CRAIG BLIGHT IS THE MASTERS CHAMPION AT THE 2017 WSOP SYDNEY MASTERS EVENT! - $23,906
The most amazing thing about Craig Blight winning the Masters Event here at the 2017 WSOP Sydney Circuit Event is that it told the world Craig Blight was over 50! Nobody will ever accuse Blight of only winning a tournament because it was a Masters one, the baby faced assassin is one of the more accomplished tournament poker players in the Greater Sydney Region with over $700,000 in career earnings.
Much like in our Turbo Event yesterday, Craig Blight was absolutely clinical today. He was responsible for eliminating seven out of his eight opponents at the final table. He came in with the chip lead and never looked back until he had picked up all the chips, a WSOP Gold Ring and the $23,906 first place paycheque firmly in his grasp.
This was no easy tournament either mind you, with 177 players starting in this event there was some significant poker talent in the tournament and especially at the pointy end. The final table included notable players such as former Melbourne Champs Main Event Winner Todor Kondevski, Sam Khouiss ($1.2m Tournament Earnings) and Michel Bouskila ($1m Tournament Earnings).
Even with such formidable talent, Blight was still completely unstoppable.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Craig Blight told the Star Poker Live Reporting Team. “I had in mind that I wanted to come here and have a good showing during the WSOP and it is amazing to get the win.
When speaking to Blight about the number of players he knocked out he revealed that the perfect mixture of luck and big stack aggression was what put him in such a great spot today.
“I ran good tonight,” Blight confided. “Sometimes I didn’t have it but honestly a lot of the time I had good cards. It was great having the big stack, you can put a lot of pressure on the other players which really helps. If they are the ones that are all in then they are the ones who have hard decisions to make.”
The only man who came close to our chip leader was Justin Layden. Justin played a good game overall and was just looking for the right moment to attack. Unfortunately for him it proved difficult against a man who had over 75% of the chips in play when when we were four handed.
A nice moment in this tournament was when we saw how valuable the WSOP Circuit Gold Ring is to players. There was a small discussion about hypothetical deals that could be made and players were unable to find common ground..
“I am not trying to be funny,” Blight finally told his heads up opponent. “But I don’t really care about he money. I just want the ring.”
At this point Layden smiled and replied “Me too”.
There are few things more iconic than the WSOP in the world of poker. The fact that these players had the opportunity to play for a WSOP title whilst being in Sydney at the Star Poker Room is a truly memorable event.
“I love the Star Poker Room,” Blight told us. “You can see the amount of work they have put in over the past five years to make it even better for players, they have done a great job.
“I think it is probably the best poker room in Australia now days.”
We hope to see Craig Blight back in the Star Poker Room later in the series as he competes in future events. Blight doesn’t need to wait until another Masters Event. With his level of poker talent he can literally win anything.