Nine Players Set for WSOP Main Event Final Table

Day 7 of the World Series of Poker $10,000 World Championship Main Event returned the final 27 players across three tables for ultimate play down day in all of poker to the Final Table – worth at least $1 million. The Final Table took 13 hours of play, and can be watched exclusively on PokerGO, to reach with Scott Blumstein emerging as the chip leader with 97.25 million in the bag.

British amateur John Hesp, the oldest remaining player, joins Blumstein at the top of the counts with an overwhelming lead on the field. Benjamin Pollak and Brian Piccioli ended with 35.1 and 33.8 million respectively, while Dan Ott (26.4 million), Damian Salas (22.1 million) and 2009 November Niner Antoine Saout returns the final table with 21.7 million.

Jack Sinclair sits eighth in chips with 20.2 million and Ben Lamb returns as the shortest stack with 18.05 million, but is the longest on experience. Lamb finished third in the 2011 Main Event en route to winning WSOP Player of the Year that year.

“This is a dream – it’s a long poker tournament,” Blumstein said. “When you play enough tournaments you realize that you have to take one hand at a time and that’s what I was trying to do. I was treating every hand like it was the last one and I’m going to play it the way I think I should play the hand.”

“It’s crazy how no tournament out there comes close to this,” Blumstein said. “It gives you a lot of time to play poker – I had a pretty easy ride too. Every day I made more chips than the day before and I accomplished that each day. I somehow faded coolers and here I am at the final table.”

“It feels amazing – it’s been a little too long to be deja vu,” Lamb said. “I’m very excited and happy to be back. I just jammed ace eight offsuit to Crazy Jack for tournament life and that was pretty rattling. I was pretty sure he was going to fold but I was drawing dead to three outs if he called.”

Lamb played a key hand at 11-handed where he correctly folded pocket tens to Ruane’s pocket aces on a dry board. “I told my rail that I wanted to fold the flop,” Lamb said. “He seemed so strong in his actions I knew he really wanted to make the final table again – it meant a lot to him. I knew based on his sizing it was either kings or aces, but I was actually upset with myself I didn’t fold on the flop.”

“It hasn’t really quite set in yet,” Lamb added. “You play a 7,000-player field and the odds are staggering to make the final table, even if you are ten times better than the second-best player.”

Blumstein had a roller coaster level where he began over 40 million and doubled up Dan Ott holding king jack where Ott had ace king. Blumstein dipped under 20 million but 30 minutes later, he doubled up through Ott. This time Ott held king jack, Blumstein had pocket kings and was back among the chip leaders.

Bryan Piccioli’s stack got shorter and shorter as the night wore on. He finally took a stand with 11 players remaining and got all in preflop holding pocket eights. Saout called, holding a big stack, with Ad 4c. The flop came As 9h 9d, all but locking up the hand for the former November Niner, the turn came Qh and a miracle eight hit on the river to save Piccioli’s tournament life.

?? corner pocket for @theczar19 #WSOPMainEvent
Watch live on PokerGO pic.twitter.com/eVsQmtS3AH

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 18, 2017

Pedro Oliveira busted in 11th place to reduce to the field to a single table and one elimination away from the official Final Table. Oliveira shoved holding two pair on the turn with ace nine, but Hesp had him beat with a flopped flush.

Michael Ruane looked to make back-to-back Final Tables after his fourth-place finish in 2016. He ultimately bubbled the final table in 10th place after he shoved holding Ac 6c and Salas called with pocket jacks. Ruane didn’t improve and was the last player eliminated in the wee hours of Monday morning.

Robin William was the first player to bust Monday and he was followed by Jake Bazeley (25th), Marcel Luske (23rd) and Christian Pham (19th) to bubble the final two tables after four hours of play.

We say goodbye to the Flying Dutchman, @MarcelLuske, at the #WSOPMainEvent on PokerGO! pic.twitter.com/VoqLDbCNob

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 17, 2017

Pham got in to the Main Event on his last $575 in a qualifier after suffering from financial problems. He collected $263,532 for his efforts after he got all in on draw against Pollock. Pham held Ah 3h, Pollock had pocket aces and Pham was drawing live to a flush. He bricked the river and the field paused for a full redraw to two tables.

The next string of eliminations came slowly as Richard Gryko (18th), Michael Krasienko (17th) and fan-favorite Scott Stewart were eliminated over the course of several hours.

Final Table Payouts

1st – $8,150,000
2nd – $4,700,000
3rd – $3,500,000
4th – $2,600,000
5th – $2,000,000
6th – $1,675,000
7th – $1,425,000
8th – $1,200,000
9th – $1,000,000

Player have Tuesday and Wednesday off and a Final Table Preview show airs on ESPN2 from 7pm – 8pm ET. Play resumes for the final table on Thursday, July 20 at 6 pm PT and they’ll play from nine players down to six.

Friday, July 21 the six remaining players return at 6 pm on ESPN and play down until three players remain. They’ll bag up for the night, return Saturday, July 22 and play down to a winner is crowned live on ESPN at 6 pm PT.

Scott Stewart was short stacked and unfazed throughout most the day; he was very aware of his deep run and what it could mean for his life. He maintained he was playing for the win, even facing the longest of odds.

Marcel Luske returned for Day 7, beginning a second life in poker after rising to fame with back-to-back deep runs in 2003 and 2004. Luske spoke at length about those tables, his run this year and where he sees poker going.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Scott Blumstein – 97,250,000
2. John Hesp – 85,700,000
3. Benjamin Pollak – 35,175,000
4. Bryan Piccioli – 33,800,000
5. Dan Ott – 26,475,000
6. Damian Salas – 22,175,000
7. Antoine Saout – 21,175,000
8. Jack Sinclair – 20,200,000
9. Ben Lamb – 18,050,000