2017 WSOP Champ Blumstein Maintaining a Low Profile After Huge Win

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Sunday, December 24th, 2017 | Written by Charles Washington

Prior to his 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event victory, Scott Blumstein was relatively unknown on the tournament circuit, with most of his cashes for small amounts. The one exception, however, was a first place finish at the 2016 Million Deepstack in Atlantic City for $199,854. The win boosted his confidence, though, and convinced him to enter this year’s $10,000 WSOP Main Event, which he won. However, even Blumenstein admits that he didn’t consider himself a full-time professional player at the time, and that he was just playing poker in order to pay bills after losing his job.

Peak of his Poker Success

The WSOP Main Event has transformed the lives of many poker players throughout its almost five decades run, as well as turning them into overnight millionaires. This is because the Main Event has attracted a global market, while its comprehensive coverage has boosted its appeal and brought the game into the mainstream.

Over 7,200 players subsequently registered for the 2017 WSOP Main Event, and once again the flagship tournament produced yet another surprise, with nobody having guessed Blumstein wold eventually claim the title given his professional record.

Nevertheless, Blumstein would progress all the way through to the final tournament, and eventually defeat fellow US player Daniel Ott to cap off an all round stunning performance. The New Jersey resident took home a coveted gold bracelet and a life changing $8.15 million for the win.

Blumstein Considering Quitting Pro Poker

Typically when a poker pro wins it big like this, they start playing any high stakes event they can. Blumstein, on the other hand, plans to do the opposite and is keeping a low profile since becoming the WSOP Main Event champion. As for his reasons for doing so, Blumstein says that he just doesn’t find the tournament circuit that interesting, and that winning the WSOP Main Event defines the peak of his poker tournament success.

In addition, Blumstein says that he never intended on ever becoming a poker pro and was most interested in just making money from the game. Consequently, he recently released a rather revealing statement in which he explains:

“There aren’t many other poker goals that I can come up with right now. The game is getting tough and a lot of guys are getting really good. I wonder if it’d be worth my time to compete with them. There’d be a lot of traveling. I could travel around and grind the tournament circuit, but winning the main event is kind of new so I’m deciding if I want to go that route or get into something else.”

Poker Advice for Aspiring Pros

Poker is becoming more popular around the world, with one of its appeals being the opportunity it affords players to become instant millionaires. Similarly, Blumstein’s win serves as an excellent example of this in action, and has inspired thousands of players to take up the game.

Blumstein doesn’t believe that poker players should always be looking for the next big win, though because he believes such a strategy encourages players to compete in high-stakes events in order to try winning a major payday. The problem is that players will often end up playing above their means, and furthermore it can put too much pressure on them, especially given the stakes, and the fact high stakes event are even more competitive than standard tournaments, and therefore are a lot harder to win.

Instead, Blumstein believes that it makes more sense to focus upon making consistent money from poker rather than looking for a big pay-off. Therefore, his advice to players is that they should grind it out with the goal of just making money, and be content to walk away with a reasonable profit.

Blumstein intends of taking his own advice, too, and doesn’t plan on putting down any big money in order to take part in high stakes events. He further states that the poker community hasn’t pressured him into playing high stakes events, either. In fact, not only hasn’t he confirmed what his plans are for the 2018 season, but he hasn’t even decided whether he will be participating in the 2018 WSOP Main Event, and for a former champion you can’t get much more low profile than that.