Professional player and poker commentator Nick Schulman is now a five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner after taking down the $25,000 Six-Handed High Roller event last night. He scored his second-best tournament cash of $1,667,842 by playing wrecking ball at the final table.
After winning a flip early holding QQ against Noel Rodriguez’s AK that gave him a massive chip lead, the 39-year-old went to eliminate five of the next seven opponents for his first bracelet in a non-mixed game event. He put himself in a groove that, he said, put him in the driver’s seat at the final table.
“It felt incredible,” Schulman said about the hand. “Everybody who’s played poker tournaments has a lot of residual trauma. Holding there was amazing. And then that set up where there was one big chip leader, it’s pretty rare and a very special setup to find yourself in,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to have the kind of golden lane, where they can’t really do anything. Even if they know you’re messing around, they still kind of can’t do anything. And that’s the best place to be in at a final table.”
While Schulman was going for his fifth bracelet, runner-up Rodriguez was trying to get his first. Instead, he secured his life-time best cash by doubling his lifetime total with the $1,111,897 prize for second. His best cash came just in December at the World Poker Tour’s $10,000 championship where he finished 19th for $236,300.
His second-place finish was improbable — he was down to two big blinds after losing his early race to Schulman.
The event attracted 318 entries, which was 17 more than last year. They created a prize-pool of $7,473,000. The final table included six-time bracelet holder and 2018 WSOP Player of the Year Shaun Deeb (eighth for $153,302) and Ben Heath and his $22 million in tourney cashes (fifth for $376,762).
Schulman won his previous four bracelets in mixed-game events starting in 2009 with a victory in the $10,000 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship. He repeated as championship of that event in 2012. He scored his third WSOP Bracelet in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better event in 2019 and bracelet number-four last year in a $1,500 Seven Card Stud event.
He also owns a WSOP Circuit ring he seized in a $1,000 online event in 2022. His WSOP cash total is more than $8 million, while his life total moves in the $20 million neighborhood with this victory.
Schulman’s biggest tournament score came in a $10,000 World Poker Tour event at the WPT finals in 2005 that was good for $2,167,500. This is his third cash worth more than a $1 million — he won $1,187,820 for third-place finish in the $100,000 buy-in event at the 2019 WSOP.
Schulman joins Scott Seiver and Robert Mizrachi as players who won their fifth WSOP bracelets this series.
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Schulman | United States | $1,667,842 | |
| 2 | Noel Rodriguez | United States | $1,111,897 | |
| 3 | Dean Lyall | United Kingdom | $760,083 | |
| 4 | David Stamm | United States | $529,833 | |
| 5 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | $376,762 | |
| 6 | Roberto Perez | Spain | $273,414 | |
| 7 | Yingui Li | China | $202,574 | |
| 8 | Shaun Deeb | United States | $153,302 |
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