Eric Baldwin saw his world come crashing down on April 15, 2011 when poker faced Black Friday. Prominent online poker sites, including PokerStars, closed their doors to residents of the United States. Baldwin was left high and dry.
Baldwin is better-known as “basebaldy”, his famous online poker alias, thanks to his skills in the virtual world. The Wisconsin native did not follow the path of many f his peers by relocating outside the United States. He upped sticks and moved to Las Vegas and instead concentrated on live poker.
It is fair to say the move worked well. Baldwin secured his second World Series of Poker bracelet in 2018 when he won a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event. The grinder padded his bankroll by $319,580.
More recently, on August 31, 2019, Baldwin won a $230 buy-in tournament at The Wynn for $18,950. Baldwin followed this up with a victory in a $400 buy-in event for $11,658. This week he took down another Las Vegas-based event and walked away with $80,872.
MSPT Main Event at The Venetian Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Baldwin | $80,872 |
| 2 | Richard Schneiderman | $49,990 |
| 3 | Jason Gooch | $36,390 |
| 4 | Rudy Cadenas | $26,833 |
| 5 | Gerald Cunniff | $20,217 |
| 6 | Fernando Brito | $15,438 |
| 7 | Mark Bloomberg | $12,130 |
| 8 | Smith Collins | $9,557 |
| 9 | Nikhi Gera | $6,984 |
A field of 377 players bought into the $1,100 tournament but only 45 of those walked away with prize money. A min-cash paid $2,022 with each of the nine finalists banking no less than $6,984.
The final table was set when the CardPlayer CEO and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Barry Shulman busted. Shulman got his chips in good with ace-king against Smith Collins’ dominated ace-ten, but two tens on the flop crushed Shulman’s hopes of victory.
Baldwin Reaches Ninth Final Table of the Year
California’s Nikhi Gera took his lifetime winnings to almost $1.35 million with a ninth-place finish at the Venetian. Shulman’s executioner, Collins, fell next and won the last four-figure prize, namely $9,557.
Minnesota’s Mark Bloomberg crashed out in seventh for $12,130, his second cash of this series. Fernando Brito then saw his tournament end abruptly in sixth-place for a $15,438 score. Brito is a name familiar with fans of the European Poker Tour as he was a regular feature there. Brito never won an EPT Main Event, although he finished sixth in London, UK in 2010 for $226,909.
Gerald Cunniff narrowly missed out on besting his previous largest score when he ran out of steam in fifth-place. Cunniff, also of Minnesota, collected $20,217 here; his previous largest prize was for $31,346. Cunniff now has $244,023 in live poker tournament winnings.
The final four became three with the elimination of Rudy Cadenas. Cadenas’ demise came at the hands of Baldwin. A short-stack shove with queen-six was called by Baldwin holding pocket eights. An eight on the flop gifted Baldwin a set, with another on the river improving him to quads.
Jason Gooch won his first bracelet in a $1,000 online event at the 2019 WSOP. Gooch could not quite get the job done in this event. Gooch came unstuck when he committed the last of his chips with jack-six and Baldwin called with king-queen. Neither player improved, Baldwin did not need to improve and Gooch busted.
Baldwin Bulldozing His Way to Victory
Baldwin entered the heads-up battle with Richard Schneiderman holding a two-to-one chip advantage. Taking on Baldwin on a level playing field is hard enough, never mind when you trail in chips. The final hand saw both players all-in in an unavoidable spot. Schneiderman opened to 250,000 then called when Baldwin set him all in. Schneiderman showed ace-queen and Baldwin ace-king. Both players paired their ace, but Baldwin’s hand held true resigning Schneiderman to the $49,990 runner-up prize, and banking Baldwin $80,872.
This latest victory pushed Baldwin’s live poker tournament winnings north of $6.47 million. Amazingly, this was Baldwin’s 36th cash of the year to date, showing his dedication to the game. He may have had the rug pulled from under him eight years ago, but it has worked out well for “basebaldy”.
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Matthew Pitt
If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.