Scott Blumstein won the 2017 WSOP Main Event championship and .15 million (Joe Giron/WSOP photo)

Scott Blumstein capped off a dominating wire-to-wire final table performance to win the 2017World Series of Poker Main Event late Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The 25-year-old New Jersey native started the final table with the chip lead and over three days of play never once let go of it. Saturday night, Blumstein consistently chipped away at Dan Ott‘s stack before finally eliminating him in second place to capture the title and win $8,150,000.

“I’m still in shock. I thought I would actually get a little bit even more emotional in real time. It’s just the best feeling, I can’t even put it into words,” said Blumstein.

Blumstein, known to PocketFivers as ‘SBlum2711‘, gave his time spent working his way up in the NJ online poker scene credit for his ability to maneuver his way through the final table.

“The best way to get better at anything is to do repetition and practice. When you play online in New Jersey, it’s hard for any live pro to see even close to the amount of hands I’ve probably seen in the last two years,” said Blumstein. “It’s no coincidence. I’ve said it before. The guy who won the Colossus is an NJ grinder, Michael Gagliano plays online in New Jersey and he’s had success. The list goes on and on.”

Saturday night’s action started three-handed with Blumstein holding 62.7% of the chips in play and Ott and Benjamin Pollak looking to make up ground.

Ott Chips Up Early

On the second hand of the night, Ott raised to 4,400,000 from the button with Qh9h, Blumstein called from the small blind with 7d7h and Pollak folded from the big. The flop came QdJd2d and both players checked. The turn was the Jc Ott called Blumstein’s bet of 5,500,000. The river was the 2c and Blumstein bet 8,800,000. Ott called and took the pot to move over 120,000,000 for the first time.

Blumstein Bluffs Ott Off Best Hand

Ott raised to 4,400,000 from the button with 8c8d before Blumstein made it 13,500,000 from the small blind with KcTd. Pollak folded and Ott called. After the Ac4c3c flop, Blumstein bet 16,000,000 and Ott called. The turn was the 9d and Blumstein led out again, this time for 20,000,000 and Ott called. The river was the 2s and Blumstein moved all in. Ott tanked for about 90 seconds before folding the best hand.

“Before today started, Doug Polk came up to me and was ribbing me, saying that he wasn’t seeing much bluffing going on. So I had to put that to bed pretty fast. I told him, ‘Be careful what you wish for’, because he might have cost his buddy the pot,” said Blumstein. “I had the king of clubs, pretty good card to bluff with and when you get to the river with king-high and there was all of those chips in the middle, and Ben was kinda short, so I went for it and got the fold. I was very happy with that result in that hand.”

Blumstein Makes Massive Laydown Against Pollak

Blumstein completed from the small blind with Qh8s and Ben Pollak checked with Ah4d to see a flop of Kh8h3h. Blumstein and Pollak checked. The turn was the 5h and Blumstein bet 5,000,000 and Pollak called. The river was the Td abd Blumstein fired 9,700,000. Pollak tanked before raising to 21,500,000. Blumstein talked through multiple possible holdings Pollak could have before eventually folding.

Three Way All In Ends Pollak’s Run

For what is believed to be the first time in WSOP history, the final three players were all in on a single hand. Pollak moved all in for 35,200,000 from the button with QcTd, Ott came over the top for 45,800,000 from the small blind with Kc9d and Blumstein asked for a count before calling with AhQs. The KdJs3d flop gave Ott top pair but left the other two drawing to straights. The turn was the 4c and the river was the 6s, eliminating Pollak in third and tripling Ott up heading into heads-up play.

Heads-Up Marathon Finally Ends

Blumstein and Ott played heads-up for 65 hands over the course of 3.5 hours before Blumstein’s overwhelming chip lead simply became too much for Ott. Shortly after doubling Ott up to 64,000,000, Blumstein limped his button with Ah2d before Ott raised to 8,000,000 with Ad8d. Blumstein moved all in and after tanking for 2.5 minutes, Ott called. The Js6s5h flop kept Ott safe as did the 7h turn, but the 2h river was one of Blumstein’s three outs and he eliminated Ott to win the 2017 WSOP Main Event.

“Is there a better way to win the Main Event than hitting a three-outer on the river?,” said Blumstein. “A normally inconsequential deuce just changed my life.”

Final Table Payouts

  1. Scott Blumstein – $8,150,000
  2. Dan Ott – $4,700,000
  3. Benjamin Pollak – $3,500,000
  4. John Hesp – $2,600,000
  5. Antoine Saout – $2,000,000
  6. Bryan Piccioli – $1,675,000
  7. Damian Salas – $1,425,000
  8. Jack Sinclair – $1,200,000
  9. Ben Lamb – $1,000,000