WPT champ wins first bracelet

It was only a few years ago when Nick Schulman took the World Poker Tour by storm. Winning the $10,000 event at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods Casino in 2005, then finishing second in 2007, Schulman made sure that the poker world would remember his name. Since his WPT victory at age 21, Schulman has made numerous final tables, but he hadn't earned a World Series of Poker bracelet until Friday night.

In the largest no-limit 2-7 lowball tournament in history (96 players), Schulman defeated a talent-heavy final table that included 2009 player of the year candidates and bracelet winners Ville Wahlbeck, Steve Sung, David Benyamine, John Juanda, Michael Binger and Archie Karas. With a buy-in of $10,000, this event attracted only those with the biggest bankrolls, and it was no surprise that four former bracelet winners were going for another.


"The prestige of the bracelet is a little overwhelming," Schulman said to the WSOP. "This is the term when it comes to winning in poker event. They say these tournaments are not about the money, and I never used to think like that. But I know what they mean now. The bracelet is a little sweeter than the cash."

The cash was nice, too. Schulman earned $279,742 when he eliminated Wahlbeck, who had won the $10,000 mixed-games world championship last week.


This was Schulman's sixth WSOP cashing and second final table. He started the final table in fourth place and was able to pull out the victory in six hours. In a great way to end the tournament, Schulman won holding the game's best hand and called Wahlbeck's all-in with a 2-3-4-5-7.