Bloch defeated fellow pro Barry Greenstein heads-up Saturday night in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event to finally secure his first bracelet and $126,363.
“This is something they can never take away from me,” said Bloch after winning his first bracelet.
Bloch has been playing poker at the WSOP for over 17 years and despite making eight final tables, prior to today had never won a WSOP bracelet.
The New Haven, Connecticut-native famously finished second to Chip Reese in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament for $1 million in 2006.
It wasn’t exactly a cakewalk for Bloch to win his first bracelet as the final table was stacked with the aforementioned Greenstein and the always-dangerous David Williams.
Williams went out in fourth place but Greenstein held on to face Bloch heads-up. In the final hand Greenstein made an eight-high straight but Bloch hit broadway on seventh street to clinch the tournament.
“Certainly after you win it’s sweeter to beat a tough final table,” said Bloch.
The very first WSOP tournament Andy Bloch ever cashed in, way back in 1995, was a Stud event and it’s perhaps fitting that Bloch finally sealed the deal in a Seven-Card Stud tournament.
“I’ve been replaying that bust out hand in my head for a long time,” laughed Bloch.
Certainly a Bittersweet Win
Towards the end of the interview Bloch referenced Black Friday, the closure of Full Tilt Poker and the significant challenges for poker players over the last year.
“It’s certainly a bittersweet win,” he said. “I don’t think it does anything to ease the pain of what a lot of people have been going through the past year.
“People have gone through absolute hell. I hope things end up getting resolved for everybody involved. We’ll see. Hopefully there will be some kind of announcement at the WSOP but I don’t know anything else.”
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