LAS VEGAS -- Qui Nguyen won the 2016 World Series of Poker main event late Tuesday night, earning $8 million and the diamond-encrusted gold bracelet.

He defeated Gordon Vayo in a heads-up battle that lasted 182 hands and well over seven hours to win the WSOP bracelet in his first time playing the WSOP main event.

Qui Nguyen earns $8 million after outlasting Gordon Vayo in a seven-hour heads-up match to win the World Series of Poker main event. AP Photo/John Locher

After failing to put Vayo away in three all-in showdowns, the fourth all-in between the pair led to Nguyen's victory. On the final hand, Nguyen raised to 8.5 million chips and Vayo re-raised all-in for 53 million. Nguyen called with Kc-Tc and had Vayo's Js-Ts in bad shape, but Vayo improved from three winning cards to eight on a Kd-9c-7d flop. The 2s turn and 3h river triggered cannons of confetti to fire off in the Penn & Teller Theater inside the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino as the newest world champion of poker was crowned.

Even as one of the least experienced players at this final table, Nguyen dominated the action throughout the three days of this final table and didn't allow Vayo much room to maneuver in the late stages of the tournament.

"I actually never played much heads-up, but I was very aggressive," Nguyen said after his victory. "[Whether it was] five-handed or two-handed, I was still [just as] aggressive."

Nguyen was able to stay loose and relaxed despite the high-pressure environment in which he was playing, in large part thanks to focusing on his process over the results.

"With millions of dollars [on the line], I didn't think a lot about winning and losing," Nguyen said. "I was just thinking in my mind, 'Don't make a misstep at all.' In a tournament, you can't make a misstep -- if you make a misstep, you're done."

Nguyen, 39, was the chip leader to end both the first and second day of final-table play but quickly fell out of the top spot. He doubled up short stack Cliff Josephy on the first hand of play Tuesday, and then Vayo won most of those chips in a pot worth more than 200 million (out of 336.6 million total chips in play) with three-of-a-kind threes against three-of-a-kind deuces.

Josephy doubled his stack through Nguyen twice, bringing himself briefly back into contention only to dump those chips back shortly before his demise.

Despite being the chip leader to begin the final table Sunday, Josephy was unable to make much of a positive move until the start of Day 3. While he was ultimately eliminated in third place, it came after a chaotic start to the final table; in 16 hands of three-handed play, Josephy was involved in five all-in pots, including the double-up on the very first hand and set-over-set hand against Vayo. Josephy also lost the last of his chips to Vayo, when his Qd-3d made a pair of threes and couldn't beat Vayo's pair of kings with Kh-6d. For his third-place finish, Josephy received $3,453,035, eclipsing his next-best tournament payout by more than seven times.

"They gave me a good sweat there," Josephy said. "I was happy to get cards -- I was card-dead for two days, and I wasn't happy about that. I played the best that I could, finally picked up some hands early, got excited and then they just beat me right down."

Vayo and Nguyen traded the lead several times early on in heads-up play, but the tournament turned well into Nguyen's favor with a single river card. Nguyen took aggressive actions on the flop and turn despite holding just a draw with Qc-5c, against Vayo's Ad-9h on a board of Ac-Ts-9c-Ks, but the Kc on a river made Nguyen's flush and he immediately pushed his stack all-in -- the first such bet of heads-up play. After more than six minutes, Vayo ultimately folded, but that pot gave Nguyen a lead of more than 2-to-1.

During the next 20 minutes Vayo's stack dwindled further until he found himself all-in for the second time Thursday with As-Jd against Kh-9h. Neither player improved his hand, pulling Vayo back to within a 2-to-1 disadvantage. Although Vayo hovered around this mark for a considerable stretch, he continuously found himself worn down by Nguyen's aggressive style.

On one particular hand, where Vayo flopped the top pair on a nine-high board, Nguyen eventually put Vayo all-in on the river. Had he called, he would have taken his first lead of the final table; Vayo instead elected to fold, and that was his only regret in how he played.

"I read into something I shouldn't have," Vayo said. "I made a little deviation from my strategy, and I didn't feel strong enough. I should have called."

There was a brief moment of recovery for Vayo, who got lucky to hit a running turn and river to make a flush when both players flopped a pair of queens, but he'd never get closer than a 50-million-chip gap.

After grinding down Vayo's stack yet again, a third all-in pot led to one final double-up for the eventual runner-up -- but Nguyen would finally seal the victory on his fourth try.

