein's biggest cash win amounted to $199,854.
"I'm really happy about how I played tonight," Blumstein said in comments carried by the Associated Press. "This is just one poker tournament. It takes variance and luck and playing your best, and all those things came together, and I'm happy to be the winner."
Blumstein, a recent accounting graduate from Temple University, defeated Dan Ott of Pennsylvania on the 246th hand of the final table. Frenchman Benjamin Pollak was eliminated in third place.
'Money not the motivation'
In the last hand, Ott went all in with an ace of diamonds and an eight of diamonds. But in the end it was Blumstein's ace of hearts and two of diamonds that proved a stronger combination.
The community cards were a jack of spades, a six of spades, a five of hearts, a seven of hearts and a two of hearts.
Blumstein rushed to his supporters to celebrate, dropping to his knees when the final card - the two of hearts - was revealed.
"I'm really happy with the result, really happy with the deuce, because I was playing good, but I'm pretty tired of poker at this point honestly, and to have to go back and battle pretty deep again, I wasn't looking forward to it," he said.
As for his sizeable payout, Blumstein says money isn't what motivates him to play, but 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, (or) going back to school."