Basel Labs

Jason DeWitt won the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #17) for $818,959 at the World Series of Poker on Friday morning. It is his first career WSOP gold bracelet victory for DeWitt, an Indiana native now living in the Atlanta area. The 26-year-old poker pro owns a condominium, which he expects to pay off in full now that he has achieved a huge win.

DeWitt has seven WSOP in-the-money finishes on his blossoming resume, including at least one cash in each of the last five years at the WSOP. He has come close to winning a bracelet twice before, finishing third in a pot-limit Hold’em event last year, and second in a no-limit event a few days later.

He conquered a massive field size of 792 very tough players en route to the title. It was the largest $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em poker tournament in WSOP history. Attendance increased by 21 percent over last year, when there were 655 entries. Sam Trickett, from Nottingham, Great Britain, was the runner up. He is a former professional soccer player who suffered an injury that ended his athletic career. He turned to poker games and has been playing professionally since then. He collected a consolation prize amounting to $505,725, which now gives him $767,138 in WSOP career earnings. He barely missed becoming the third WSOP gold bracelet winner this year from the U.K. Brits now have two wins, two seconds, and a third-place finish at this year’s Series.

Seating was packed to capacity. There were several hundred viewers most of the night. The late-night atmosphere was dominated by a rowdy group of British players, who ringed the final table cheering on their fellow countryman. The British group, numbering between 15-20 players, frequently hummed and whistled the memorable battle march from “The Great Escape.” At one point, English spectators grew tired of drinking draft beer and ordered six bottles of Cristal champagne. The bar tab was $4,600.