It was clear that Nguyen executed his plan to near perfection, as he had all of his opponents scrambling for the majority of the final table. "It's hard to pinpoint his strategy," Vayo said. "He just kind of plays every hand uniquely; he doesn't necessarily have a constructed strategy. Not that that's a negative, but most people aren't able to adapt to every hand and make so many correct assumptions and correct plays over and over again, and he was able to do that."

Qui Nguyen is the 47th WSOP main event champion and just the second Vietnamese-born winner; the first was Scotty Nguyen, who won the 1998 WSOP main event for $1 million.

ESPN's Dave Tuley contributed to this story. </s> Former nail salon owner and failed professional baccarat player Qui Nguyen won the World Series of Poker Main Event early Wednesday morning in Las Vegas, claiming the top prize of $8,005,310 and a gold bracelet after a nine-hour heads-up session that was the longest in tournament history.

Wearing a raccoon baseball cap throughout the final table, the 39-year-old Nguyen eliminated San Francisco poker pro Gordon Vayo on the 364th hand of the final table — almost 200 hands with just the two of them at the felt with the first place prize money splayed between them in giant bricks of $100 bills.

The native of Vietnam emerged from a field of 6,737 in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold ‘Em Main Event, the final and most prestigious in a series of 69 World Series of Poker tournaments.

Down to his last opponent — and holding a more than 5-to-1 chip advantage — Nguyen was dealt a king and 10 of clubs.

Vayo got a jack and 10 of spades.

The first three community cards came out, and among them was a king to give Nguyen a pair.

Two blanks followed and Nguyen was the winner — the oldest Main Event champion since 2007, ending a streak of eight straight 20-somethings to claim the title. The two players hugged, confetti fell from the sky, and Nguyen’s supporters bounced over the rail to celebrate with him.

“It’s so exciting,” Nguyen said. “I don’t know what to say.”

Earlier in the session that began on Tuesday night, Cliff Josephy was eliminated in third place and collected $3.45 million.

In addition to one of the biggest prizes in poker, Nguyen receives a $50,000 bracelet made from 427 grams of white and yellow gold and more than 2,000 diamonds and rubies totaling more than 44 carats. The centerpiece opens like a locket to house the hole cards from the winning hand.

The last nine players were already paid $1 million — ninth-place money — when the field was winnowed to a final table of nine over 11 days in July. After waiting three months to meet again as the “November Nine” — moved up one week this year to avoid a conflict with the election — they played down to five on Sunday night and down to three on Monday.

Josephy, a 50-year-old former stock broker, was the oldest player at the final table and a two-time bracelet winner. With the money between them, Vayo and Nguyen said little to each other over almost nine hours, though with each all in from Vayo they stood together at the rail, away from the table, to watch the cards come out.

Vayo’s chip stack rose and fell, but Nguyen used his larger stake to put pressure on his opponent and frequently forced him to fold better hands. With some luck and good timing, Vayo was able to prolong play but he spent most of the time on the verge of elimination.

Still, he matched his best-ever finish at the World Series of Poker and earned three times as much as his total previous tournament earnings.

Vayo, 27, was the youngest player among the final nine.

Josephy arrived at the final table on Sunday night as the chip leader. He started Tuesday night far behind, in third place, but doubled his stack to more than 101 million chips on the first hand.

Soon, he was down to about 10 million. Despite petting his dog at the rail for good luck, he was eliminated when he went all-in with a queen and a three; Vayo had a king that paired when the first three community cards were dealt.

Heads-up play went back and forth until Hand 207, when Nguyen won a 30 million chip pot and the lead. Two hands later, with 83 million already in the pot, Nguyen moved all-in with a flush; Vayo took seven minutes to think about it before folding his two pair.

Nguyen methodically used the pressure of a bigger chip count to cut away at Vayo’s stack before he was forced to go all in four times in nine hands. On Hand 298, Nguyen called the raise of 52 million chips, putting Vayo at risk, but he took the pot when back-to-back spades gave him a flush.

Two hands later, he won a 66 million chip pot with a full house to increase his stack to 143 million — only 49 million behind Nguyen.

But again his pot was eaten away by the blinds, the mandatory bets that force players to enter pots or risk watching their money slowly disappear. </s> It was 3:20 a.m. today when Las Vegas resident Qui Nguyen, wearing a Marvel Comics “Guardians of the Galaxy” hat, won gaming’s richest and most prestigious event with the top prize of $8,005,310 and his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet. Until now, the 39-year-old from Saigon, Vietnam, had won only $9,029 in a prior WSOP event in 2009. It was an unimaginable achievement.

