Benjamin Scholl Minraises to Victory in Event 20
Posted Jun 29th 2012 6:11AM EST
Limit Hold'em may not be everyone's cup of tea; indeed only 166 players entered the $5,000 Limit Hold'em Championship, but for Ben Scholl there is no greater game and his newly acquired gold bracelet shows that he knows how to play the game and play it quite well.
"I think you get involved in more pots, "says Scholl, describing what it is that draws him to the game, "You don't have to risk your entire stack. So you don't have to play quite as carefully. It's kind of more tactical. There are more decisions throughout the end. You're not going to be in all-in pre-flop every hand you play late in the tournament or anything like that. You'll play flops, turns, and rivers."
The win marked Scholls second trip to a WSOP final table, the first coming in 2009 when he took 4th for roughly $150,000. Scholl has played roughly a dozen events since then, but only managed to eek out one min-cash in between final table appearances. Speaking about that first final table, Scholl says, "It gave me confidence to keep trying. I didn't really come close to a final table the next few years. But here I am back at one and it was a lot of fun. So I kept trying, and finally actually won a bracelet this year."
Scholl is a co-worker to Bill Chen, a well-known poker player with a finance background who trades at the same firm as Scholl. Coincidentally, Chen is housemates during the WSOP with Andrew Prock who took 2nd in the event. Besides Chen, Prock had many friends on the rail during the final table providing entertainment for all.
"I think Limit Hold'em lends itself to a more entertaining final table," says Scholl, "Once you get down to short-handed play there's a lot more action. There are more show downs, so the crowd can see what's going on. And Prock had a great rail chanting out different '80s rock songs every time he won a pot. It was an entertaining night. It's fun for me and fun for all I'm sure."
