Brek Schutten is no stranger to playing poker for large sums of money, and today was no different. However, he had additional motivation to get the job done today — and to get it done quickly.
A total of 622 entries were tallied for the marquee $1,700 Main Event of the WSOPC stop at Horseshoe Hammond in Northwest Indiana, all eager to get their hands on the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Schutten claimed the Main Event title, winning $185,594 for his efforts, along with his second WSOPC ring and a $5,000 package to WSOP Paradise in The Bahamas.
However, it was almost over before it started for Schutten, whose wife was admitted to the hospital a few days ago with a medical issue. He nearly chose to not return for Day 2 of the tournament so he could be with his family, but his wife was in good enough condition for him to continue.
“I’m just excited to get back home to her,” he told us after the victory. “God has blessed me with the ability to play poker and provide for my family, so I’m glad to come down here and take one down.”
Home field advantage
Schutten is used to playing much higher stakes after transitioning to high rollers over the past few years, but he has proven that he can still get it done on the Circuit. He lives just over a two hour drive away, and some of his first tournament results happened at Horseshoe Hammond, including a third-place finish in the same event back in 2019.
“It’s just coming back to the basics and understanding the player tendencies at this level,” Schutten explained. “It’s important to be able to profile people quickly and understand the mistakes they’re making, and then exploit those.”
Schutten took the chip lead after a few crucial flips with three tables left, a position that he kept for the rest of the tournament. Despite this, there were still ups and downs.
“Aggression is great in poker. If you lose a big pot, you need to stay aggressive because if you win a few more, you’re right back where you were."
“There were a couple hiccups along the way where I would double somebody up, but I never lost my aggression,” Schutten continued. “I try not to get tilted, but there are plenty in this player pool that will, so that is an advantage for me.”
The champion was quick to give a shoutout to his entire family who have been of assistance during a turbulent weekend.
“Thanks to my mom, my dad, and my father-in-law for taking care of my wife in the hospital and taking care of my kids. I couldn’t do any of this without the family support.”
Wire-to-wire
Schutten entered the final day of action with almost 40% of the chips in play with six players left, and he maintained his aggression from the first hand. It would not take long before a player was eliminated after Andrew Brinkley jammed his final 14 big blinds with ace-nine, only to run into the ace-king of Natan Lidukhover in the big blind, who held on to score the first knockout of the day.
It would then be Lidukhover to fall in fifth place. He went all-in for 12 big blinds with king-queen from the small blind after a Schutten open, and he called with ace-eight suited before a board of bricks spelled the end for Lidukhover.
Over the next hour, Brian Landon would take over short stack duties, and he got the rest of his chips into the middle with ace-jack, only to be outflopped by the eight-five suited of Schutten as Landon had to settle for third.
Three-handed would continue for a while until Merritt Kuhn jammed pocket fives from the small blind for 12 big blinds, but he ran into the pocket tens of Brian Craig in the big blind. The board was no help to Kuhn, and the 22-year-old exited after a career-best score.
Schutten held more than a two-to-one advantage over Craig to begin the heads-up match, which came to a speedy conclusion.
After some small pots were traded, Schutten opened the button with pocket tens and then called after Craig jammed around 31 big blinds with pocket fives. There was a ten on the flop and Craig was drawing dead on the turn. The two shared a sporting handshake to celebrate their six-figure scores before Schutten quickly raced off to the hospital to be with his family.
WSOP Hammond Main Event final results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brek Schutten | $185,594 |
| 2 | Brian Craig | $123,721 |
| 3 | Merritt Kuhn | $84,264 |
| 4 | Brian Landon | $58,628 |
| 5 | Natan Lidukhover | $41,691 |
| 6 | Andrew Brinkley | $30,315 |