As the new world champion of poker, Qui took the lead on the first hand of the Final Table on Sunday and rode the momentum through the marathon 47th annual poker session that ended pre-dawn this morning in Penn & Teller Theater at The Rio. Qui was regarded as the least-accomplished player at the November Nine Main Event Final Table.

Qui, a married father of a 4-year old son who once owned a nail salon in Alaska, now regards himself as a professional Las Vegas gambler. He became the second Vietnamese-born world poker champion after Poker Hall of Famer Scotty “The Prince of Poker” Nguyen captured the title at the same event in 1998.

Moments after the victory, the new champion said: “I just tried to remind myself to never give up, to never give up. It was tiring, it was tough, but I wanted to stay aggressive and never give up, and thankfully for me it worked out. I’m so excited. I don’t know what to say.”

Seth Palansky of WSOP said: “Playing an aggressive style, and arguably the least accomplished player at the table coming in, Qui did the unimaginable by constantly playing pots, applying pressure and putting his tablemates to tough decisions.

“In the end, the combination of cards, fortitude and aggression led him to capture poker’s ultimate championship. With just $52,986 in lifetime live poker winnings, no one expected him to be the last man standing against an experienced, accomplished Final Table of mostly poker professionals.”

The runner-up was Gordon Vayo, 27, of San Francisco. Recently engaged, Gordon’s run ended after defeating 6,735 other hopefuls, and he went to sleep this morning with $4,661,228 for his efforts. He entered the Final Table in third place.

Gordon commented: “It was a little frustrating at times, but Qui played phenomenal. I didn’t get a lot of hands heads up, but all the credit to Qui, he played great.” Before play began Sunday, the nine finalists spent time riding the world’s tallest observation wheel, the High Roller at The Linq Promenade.

From an event that began July 9 with 6,737 hopefuls who each ponied up the $10,000 entry fee and received 50,000 in starting tournament chips, Qui wore his trademark Rocket Raccoon hat from “Guardians of the Galaxy,” tinted sunglasses and plenty of bling. He outlasted them all, capturing all 336,850,000 chips in play and winning the $8.005 million first-place prize and Jostens-crafted $500,000 WSOP gold bracelet.

Three-handed play began at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and lasted 80 minutes before Cliff Josephy, chip leader entering WSOP, was eliminated. The 50-year-old former Wall Street banker was the only one at the Final Table with WSOP victories, and he earned a payday of $3,453,035, his largest live poker tournament cash win, taking his total to nearly $6 million in earnings.

From there it was a head-to-head showdown for the two finalists, 8 1/2 hours of heads-up play before Qui defeated Gordon to claim the ultimate prize and title. Qui was the only Las Vegas resident at the Final Table. The finale was broadcast on ESPN on 30-minute delay.

Final stats: The event’s total prize pool was $63,340,268, with more than $25 million going to The November Nine. A record total of 1,011 entrants cashed in during the event. The 2016 WSOP attracted a record 107,844 players from 107 countries to its 69 events, generating a total prize pool of more than $221 million.

Our thanks to Seth, vice president of WSOP corporate communications, for his contributions to this report. </s> Qui Nguyen may not have been the best player in the field of 6,737 players who entered the World Series of Poker’s Main Event in July.

The 39-year-old Las Vegan may not have even been the best technical poker player at the final table of nine that began play Sunday night to crown a champion.

Nguyen is, however, a gambler and that instinct helped carry him to the $8 million prize and a spot in poker lore as the 2016 WSOP $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Champion in the wee hours of Wednesday morning at the Rio’s Penn & Teller Theater.

The longest heads-up battle since the WSOP moved to the current format of the last nine players returning several months after the final table had been set for a made-for-TV spectacle. It finally ended at 3:21 a.m. as Nguyen’s suited K-10 held up against Gordon Vayo’s suited J-10.

“I’m so excited. I don’t know what to say,” said Nguyen, who looked every part the throwback to a an old-school Las Vegas gambler with his flashy jacket, jewelry and even a distinctive “Guardians of the Galaxy” Rocket Raccoon baseball cap. “I just tried to remind myself to never give up, to never give up. It was tiring, it was tough, but I wanted to stay aggressive and never give up and thankfully for me it worked out.”

