Winning the Main Event of the World Series of Poker is a life-changing event, but as 2017 champion Scott Blumstein proved, the one playing at the final table doesn't have to be the only one that benefits from the grand prize.
As an ESPN report notes, a few of Blumstein's friends that helped spot his $10,000 entry fee into the tournament are now also huge beneficiaries of his success.
Just a few weeks before the start of the tournament, while Blumstein was still an relatively unknown poker player, grinding away for hours at online hands, he posted a tweet inviting friends and followers to back his bid in the tournament.
While the tweet got little interest at the time, it's evident that at least a few of his friends took Blumstein up on the deal, and now they are reaping the rewards of their investment. As ESPN reports, Peter Gerolamo, Aldo Boscia, John Scuteri, and Nick Muldrow each spotted Blumstein $60 toward his effort, and now they're walking away with more than $40,000 apiece.
It is common among players to have friends, family, or actual investors help stake them in big tournaments for a share of their eventual winnings. While the money Blumstein's hearty crew donated to the cause did little to dent the entirety of the $10,000 entry fee, the move was initially more about supporting a friend than actually turning a profit. "He wanted us to sweat it out with him," Boscia said after the event.
Once Blumstein had made the final table, and it was guaranteed that he would walk from the tournament with no less than $1 million in winnings, a crew of his supporters, many of them friends from college, flew out to act as his cheering section for the final stretch of the tournament.
Their faith in their friend paid off, and when a deuce came on the river of the final hand to win Blumstein the tournament, the whole team was able to celebrate together.
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