2 Americans battle for World Series of Poker title
Two East Coast poker professionals were the last players standing at the World Series of Poker Main Event.
Scott Blumstein and Dan Ott battled heads-up late Saturday at the Rio Convention Center to determine the winner of the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship and the $8.15 million first prize.
Blumstein, a 25-year-old from Morristown, New Jersey, owned a 2-to-1 chip advantage at the beginning of heads-up play, which started at 8:59 p.m.
The runner-up in the Main Event receives $4.7 million.
Blumstein was making his first appearance in the Main Event and held the chip lead for the majority of the past three days at the final table.
He held more than 60 percent of the chips in play at the start of three-handed play Saturday and avoided putting his stack in jeopardy with the exception of one bold bluff against Ott on the 11th hand of the day.
Blumstein won an event last summer at the Borgata Summer Poker Open and has more than $312,000 in documented live tournament winnings.
Ott, 25, is a cash-game player from Altoona, Pennsylvania, also making his Main Event debut.
He made the money in two WSOP events this summer. His largest career cash prior to the Main Event came in the $1,000 buy-in Tag Team No-limit Hold’em event when he and twin brother Dillon finished in 69th place for $2,666.
Ott entered the final day of the Main Event in second place and added significantly to his stack in the opening 10 hands.
He lost a hand early against Benjamin Pollak on Saturday, but scored a key double-up through the Frenchman and then knocked him out in third place soon after.
Pollak was seeking to become the first French-born player to win the Main Event and matched countryman Antoine Saout’s third-place finish from 2009.
The professional poker player residing in London took home $3.5 million, the first seven-figure payday of his career.
Pollak saw his chip stack fluctuate throughout play Saturday, dipping under 10 big blinds at one point before he scored a triple-up after approximately three hours of play.
But Pollak was eliminated in a wild three-way hand, as Ott raked in a pot worth 128 million chips when each of the remaining players went all-in before the flop.
“I guess in a few days I’m going to look back say, ‘That’s insane,’ ” Pollak said. “It was a great run. More than 7,000 players. It’s amazing.”
The 48th annual $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship started July 8 with 7,221 players for a prize pool of $67,877,400. The field was the largest since 2010 and No. 3 all time.
“On behalf of the entire WSOP team, our heartfelt thank you to poker players from around the globe who showed up in droves to be part of the biggest World Series of Poker yet,” WSOP executive director Ty Stewart said in a statement. “It was another terrific year of huge prize pools and memorable moments.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