Aggression was never a problem for Nguyen, who used a significant chip advantage throughout heads-up play to consistently press the action and not allow Vayo to see cheap flops. Vayo survived three all-in showdowns, including one where he needed to draw a longshot runner-runner flush to stay alive.

Finally, on the 181st hand of one-on-one play, Nguyen’s cards held up and he became the first champion since Jerry Yang in 2007 to win after his 30th birthday.

While the recent trend has been for young online players who had seen countless poker hands both on their computer monitors and at live tables in their young lives to emerge from this field as champions, Nguyen bucked the trend.

He had cashed in just one prior WSOP event when he took 54th place in a $1,500 event in 2009 for a $9,029 prize. Nguyen had won $52,986 in live poker tournaments in his life. Conversely, Vayo cashed eight times at the 2016 WSOP alone. He earned a second-place check at a WSOP event in 2014 for $314,535 and just won a tournament in September where he cashed out $587,120.

Yet, it was Nguyen who controlled the table.

“I felt like this was the Qui show, to be honest with you,” Vayo said. “He really deserves it, man. I did a lot of preparation, a lot of calculation and (Independent Chip Model) work.

”What I couldn’t prepare for was the Qui factor. He’s tough to prepare for because he’s willing to do things very few people are and willing to and adopt a strategy almost nobody plays anymore. It was almost like a blast from the past. I’m so disconnected from people playing like that. It was tough for me to re-evaluate why he was doing what he was doing. I think he just has a phenomenal feel for the game.”

While those instincts may have been developed at a casino, it may not have been at the poker table. Nguyen says he just enjoys gambling and his most beloved game is baccarat. In fact, when he won a satellite tournament to qualify for the WSOP Main Event, there was some thought given to selling the entry.

Nguyen thought better of it because there was a good chance he may have just taken the money straight to the baccarat table anyway.

“I just decided it didn’t matter how far I got, I wanted to play poker,” Nguyen said. “I say no more baccarat for me. I’ll play poker for now.”

Nguyen, a native of Vietnam who has lived in Florida and Alaska before settling in Las Vegas, didn’t spend much time in preparation for this event thinking about what he might do with the money.

Shortly after winning, he still wasn’t ready to ponder the possibilities.

“I’m just thinking about going home to sleep and have my breakfast,” he said.

Nguyen is married with a 4-year-old son named Kyle, who wants a house with a pool. According to a representative for Nguyen, he has also committed to giving some portion of his winnings to the Wounded Warrior Project.

He’s also quite likely to become a star in the poker world, where he will look to continue confusing players so immersed in math and game theory they can sometimes forget they are gambling.

“I was recently watching something called Puzzles and Mysteries,” Vayo said. “A puzzle is something you can kind of put together the pieces and solve, while a mystery is something you’re confounded by. Qui was a mystery for sure. He was not a puzzle. He was not somebody you could piece together and say, ‘This is his range. He’s going to do this with ‘X’ and ‘Y’ hands. He just wasn’t like that. Every hand was a unique circumstance and he’s tough to play against.”

Now, he’s also got a whole lot of chips to play.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter. </s> The previous eight world champions of poker had, to varying degrees, turned the game into a science.

Each winner since the World Series of Poker Main Event went to the delayed “November Nine” final table format was a 20-something professional who honed his skills through playing millions of hands of online poker. The experience set into motion their eventual championships by imbuing them with intimate knowledge of concepts like calculating hand ranges and making decisions based on expected value, all meant to cut down on the variance intrinsic to a card game.

Poker at its core, however, remains a form of gambling. For a reminder of that fact for the first time in nearly a decade at the WSOP, it took a 39-year-old local who was more likely to be found at a high-stakes baccarat table than a poker room before this summer.

Qui Nguyen, originally from Saigon, Vietnam, eschewed new-school principles like optimal game theory and the independent chip mathematical model for classic staples such as instinct and aggression over the last three nights at this year’s final table. It worked to perfection for Nguyen, as he claimed the $8 million first-place prize and the world championship bracelet early Wednesday morning at the Penn & Teller Theater inside the Rio.

“It feels amazing,” Nguyen said. “I don’t know how to say it because I don’t believe it. I just tried to do the best I can.”

The poker world was almost as excited as Nguyen after a total of 18 hours of play and 364 hands at the final table. The early consensus was that this year’s November Nine was the best one ever to watch.

