It’s been quite a summer for Scott Seiver and it doesn’t come as a surprise to him — he “called his shot” for the 2024 Player of the Year (PoY) with a pre-series tweet and for the final day with a very specific T-shirt choice and made good on the legendary reference to the Babe.
Seiver was in third place in the PoY standings going into the event, in a race for the top with Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen and Jeremy Ausmus. Seiver was well aware of the situation before the final day convened.
In the end, Seiver has all but assured his place in the Poker Hall of Fame when the time comes with this year’s three-bracelet performance simply cementing the deal.
Final Table Results for Event #72: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship
| Place | Player | Home | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Scott Seiver | United States | $411,041 |
| 2 |  Jonathan Krela | Canada | $274,217 |
| 3 | David Lin | United States | $187,177 |
| 4 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | $130,794 |
| 5 | Jen Harman | United States | $93,615 |
| 6 | Mike Watson | Canada | $68,672 |
| 7 | Aaron Kupin | United States | $51,661 |
Three in a Year Puts Seiver in a Very Select Group
Winning a bracelet is an experience the vast majority of poker players will never have. Of the minority who win a bracelet, most will win only one.
A few rare talents will win multiple bracelets over a lifetime. But there were just five players in the 55-year history of the WSOP to win three bracelets in a single summer series going into this year and now, with Seiver’s win in the $10k Deuce Championship, he’s become the sixth.
The list of previous three-time winners reads like a who’s-who of poker greatness including the Phils, Hellmuth (1993) and Ivey (2010), as well as Ted Forrest (also in 1993), Jeff Lisandro in 2009, and Puggy Pearson way back in 1973 when he won 3 of 7 total events. Now, Seiver has added his name to the list in 2024, and perhaps even more impressive, he did it in three different disciplines with bracelets in PLO (flop), razz (stud), and now lowball draw.
Seiver truly called his shot in this one, showing up for the final day wearing a T-shirt of Babe Ruth pointing to left in advance of his iconic homer. But he was calling his shots for more than just this game — before the series even kicked off, he was looking “to get big action down on POY”.
His confidence paid off and he is now in a solid position. With Ausmus out in 4th place, Seiver’s extra points will put him in the lead now with Ausmus sitting on just over 3,400 points to more than 3,700 for Seiver. One has to wonder if anyone who took Seiver up on his pre-series wager is now looking to buy out early.
Final Day Action
The final day of play in the $10k Deuce to Seven Championship saw nine players returning to the action, including the two PoY combatants. Among the other final-day players were some pretty big names including Jason Mercier, Jen Harmon, Robert Mizrachi, and Canadian Mike Watson who came into the final day 2nd in chips behind leader David Lin.
Mercier and Mizrachi were the first to fall to set up the official final table of seven players. Watson was among the early exits in 6th followed quickly by Jen Harmon.
Ausmus then ceded the PoY race (for now at least) to Seiver as he bowed out in 4th after his ten couldn’t best the nine for Canadian runner-up Jonathan Krela. Start-of-day leader Lin was next to fall setting up the heads-up between Seiver and Krela.
Krela started the final phase with the lead, but Seiver quickly fought back and took the lead when he snowed a pair of eights to force Krela to fold a winning king. Seiver went on a tear from there and it looked like he might take it to the wire, but Krela was sticky and managed to get back into the lead.
He evened it up in a three-bet pot when his ten forced a fold from Seiver’s pair, then took the lead shortly after when Seiver was forced to fold again with a king, a fold which proved correct against Krela’s jack.
It wasn’t to last, however. Seiver drew into a slight lead when his ace beat Krela’s pair, then took it down in a heads-up cooler for deuce. Krela three-bet to 800k before each player drew a single card. Krela shoved almost 4.5 million, a significant chunk of Seiver’s stack.
Muttering to himself saying “I don’t think I can fold, I don’t think I should fold” Seiver tanked for a bit before he made the call. The Canadian tabled ten-eight but Seiver’s nine-seven had that crushed for the win.
The win was Seiver’s 7th lifetime bracelet and the $400k+ score from this one pushed his lifetime earnings to an astonishing $26.7 million.
