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Pierre Shum – Photo Credit: WSOP / Rachel Kay Miller
Pierre Shum made the first victory of his tournament career a golden one on July 17 in Las Vegas, Nevada when he won The Closer $1,500 no-limit hold’em event at the World Series of Poker. He took home the top prize worth $606,810, and the gold bracelet. Shum is a software engineer who currently lives in Chicago, Illinois, and he certainly has a larger bankroll to try his hand in more tournaments moving forward.
“I was born in Jamaica, and my parents moved there for work. I’ve played poker for a pretty long time, but mostly with friends. I started playing cash games more recently this year. I came in here today to try and win the tournament. The money wasn’t even in my mind,” said Shum to reporters after the win. He continued to say that he enjoys the social aspect of the game, “I started off mostly because my friends played it. I’ve definitely made lots of friends from the poker table. Where I play, it is very social, so it’s fun.” He finished the interview with, “Well, if you like poker, try a tournament. You never know.”
The two-day tournament offered two starting flights that drew a field of 3,531 entries. That put the total prize pool at $4,713,885, with the final 524 players min-cashing for $2,400. Notables that made a deep run toward the final table included gold-bracelet winner Lisa Hamilton (10th), five-time WSOP Circuit gold-ring winner Preston McEwen (11th), and top poker professional Chris Moorman (15th).
Day 2 saw the final 258 players return at Noon to play down to a winner, and the final table was reached a little after 8:30 pm. Shum had gained control of the chip lead by that point in play to set up his run for victory. Shum scored his first knockout at the final table when he eliminated tournament professional Peter Hengsakul in eighth place.
Peter Nigh pulled away from the field with the chip lead as the table played down to five players, and then Shum got in on the action again when he took out Amirpasha Emami in fifth place. Gold-bracelet winner Jack Duong fell in fourth place, and then Nigh took a commanding lead into the heads-up final when he eliminated Roongsak Griffeth in third place.
Shum had his work cut out for him with Nigh holding over two-thirds of the chips left in play when the final match began, but he soon found quad fours to take back the lead. It took just a half hour from there for the final hand to transpire around midnight. Nigh moved all in preflop with A
8
in the hole, and Shum called to cover him holding Q
2. The board was dealt QQ7
J5, and Nigh was eliminated in second place, good for $376,420. It was the largest cash of Nigh’s career, and it takes his tournament earnings up to $1.22 million.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Pierre Shum | $606,810 | 1,320 |
| 2 | Peter Nigh | $376,420 | 1,100 |
| 3 | Roongsak Griffeth | $284,030 | 880 |
| 4 | Jack Duong | $215,650 | 660 |
| 5 | Amirpasha Emami | $164,750 | 550 |
| 6 | Mihai Niste | $126,660 | 440 |
| 7 | Jixue Yin | $100,120 | 330 |
| 8 | Peter Hengsakul | $76,300 | 220 |
| 9 | Sanjeev Kapoor | $59,760 | 110 |
Visit the Card Player 2023 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest event results. WSOP coverage sponsored by Global Poker.
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