That was almost entirely because of Nguyen, a previous unknown who bluffed and raised sometimes seemingly without much reason through the final table. He thrilled viewers as much as he tormented competitors — especially Gordon Vayo, a 27-year-old San Francisco resident who battled Nguyen heads-up for a Main Event record 181 hands over eight and a half hours.

“He’s a great feel player and that’s something, to be honest, I’ve struggled with in my career — going up against really tough feel players,” Vayo said. “Because my game is so rooted in this game theory and technical stuff that it’s a little bit difficult for me to put myself in their shoes and decipher what they’re doing.”

Nguyen was wild ever since winning his way into the $10,000 buy-in event, which attracted a total field of 6,737 players, by prevailing in a $1,1000 buy-in satellite tournament this summer. He kept the same style for the first two days of the final table, and stuck to it again from the beginning of the last session.

On the first hand Tuesday night, Nguyen called off 50 million chips with Ace-4 against opponent Cliff Josephy, who went all-in with Ace-Queen. Josephy, who ultimately finished in third for $3.4 million, held onto his big advantage in the hand to make for the first of many times Nguyen had to rebuild after adversity.

And it wasn’t always self-inflicted due to poor decisions. Nguyen had an 82 percent chance at an elimination the first time he called a Vayo all-in bet.

Vayo committed his entire stack with Queen-5 of clubs after a flop of Queen-7-5 with one club. Nguyen had a dominant Ace-Queen, but Vayo hit two consecutive clubs to stay alive.

“They gave me bad beats but I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t give up, don’t ever give up,’” Nguyen said. “I held up my chin and kept telling myself that. I just tried to do the best I could for a show.”

Vayo, who entered heads-up play with a lead but lost it for good after 12 hands, cut his deficit to as low as 37 million chips before Nguyen again ramped up his pressure. Nguyen got up to more than 300 million chips to Vayo’s 30 million chips before scoring the bust out.

The decisive hand came when Vayo shoved his dwindling stack all-in with Jack-10 of spades, which was no match for Nguyen’s King-10 of clubs.

“I felt like I was more a part of the Qui show, to be honest,” Vayo said. “And he really deserves it. I did a lot of preparation for this final table, a lot of calculation and ICM work and what I couldn’t prepare for was the Qui factor.”

Nguyen often laughed and smiled in between hands at the table, but briefly broke down in tears while posing for victory photos. He said he was too exhausted to begin allocating the prize money.

But a representative said Nguyen, who was sponsored by the Marines on Tuesday night, would donate a portion to the Wounded Warriors Project, which helps injured veterans. ESPN’s broadcast repeatedly mentioned that Nguyen’s son, 5-year-old Kyle, had begged him to buy a new house with a swimming pool.

A priority will be staying away from the baccarat tables, where Nguyen has admitted to losing thousands of dollars in the past. He’s found a better way to satisfy his thirst for gambling.

“He was willing to do things that very few people are and adopt this very bizarre strategy that almost no one plays really these days anymore,” Vayo said. “It was almost like a blast from the past. I’m so disconnected from people playing like that it was tough for me to re-evaluate why he was doing what he was doing. I don’t know if he had a set strategy coming in or not. I don’t think he really did. I think he was just adapting every hand, being very reactive and I think he just has a phenomenal feel for the game.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer. </s> Las Vegan Qui Nguyen spent his first two days at the World Series of Poker’s Main Event final table becoming the darling of the poker world.

He spent Tuesday night and Wednesday morning building a monster stack before finally securing a world championship when he eliminated Gordon Vayo at 3:21 a.m.

Nguyen, a complete unknown on the professional circuit that prefers baccarat to poker, outlasted a field of 6,737 players to capture the WSOP’s $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship.

Nguyen eliminated the poker pro when he called Vayo’s all-in bet with suited K-10. Vayo was holding a suited J-10 and he failed to improve when the board fell 7-9-K-2-3.

It was the 365th hand of the final table.

The victory earned Nguyen $8 million. Vayo collected $4,658,452 for finishing second.

Nguyen was the breakout star on social media over the first two days of the final table. His aggressive, borderline erratic play, combined with his enthusiasm and “Guardians of the Galaxy” Rocket Raccoon baseball cap, proved a winning formula.

It was his play at the table, however, that made him rich.

While poker experts and analysts tried to make sense of some of his moves, his opponents never could get a read on Nguyen at the table.

In the end, that helped him rake in the cash prize and world championship gold bracelet. His only previous WSOP cash was a $9,029 check for taking 54th place in a $1,500 tournament back in 2009.

