New York's Scott Baumstein is the chip leader with 16 left in the PSPC.

A little over a year and a half ago, the marketing manager of an online poker room emailed Scott Baumstein in the middle of the night to offer him a lucrative deal to be a brand ambassador. Unfortunately for Baumstein, it was a case of mistaken identity. They were actually looking for Scott Blumstein, who had just made the final table of the 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Search for “Scott Baumstein” on Google and even they ask you, ‘Did you mean Scott Blumstein?‘. Now, with 15 players left in the PokerStars Players Championship, Baumstein has the chip lead and is in position to win $5.1 million and make sure nobody gets the two Scott’s mixed up again.

“It’s a little surreal at the moment, with all of the chips, getting lucky,” said Baumstein. “It’s definitely stressful, but I’m just trying to focus and I’ll worry about all of that stuff when we’re done.”

Throughout Day 4 it’s been nearly impossible for Baumstein to ignore the TV cameras that are hovering around, even from one of the secondary feature tables. The New York native believes the power of the spotlight he’s under now is second only to poker’s most prestigious event.

“Nothing can match this except for the WSOP Main Event. This is the biggest tournament of the year outside of that,” said Baumstein, who cashed in the WSOP Main Event in 2009, 2010, and 2015.

The quality of players Baumstein has had to tangle with in the PSPC has changed each and every day. The Platinum Pass winners that accounted for 30% of the field on Day 1 are now mostly gone and Baumstein recognizes it’s getting harder and harder to navigate through the pros that are now left.

“The field, every day, in this tournament, got continually tougher. The first day I had two really great table draws,” said Baumstein. “I thought it was really easy, especially for a $25K, but even for a smaller buy-in tournament. As this tournament progressed, the better players sort of stuck in there and I’ve had very difficult tables from Day 2 on.”

The elimination of Louis Boutin in 16th place also secured Baumstein a career-best cash, even if the unthinkable happens. His previous top score in January 2018 when he took down the opening event of the Lucky Hearts Poker Open for $220,238.

Having people no longer confuse him for the 2017 WSOP Main Event champ isn’t something Baumstein is concerned about, even if it felt like a bit of an unintentional needle at the time. He’s just focused on maximizing the opportunity that’s now in front of him.

“I’m definitely playing for the money,” said Baumstein. “In terms of respect, everybody knows that any idiot can get lucky in one poker tournament.”