As amazing as televised poker and internet poker have been for the growth of the game, some players bemoan the idea that those two vehicles increased the popularity of the No-Limit variety of Texas Hold’em, which in turn drew people away from the Fixed-Limit version of the game. Once upon a time, Fixed-Limit was much more popular than No-Limit, but now…not so much. Event #20: $5,000 Limit Hold’em was the second smallest World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament so far this summer. With just 166 entrants, it barely edged out the $5,000 Seven Card Stud event, which attracted a field of 145. Even the Razz tournament which Phil Hellmuth won drew more of a crowd. Nonetheless, Fixed-Limit Hold’em is still important to many people, none more so right now than Benjamin Scholl, who took down Event #20 for his first WSOP bracelet and just over $200,000.
The last day of the tournament began with two tables of players remaining and by the time the final table was determined, Scholl was in the bottom half of the chip counts with 220,000, way behind chip leader Jeff Shulman, who had 642,000. By the time the dinner break rolled around about two hours later, Scholl’s stack was even smaller than it was to start the final table. It certainly didn’t look like he had a bracelet run in him.
But perhaps a hearty meal was what was needed. Right after the dinner break, Scholl eliminated Matthew Woodward and then took a huge bite out of then chip leader Andrew Prock’s stack to elevate to over 600,000 and take the lead.
When it finally got down to heads-up, Scholl had a substantial chip lead over Prock, 1.94 million to 550,000. Prock couldn’t gain any traction and Scholl finished him off in less than 20 minutes. Down to under 200,000 chips, Prock three-bet pre-flop, Scholl called and the two saw a flop of A♠-6♥-7♦. Prock bet the flop and Scholl called to bring the 7♥ on the turn. At that, Prock put his last 15,000 chips into the pot, Scholl called, and the two showed what they hand. For Prock it was 3♥-3♠ for an underpair and for Scholl it was A♥-T♣ for top pair and a dominant lead in the hand. Prock was unable to find another 3 on the river, giving the championship and $206,760 to Benjamin Scholl.
This was Scholl’s first WSOP bracelet. He came close in 2009, finishing 4th in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event. He now has three cashes in his WSOP career and six cashes overall for $375,234 in total earnings.
2012 WSOP Event #20: $5,000 Limit Hold’em – Final Table Results
1. Benjamin Scholl – $206,760
2. Andrew Prock – $127,773
3. Jeff Shulman – $92,562
4. Jesse Martin – $68,322
5. Raymond Dehkharghani – $51,344
6. Matt Glantz – $39,259
7. Matthew Woodward – $30,529
8. Nicholas Derke – $24,139
9. Ayman Qutami – $19,395