Nguyen began the day with a sizable chip lead over Vayo and Cliff Josephy. After taking a big pot from Nguyen on the first hand of the night, Josephy ran into major trouble when his set of 2s was dominated by Vayo’s set of 3s.

Vayo knocked him out soon after with Josephy taking home the third-place prize of $3,451,175.

That left Vayo and Nguyen heads up.

Vayo faced two huge moments early in heads-up play that helped keep his chances alive. He took more than five minutes to decide to fold to Nguyen’s all-in bet when Nguyen had rivered a flush to top the two pair Vayo had flopped.

Shortly after 9 p.m., Vayo was all-in with a suited A-J and Nguyen called with a suited K-9. Vayo’s lead held up and he cut into what was a 4-1 chip advantage for Nguyen.

Vayo then needed a big stroke of luck to stay alive just after 1 a.m.

He re-raised Nguyen all-in after a flop of 7-8-Q hit the board and Nguyen immediately called.

Both players had a queen in their hand, but Nguyen’s ace was far better than Vayo’s 5.

Nguyen was an 81 percent favorite to win the and hand and end the tournament, but Vayo drew consecutive spades on the turn and river to double his stack and stay alive.

Vayo was able to rally to within about 30 million chips, but Nguyen continued to grind away at Vayo’s stack with aggressive bets that didn’t allow Vayo to see many hands played all the way through. He did survive several all-in bets where he had the best of the cards when the chips went in and a whole bunch where Nguyen simply folded.

In the end, he was just never able to overcome Nguyen’s big stack.

The heads up battle was the longest since the event switched to the current format where the top nine players return for a made-for-TV final table.

The 181 hands of one-on-one play between Vayo and Nguyen surpassed the mark previously set when Pius Heinz beat Martin Staszko after 119 hands in 2011.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter. </s> (AP Photo/John Locher). Dan Ott competes at the World Series of Poker main event, Saturday, July 22, 2017, in Las Vegas.

(AP Photo/John Locher). Scott Blumstein, left, and Benjamin Pollak, of France, compete at the World Series of Poker main event, Saturday, July 22, 2017, in Las Vegas.

(AP Photo/John Locher). The final three players, from left, Scott Blumstein; Benjamin Pollak, of France; and Dan Ott stand at the final table during the World Series of Poker, Friday, July 21, 2017, in Las Vegas.

(AP Photo/John Locher). Dan Ott, right, embraces Benjamin Pollak, of France, after Pollak was knocked out of the World Series of Poker main event, Saturday, July 22, 2017, in Las Vegas. Pollak finished in third place.

(AP Photo/John Locher). Supporters of Benjamin Pollak, right, of France, watch as he goes all-in at the World Series of Poker main event, Saturday, July 22, 2017, in Las Vegas. Pollak won the hand.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Latest on the no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event in Las Vegas (all times local):

A Pennsylvania man who finished second in the World Series of Poker says the cards didn't go his way.

Daniel Ott is from Altoona, Pennsylvania, and earned $4.7 million at the series' marquee no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event early Sunday in Las Vegas. Scott Blumstein, of Brigantine, New Jersey, won and takes home more than $8.1 million.

Neither Ott nor Blumstein had previously played at the main event. Both had dozens of supporters who cheered and gasped throughout the night, depending on the hand.

Ott tells PokerNews.com he "got second place in the third largest Main Event ever" and he "can't complain about that."

Late Saturday night, Frenchman Benjamin Pollak was eliminated in third place.

A New Jersey man who just became this year's World Series of Poker champion and pocketed more than $8.1 million says he's "really happy" with how he played but he's "pretty tired of poker at this point."

Rookie Scott Blumstein won the series' marquee no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event early Sunday in Las Vegas. He eliminated another poker main event rookie, Daniel Ott, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, on the 246th hand of the final table.

Blumstein's ace of hearts and two of diamonds were stronger than Ott's hand.

Blumstein says he had to "battle pretty deep" and he's "really happy with the result."

Late Saturday night, Frenchman Benjamin Pollak was eliminated in third place.

New Jersey's Scott Blumstein is this year's World Series of Poker champion.

The 25-year-old won the series' marquee no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event early Sunday in Las Vegas. He's now more than $8.1 million richer.

Blumstein is from Brigantine, New Jersey. He eliminated another poker main event rookie, Daniel Ott, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, on the 246th hand of the final table.

Blumstein's ace of hearts and two of diamonds were stronger than Ott's hand.

