Houston Gynecologist Geffrey Klein took a break from his dream job to win the Event #10: Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em tournament at the 2011 WSOP. After defeating a field of 1,920 players, Klein earned over $544k, his first WSOP cash and his first gold bracelet.
Those in attendance were treated to quite a show since Klein was at a 9-to-1 chip disadvantage going into heads-up play against Eddie Blumenthal. At one point, Klein doubled up three times in a short span through Blumenthal. This episode caused Blumenthal to exclaim, “How can he beat me in that many all-ins, Jesus Christ!”
What’s nice is that Klein wasn’t overly-cocky after the big win, as he admitted there were better, more experienced people in the field. He told reporters, “I can tell you clearly that all of these guys are more skilled than I am at calculating math and reading players and things that come with doing it every day – This isn’t chess. I couldn’t beat the World Champion chess player ever, but because of the swings and the luck factor involved I can actually play with these guys. I feel like I can.” He also added, ““I never expected anything like this. I wanted to do well and play well and get lucky.”
Aside from a gynecologist winning this tournament, another interesting fact about Event #10 is that it was the biggest six-handed tourney in poker history after 1,920 players bought in. This is just one more instance of a 2011 WSOP tournament exceeding attendance expectations.
Many people thought going in that this year’s WSOP would see a severe drop in attendance due to a lowered amount of online prize packages being offered. However, some of the early events have set records such as this six-handed tournament. It will be interesting to see how the attendance figures shape up over the next few weeks.
