WPT Champ Wins 1st WSOP Bracelet in Toughest Final Table Yet
Event #23 at the 2009 World Series of Poker may not look like a big newsworthy deal on first glimpse. After all, who pays much attention to 2-7 Lowball anyway? But when it’s got a $10,000 buy-in, that’s a bit of a different story. And when the winner of the event notches his first WSOP bracelet against the largest ever playing field at a WSOP 2-7 Lowball event (96 competitors in all), it rings of history. At that is what young 20-ish Nick Schulman accomplished last Friday night – a little bit of history.
This was Nick’s second WSOP final table appearance (his sixth in-the-money finish), and it pitted him against some of the most successful players in poker, including 2009 Player of the Year candidates. Among those names was Ville Wahlbeck, who finished runner-up. Wahlbeck made a bit of history himself just recently, beating the likes of Doyle and Todd Brunson (among many others) to become the first Finn to win a World Series of Poker event, this the Mixed Games World Championship, also with a whopping $10,000 buy-in.
Once Nick took care of Ville, the $279,742 grand prize, and the prestige that comes with a WSOP bracelet, was all his. Other top players at the final table called the toughest final table yet at this year’s WSOP, included John Juanda and David Benyamine. Nick’s winning hand was 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 – the best hand one can achieve in 2-7 Lowball.
Nick may never have won a WSOP bracelet before now, but in 2005 he did win the $10,000 event at the Foxwood Casinos World Poker Tour Finals. Throughout the 2009 WSOP, Nick has been representing Full Tilt Poker.