Ott went all in with ace of diamonds and eight of diamonds. The community cards were a jack of spades, a six of spades, a five of hearts, a seven of hearts and a two of hearts.

Blumstein is also taking home a gold bracelet made from white and yellow gold and diamonds and rubies.

Earlier Saturday, Frenchman Benjamin Pollak was eliminated in third place.

Poker pro Benjamin Pollak has gone out in third place at the no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event of the World Series of Poker

The Frenchman was eliminated Saturday, the third day of play at the final table. He leaves the premier tournament with $3.5 million.

He started the day with over 45 million chips and put his last 35.6 million on the line on queen of clubs and 10 of diamonds. But the chip leader of the final table had the strongest hand out of the three remaining players.

Scott Blumstein of Brigantine, New Jersey, increased his chip count to more than 232 million with his ace of hearts and queen of spades. Meanwhile, Daniel Ott of Altoona, Pennsylvania, reached a 128 million chip count with king of clubs and nine of diamonds.

The community cards laid out on the table were jack of spades, three of diamonds, king of diamonds, four of clubs and six of spades.

Blumstein and Ott are vying for a grand prize of over $8.1 million.

An accounting error paused play for a few minutes at the final table of the no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Organizers were forced to recount chips Saturday after a hand in which Daniel Ott doubled up to almost 70 million, while Benjamin Pollak dropped to about 23.3 million. But Pollak did not have that amount of chips in front of him after the hand.

Series spokesman Seth Palansky says 10 million chips were miscounted. He says the dealer had pulled chips from Pollak's stack, but he was unaware and ended up paying Ott, too.

Chips have no monetary value in the tournament. Each player will have to lose all his chips before he is eliminated from the final table.

Pollak, Ott and Scott Blumstein are the three remaining players vying for a grand prize of more than $8.1 million.

The marquee no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event of the World Series of Poker is down to the final three players vying for the top prize of more than $8.1 million.

Rookie Scott Blumstein is arriving at the table Saturday as the chip leader. The 25-year-old resident of Brigantine, New Jersey, has more than 226 million chips.

The players, who bested more than 7,200 others, at this point are guaranteed $3.5 million. The champion also will receive a gold bracelet made from white and yellow gold and diamonds and rubies.

Blumstein will be joined at the table by Daniel Ott of Altoona, Pennsylvania, and Frenchman Benjamin Pollak.

The 25-year-old Ott has more than 88 million chips, while 34-year-old Pollak is starting Saturday with over 45 million chips.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> LAS VEGAS -- Scott Blumstein closed out a dominant three-day performance by winning the 2017 World Series of Poker main event early Sunday, taking home $8.15 million and the WSOP bracelet in the process.

Other than a brief spell on the first day of final-table action Thursday, the 25-year-old from Brigantine, New Jersey, held onto the chip lead from beginning to end.

"I'm really happy with how I played tonight," Blumstein said. "Really happy with the result, really happy with the deuce, because I was playing good, but I'm pretty tired of poker at this point, honestly. To have to go back and battle pretty deep-[stacked] again, I wasn't looking forward to it."

The dynamic of Blumstein's considerable lead and a pair of short stacks in Dan Ott and Benjamin Pollak led to one of the most action-packed final days in WSOP main event history, including a three-way all-in that could have led to a historic double-knockout to end the tournament.

Blumstein's hand, which was best at the start, didn't hold up in that three-way spot -- Ott eliminated Pollak in third place -- but after a 66-hand heads-up match with Ott, Blumstein sealed the victory by grinding Ott down to nothing.

It looked as though Ott might make a comeback, as he doubled up with king-nine against pocket sixes. Shortly afterward he was all-in again and had Blumstein dominated with an ace-eight to Blumstein's ace-deuce. But as had been the case for most of the tournament, dramatics ensued, and a deuce on the river gave Blumstein a pair and the title.

"Is there a better way to win the main event than by hitting a three-outer on the river?" said Blumstein. "A normally inconsequential [card] -- the deuce -- changes my life."

Blumstein had to fight through a field of 7,221 players over two weeks in the 48th edition of poker's most famous tournament. This WSOP main event drew the third-largest field in history, behind only the fields in 2006 (8,773 players) and 2010 (7,319). The total accumulated prize pool for the event was $67,877,400, awarded in escalating amounts to 1,084 players.

Ott said he was satisfied with how he performed and the result.

