Professional Sports Bettor Brandon Wittmeyer Takes Down DraftKings 50/50
Day 3 of Event #55: $1,500 DraftKings 50/50 No-Limit Hold'em – a tournament that attracted 1,123 entries and created a prize pool of $1,516,050 – saw 28 players return to battle down to a winner. It took a full day of play, but eventually 31-year-old Brandon Wittmeyer, a professional sports bettor from Las Vegas, emerged victorious to capture the $200,618 first-place prize and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
"Honestly, I did not really think about the sports betting and Draftkings connection," said Wittmeye4, who had finished third in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event less than a week ago. “This just happened to be the next tournament on the schedule after I finished third in the other event. So, it was nothing I planned out."
He continued: "I’ve played about eight tournament this year so far. It’s amazing to have this happen to me back-to-back making two final tables, and now this. I just thought it would be neat to cash again since they were paying half the field. I didn’t expect to come this far again, let alone win it."
Among those to fall on Day 3 were Dominik Nitsche (24th - $6,049), Joao Simao (18th - $7,354), Matt Affleck (6th - $31,079), and Mukul Pahuja (4th - $56,245). By the time heads-up play rolled around, Wittmeyer held a 3-to-1 chip lead over Derek Gomez, a poker dealer from the Wynn Casino.
In what would be the final hand of the tournament, which happened in Level 30 (40,000/80,000/10,000) on Hand #146 of the final table, Gomez limped the button and then shoved all in after Wittmeyerhad raised to 300,000. Wittmeyer made the call with the 
, which was well out in front of Gomez's 
. However, the 
flop gave Gomez the lead with a pair of tens. The 
was of no consequence, but the 
river was as Wittmeyer paired up to capture the title!
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Wittmeyer | Las Vegas, NV | $200,618 |
| 2 | Derek Gomez | Orange, CA | $123,907 |
| 3 | Ping Liu | Chicago, IL | $77,516 |
| 4 | Mukul Pahuja | Coconut Creek, FL | $56,245 |
| 5 | Tom Braband | Las Vegas, NV | $41,540 |
| 6 | Matt Affleck | Mill Creek, WA | $31,079 |
| 7 | Perati Muhamet | Italy | $23,650 |
| 8 | Stefano Terziani | Italy | $18,268 |
| 9 | Michael Witman | Horseshoe Bay, TX | $14,266 |