Nine years after Eric Baldwin won his first bracelet in World Series of Poker in 2009, Eric Baldwin won another one and dedicated it to his father. The event he won was Event #37 No-Limit Hold’Em which is a part of World Series of Poker 2018.
His Journey to Title
Baldwin started the fourth day with a great chip lead and ended heads-up against Ian Steinman who did not want to surrender easily, thus enabling the audience to watch one great game of poker which ended with Baldwin finally winning it all. Baldwin even stated that he was exhausted as it was too long play for him and he had focused on the short-handed play which really “sucked his mental energy”. On the other hand, he is happy with the victory claiming that it was great fun and wishing everyone to experience that cool feeling. The third day was difficult for all players as the battle of the last 20 contenders raged on for hours. However, the real excitement began when there were only the top 9 players left for one table.
The first person to leave the top 9 was Jason Guarinello. The game went on for 20 more hands before the next player had to leave the competition – Matthew Moore. The next players to leave the table were Stephen Song, Michael Finstein, Robert Georato, Aaron Massey, and Enrico Rudelitz.
Then There Were Two
The two remaining players, Eric Baldwin and Ian Steinman went on for another two hours of indecisive games until it was suggested to them to stop playing and come back the next day. Baldwin, who wanted to celebrate the birthday of his wife the next day, wanted to stay and finish the game on the same day, while Steinman was more prone to the idea to go home, rest, and continue the next day. Baldwin accepted this, which resulted in the 4th day of the event.
The fourth day saw Steinman gaining momentum as he won his chips back with a few great hands. But this was not for long, as he lost his winnings again in a few small pots and then decided to double back with king-six against Baldwin’s queen-deuce. However, there was a situation of a pre-flop all-in which Steinman lost.
The final game saw kings in Steinman’s hand and a jack-ace in Baldwin’s only to see the jack turned and ace rivered, making Baldwin the ultimate victor. Baldwin was celebrated when his mother came to congratulate him. Both of his parents were not present when he won his first bracelet and, since then, his father came to every event to support Baldwin. Unfortunately, he did not manage to see him win another bracelet as he passed away three years ago. This was a reason good enough for Baldwin to devote the bracelet to his late father. He added that in a lot of ways, the victory was meant to be dedicated to his father.