July 20-24
Matthew Blagg's previous best finish in a WSOP Circuit Main Event (Las Vegas, 2024)
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1ST
Matthew Blagg
$238,470
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2ND
Eric Yanovsky
$159,040
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3RD
Daniel Lei
$111,880
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4TH
Jia Chi Li
$79,920
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5TH
Jack Duong
$57,980
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6TH
Jingyang He
$42,740
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7TH
Shawn Daniels
$32,010
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8TH
Eric Thompkins
$24,370
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9TH
Philip Lucia
$18,860
First live win, first ring for Blagg
Coming into the final table of the WSOPC Horseshoe Las Vegas Main Event final table, Matthew Blagg had never won a live poker tournament before, but after just under eight hours of play, he emerged victorious to take home $238,870, the coveted WSOP Circuit gold ring, and top a near-record field of 936 entrants.
“It feels good to have some jewelry,” Blagg said immediately following the win. “On dinner break [on Day 1B], I had less than starting stack and just caught fire from there.”
Caught fire might be an understatement for the newly crowned champion, as by the end of the night he would have 1,200,000 to bag the second-largest stack heading into Day 2, but one hand in particular stood out.
In a four-way all-in pot pre-flop, Blagg held ace-king but was up against pocket kings, pocket queens, and pocket jacks for his tournament life. However, the board ran out four hearts, with Blagg holding the ace of hearts to send a pair of players to the rail and vault to near the top of the chip counts.
“Honestly, I just like to remind myself I have been through this process like a 1,000+ times online,” Blagg said of his run to the final table. “The only difference is [my opponents] can see me and the money is generally bigger.”
With 100 big blinds to play with coming into Day 2, Blagg still had a minefield to navigate, and navigate he did as he quadrupled his stack to 4,500,000, which was good for fourth in chips heading into the final table.
Fast start
The action kicked off quickly as on the second hand of the day Jingyang He would find himself all in with pocket kings against the pocket queens of Philip Lucia. The cowboys held for He, and a few hands later the Chinese pro would send Lucia out the door in ninth place for $18,860.
However, what kings give they can also take away, as just about 20 minutes later, Blagg found himself holding the cowboys and facing a nearly four million chip shove pre-flop from He with the big blind at 120,000 and four shorter stacks at the table. Blagg let out an “Oh Boy” as he flicked in a calling chip, but when he tabled pocket jacks, Blagg had scored the double to second in chips.
“Not to be too Inside Baseball, but that is generally good if people want to bust. The pay jumps aren’t huge at that point,” Blagg said of the early action at the final table. “I mean, I’m not gonna fold everything (in reference to the kings vs. jacks hand). It was nice to see some wild cards at the table kinda gambling.”
Later, in four-handed play, Blagg once again found himself in an all-in clash pre-flop with the chip leader. Yanovsky moved all in for just over five million effective, as he had been running the table up until this point, but unfortunately for the chip leader, Blagg woke up with pocket rockets and scored the massive double to sit nearly even at the top.
Unfortunately for Blagg, Yanovsky immediately got all those chips back on the next hand when Jia Chi Li moved all in from the small blind for about five million with pocket sixes, only to see Yanovsky table kings from the button. The board ran out queen-high, and Li was out the door in fourth place for $79,920, leaving Blagg on the short stack to start three-handed play.
Heads-up dogfight
Blagg wouldn’t stay on the short stack for long as he would be a shove through on the turn against Yanovsky, and then about a level later he would send Lei to the rail in third place for $111,880 to take the chip lead into the heads-up match.
“I knew he was very good, and I don’t know who is better between me or him,” Blagg said of his heads-up opponent. “I was just trying not to make any huge mistakes.”
With that in mind, Blagg didn’t make a huge mistake, but he did make a small one: he forgot that in live tournaments the ante heads-up is equal to the big blind, while online it is much less.
“It was actually kind of funny; about ten or fifteen hands, I realized that and was like, I have to start limping more cause there is so much more money in the pot,” Blagg said of the change in his game plan heads-up.
With that change, the heads-up match became a dogfight, and chips basically started to get passed around the table for nearly an hour with each player sitting on roughly 45 big blinds before Blagg took control.
Still nearly even in chips, Yanovsky opened the button to 800,000, and Blagg defended the big blind to see a flop of 
. Blagg checked, Yanovsky continued for 700,000, and Blagg put in the check-raise to 2,000,000.
Yanovsky called, and the turn fell the 
. Blagg bet 3,100,000, and Yanovsky called again to see the river 
complete the board. Blagg unloaded the clip and moved all in for about nine million effective, and after an agonizing tank, Yanovsky sent his hand into the muck and surrendered the chip lead back to Blagg.
Just a few hands later, all the money went in on the turn with Yanovsky holding straight and flush draws, only to see Blagg wake up with a set of fours. The turn bricked for the young phenom, and he was out the door in second place for $159,040, while Blagg breathed a sigh of relief after securing his first WSOP ring.
