On June 11 (Tuesday), an American poker pro managed to earn his fifth gold bracelet after winning Event #26 of the 2024 WSOP.
2024 WSOP Event #26: $25,000 High Roller NLHE (8-Handed)
- Buy-in: $25,000
- Date: June 9 to June 11, 2024
- Entries: 318
- Prize pool: $7,473,000
Nick Schulman outlasted a player field of 318 to take home the prize money worth $1,667,842.
A resident of Manhattan, NY, the 36-year-old former billiards pro started to play poker in 2002 when he was 18 years old, and a year later he turned professional.
He currently provides highly-lauded commentary on poker games. His first big gig was with veteran commentator Ali Nejad for the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl for CBS Sports in 2016. He received praise from fans and peers for his pleasant personality and fabulous insight.
Schulman said his win was thanks to hundreds of hours logged in the commentary both analyzing high-level poker: "I mean, I collect so many ideas. There's so many great players. It's an intimate experience commentating. You're actively engaged with every hand."
Schulman is turning 40 this year and will be eligible for the Poker Hall of Fame in 2025. While the Hall of Fame wasn't on his mind after the victory, he said being inducted would be a tremendous honor, "As it goes with something like that, that's not up to. But, of course, I'm a big sports fan, and, you know, Hall of Fame has a great ring to it."
Final Table Action
The most crucial hand of the tournament happened quite early as the two chip leaders found themselves clashing in a blind-versus-blind cooler. Schulman's held pocket queens against the ace-king of Rodriguez to take an overwhelming chip lead over his seven competitors, while Rodriguez was left with a stack of two big blinds that he ran up through multiple double-ups.
Deeb was hunting for his 7th bracelet and he was in the best shape of his life when he entered the final table second in chips. The "Team Lucky" member, however, had anything but luck that time, starting off with his two pair failing to hold against the gutshot draw of Li.
Afterwards, Deeb double-barrelled queen-high into Rodriguez's trip kings to fall to the bottom of the chip counts. Deeb doubled and chopped an all in before a final blow where his Big Slick couldn't hit against the pocket sixes of Lyall, as Deeb watched the all in on the monitor with Josh Arieh and Matt Glantz.
The eliminations carried on as Li, Roberto Perez, Heath and Stamm dropped from the field, all four of whom were knocked out by Schulman. Meanwhile, Rodriguez managed to rebuild his stack before sending Dean Lyall out in third.
Heads-up play lasted just one hand as Schulman flopped top pair and held against Rodriguez's flush draw. Schulman shook his opponent's hand before dapping up Chino Rheem, who was supporting him on the rail.
The final hand of the event:
When asked about the pivotal hand, Schulman replied:
"It felt incredible. Everybody who's played poker tournaments has a lot of residual trauma ... And holding there was amazing. And then that set up where there was one big chip leader ... It's pretty rare. And a very special setup to find yourself in.
And I was fortunate enough to have the kind of golden lane, where they can't really do anything. Even if they know you're messing around, they still kind of can't do anything. And that's the best place to be in at a final table."
This was Schulman's first bracelet won in No Limit Hold'em. His previous bracelets, the first won in 2009, are in mixed game variants including 2-7 Lowball Draw, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better and Seven Card Stud. Just last year, he took down Event #9: $1,500 Seven Card Stud for $110,800 in what resulted in one of the most memorable winner photos in poker history.
He had some close calls in high roller NLHE bracelet events. In 2019, he finished third in the $100,000 NLH High Roller for $1,187,802 and fifth in last year's WSOP Paradise $100,000 High Roller for $731,000.
This is Schulman's fifth bracelet in the WSOP. This latest score is the second-highest payday on his resume. He won his first two bracelets in 2009 and 2012 - both were $10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw events. He now has $20,208,000 in total live earnings, according to The Hendon Mob.
2024 WSOP Event #26: $25,000 High Roller NLHE (8-Handed) - Final Table Results
|
|
Player
|
Country
|
Prize (USD)
|
|
1
|
Nick Schulman
|
USA
|
$1,667,842
|
|
2
|
Noel Rodriguez
|
USA
|
$1,111,897
|
|
3
|
Dean Lyall
|
UK
|
$760,083
|
|
4
|
David Stamm
|
USA
|
$529,833
|
|
5
|
Ben Heath
|
UK
|
$376,762
|
|
6
|
Roberto Perez
|
Spain
|
$273,414
|
|
7
|
Yingui Li
|
China
|
$202,574
|
|
8
|
Shaun Deeb
|
USA
|
$153,302
|
Source: https://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates/?aid=2&grid=5504&tid=23166&rr=-1