"At the end, the chips didn't go my way," Ott told PokerNews.com. "The cards didn't go my way. But I got second place in the third-largest main event ever. I can't complain about that."

Blumstein's sizable lead made for a chaotic few hours, with five all-in-and-call hands playing out before Pollak's elimination in third place. It was also cyclical, as Ott doubled through Pollak twice, only for Pollak to win a pair of all-ins against Blumstein each time he became the short stack.

After Ott won the three-way all-in, Blumstein held an advantage of less than 2-1, paltry in comparison to the lead he had held for much of the past three days. They traded blows, but Blumstein never dropped below 200 million chips.

It was the conclusion of a three-day run for the ages for Blumstein. On the first night of the final table Thursday, he doubled through chip leader John Hesp to take a lead he would never relinquish. On Friday, Blumstein wielded that stack and accumulated even more chips as the final seven played down to three.

2017 WSOP main event final table results

Scott Blumstein: $8.15 million Dan Ott: $4.7 million Benjamin Pollak: $3.5 million John Hesp: $2.6 million Antoine Saout: $2 million Bryan Piccioli: $1.675 million Damian Salas: $1.425 million Jack Sinclair: $1.2 million Ben Lamb: $1 million

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> A New Jersey man is a millionaire this morning after winning the World Series of Poker.Scott Blumstein, 25, won the event on the 246th hand of the final table. He won the event of the last card of the hand with a pair of twos.He's taking home $8.1 million and a custom gold championship bracelet, made from white and yellow gold, diamonds and rubies.Blumstien had to beat 7,221 other poker players to claim the top prize. </s> Scott Blumstein, a 25-year-old professional poker player from Morristown, New Jersey, won the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship early Sunday at the Rio Convention Center.

Scott Blumstein wanted to play the World Series of Poker Main Event last year but couldn’t afford the buy-in.

Instead, he went to Atlantic City and won a tournament for almost $200,000.

Blumstein parlayed that money into an even bigger prize early Sunday when he won the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship at the Rio Convention Center.

The 25-year-old professional poker player from Morristown, New Jersey, defeated Daniel Ott in a heads-up battle that lasted three hours to capture the $8.15 million first prize.

“The world is a funny place, and funny things happen here,” Blumstein said. “My story’s a pretty interesting one, I think, and for it to end and climax in this fashion is something I never thought possible.”

Blumstein outlasted a field of 7,221 entrants and led almost wire-to-wire at the final table.

After grabbing the chip lead on Day 7, Blumstein was briefly overtaken on the leaderboard by Englishman John Hesp during Thursday’s final-table action.

But Blumstein regained his advantage later that night in a pivotal hand against the eventual fourth-place finisher and never relinquished control.

Blumstein eliminated France’s Antoine Saout in fifth place Friday in another huge pot to give him a commanding lead heading into Saturday’s action with more than 60 percent of the chips.

“I feel pretty fortunate throughout the whole tournament to have a big stack, but that’s what the Main Event allows you to do,” Blumstein said. “I definitely think having a big stack allows you to put pressure on and that increases your chances of winning for sure.”

Blumstein ran a gutsy bluff against Ott early Saturday, and his victory came in dramatic fashion after 65 hands of heads-up play.

With all the chips in the middle, Blumstein held ace-2 and was well behind Ott’s ace-8. But the river paired Blumstein’s 2 to set off a massive celebration.

Had Ott held on to win the hand, he would have climbed back near 130 million chips and faced less than a 2-to-1 disadvantage.

“Is there a better way to win the Main Event than hitting a three-outer on the river? A normally inconsequential deuce just changed my life,” Blumstein said. “I’m going to be honest. I wish I could say that I was thinking it was coming the whole time, but I was mentally preparing for 40-big blind poker.”

Ott, a 25-year-old poker pro from Altoona, Pennsylvania, took home $4.7 million in his Main Event debut.

“This whole thing has just been amazing,” Ott said. “I’m the happiest person ever, maybe next to Scott. I can’t complain about $4.7 million. It’s an amazing experience.”

Minutes after clinching the win, Blumstein mentioned that his biggest thrill from the Main Event wasn’t the bracelet or the money — it was messaging with comedian and longtime poker fan Norm Macdonald.

”I don’t have an ego in this game. I check my ego at the door. I know where I stand,” Blumstein said. “I know two weeks ago I was just a New Jersey online grinder and nothing’s really changed.

“This is just one poker tournament. It takes variance and luck and playing your best, and all those things came together, and I’m happy to be the winner.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
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