10 Million Payout Last Night in World Series of Poker

In the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main event final last night, Martin Jacobson of Sweden took home the $10,000,000 first place payout, the biggest prize in poker. It was Mr. Jacobson's first poker bracelet, which he won by beating Felix Stephensen of Norway on the final table. The winning hand was three tens, or a set as it is called in poker parlance. No tears should be shed for second place finisher Stephenson, as he took home a check for $5,147,911 as a consolation prize. The past 5 years winners are shown below, with their initial championship hole cards and prize money won: 2010 Jonathan Duhamel A♠ J♥ 8,944,138 2011 Pius Heinz A♠ K♣ 8,715,638 2012 Greg Merson K♦ 5♦ 8,531,853 2013 Ryan Riess A♥ K♥ 8,359,531 2014 Martin Jacobson 10♥ 10♦ 10,000,000 Many hedge fund managers cut their teeth playing poker and gambling. Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn has a WSOP participant, while Steven Begleiter, who used to head corporate strategy at Bear Stearns, made the final table at the main event of the World Series Poker in 2009, winning $1.26 million. Jeremy Wien, Head of VIX Trading at JPMorgan, also participated in the WSOP, outlasting David Einhorn. Jeff Yass of Susquehanna Group, which holds poker tournaments as a recruitment event, commented that "The basic concept that applies to both poker and option trading is that the primary object is not winning the most hands, but rather maximizing your gains." Scott Redler of T3 also compared gambling skills to trading acumen, noting "With a game like No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, you need patience and discipline, or in other words the exact same skills needed to be a good trader." Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies played serious poker while attending MIT, and utilizes gambling concepts based on probabilities in many of his trading models. So for WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson, a career on Wall Street may be in the offing.