Nick Schulman has already been there two times before winning the 50th Annual World Series of Poker Event #65: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship.
In other words, at the moment he received his reward, he was familiar to being the poker champion, and he cemented his position as a professional poker player by winning his third bracelet. He managed to top the field, which consisted of 193 entries and claimed the first prize of $463,670 in addition to winning a golden bracelet.
On the other hand, he had a long pause between bracelets as the last one he had won was seven years ago. He was eager to talk about the event after it ended, stating that his game has changed a lot during those seven years. He added that he had had a “tremendous influx of new ideas,” and that he had been doing his best. He concluded that everybody else had also gotten better. His statement couldn’t have been truer, as the final table consisted of many previous bracelet winners: one of the people in the final table was Michael McKenna, who was a runner-up in last year’s event.
The Final Table
The final table consisted of eight players, and the first one to hit the rail was Bryce Yockey, who won $45,551. He was the last player to be eliminated before the day officially ended, so the remaining seven players had to return on the fourth day of the tournament to wrap things up. During the very first hand, two players were out of the game immediately. Both Michael McKenna and Corey Hochman went all in, and Joe Hachem followed and hit two pair, scoring double elimination. Therefore, Michael McKenna ended up in seventh with a total of $58,918, and Corey Hochman was sixth for $77,763.
The next player to hit the rail was Chris Vitch, who won a total of $104,688. The fourth place belonged to Denis Strebkov from Russa, who managed to win $143,700. An Australian, Joe Hachem, ended up third, winning a total of $201,041 and leaving Brian Hastings and Nich Schulman to test each other’s skills and luck in the heads-up part of the game.
Brian Hastings Gets Second Place
Schulman was already a leader when it comes to the number of chips, having approximately 2:1 at the start of the heads-up play. One of the most important hands in the event happened in Level 31 when Schulman managed to get a full house against trip tens that Hastings had. That hand also affected Hastings and gave him a serious blow, so that he never really recovered after that. Therefore, he had to settle for second place and a consolation prize of $286,570. Schulman later admitted that he had had to do his best in order to beat Hastings, who was a “super tough opponent.”