WSOP 2017 champion will pay $4,000,000 in taxes
We already know that young American Scott Blumstein became the winner of World Series of Poker 2017 Main Event. His official prize money is officially $8,150,000, but after paying taxes he will be left with… a little over half of that.
This year WSOP Main Event 2017 gathered 7,221 people. That’s a lot. There were more registrations only back in 2010 (7,319 buy-ins) and 2006 (8.773). In addition to that, for the first time in six years the number of players was more than 7,000. This was the line they were trying but couldn’t reach.
This is some great news! The decision to get rid of the huge break between Main Event final table and the major part of the tournament turned out a great success. It allowed to attract much more attention
The final table was more intriguing as well.
Firstly, Scott Blumstein became the super chip leader in the very beginning when he got set of aces vs. two pairs of British John Hesp. His crown was uncontested.
Secondly, the same 64-year-old Hesp is non-professional player and he felt free giving away jokes and entertaining opponents and viewers. This brought some sort of home atmosphere to the tournament, which is so rare in today’s modern poker, where numbers and graphs rule.
Thirdly, the final table had two finalists from previous years – Ben Lamb was third in 2011 and Antoine Saout finished third as well, but in 2009. It’s amazing how some pros are able to show these high results in such tournaments. By the way, a year ago Saout was also close to the final table – he was 25th!
WSOP Main Event Final Table Results 2017:
1. Scott Blumstein, USA – $8,150,000
2. Dan Ott, USA – $4,700,000
3. Benjamin Pollak, France – $3,500,000
4. John Hesp, Great Britain – $2,600,000
5. Antoine Saout, France – $2,000,000
6. Bryan Piccioli, USA – $1,675,000
7. Damian Salas, Argentina – $1,425,000
8. Jack Sinclair, Great Britain – $1,200,000
9. Ben Lamb, USA – $1,000,000
So who is the real Main Event winner?
It is a common thing in poker as official prize money are only remotely close to real payouts. Should we exclude taxes (as they are given to the imaginary character - Tax Man), we can see the following doom picture:
1. Tax Man – $7,659,195
2. Scott Blumstein, USA – $4,310,571
3. Benjamin Pollak, France – $3,500,000
4. Dan Ott, USA – $2,600,194
5. John Hesp, UK – $2,600,000
6. Antoine Saout, France – $2,000,000
7. Jack Sinclair, UK – $1,200,000
8. Damian Salas, Argentina – $997,500
9. Bryan Piccioli, USA – $791,023
10. Ben Lamb, USA – $591,517
This aspect works in favor of British people or those who live in Great Britain. This category has three people:
· John Hesp – true Englishman
· Benjamin Pollak and Antoine Saout, who are of French origin but live in London.
All the rest had to give away a sufficient part of their profit. The biggest part of the pile was taken in taxes of Scott Blumstein – US Tax Department will receive almost $4,000,000 from him. This is the real annual World Series winner. Just imagine how much personal money was spent in buy-ins during the time series takes place. Tens of millions dollars…
USA also has state taxes in addition to federal ones – of about 4-9%. Only Nevada residents (the state where Las Vegas is situated) are deprived of paying it
That’s the way it is, gentlemen.
WSOPE in Rozvadov, Czech Republic waits for us in October. The best European and world playerы will come to King's Casino.
All poker tournaments in Las Vegas
More interesting and useful articles from the world of poker you can read in our blog. Also search for poker clubs in the country or city, get to know about upcoming poker tournaments or cash games at PokerDiscover.com portal.
If you liked the article, don’t forget to share it with your friends in social networks.