For the Boys in the Hall

Last June 18, nine firefighters from the City of Charleston Fire Department were killed while fighting a fire at a Charleston furniture story. Shultz had them on his mind for the entire tournament.

“This is near a year to the day of the tragedy,” said Shultz. “In their remembrance and to honor my community, I wear all of their t-shirts and hats all week.”

Shultz wore the department’s logo on his way to outlasting a field of 883 players to collect his first World Series of Poker bracelet and $257.936 in cash. He plans to donate 25% of his winnings to Charleston Firefighters' Fund to help the families of the nine lost that day. The fund is especially important to Shultz since the nine included one of his poker buddies.

“Louis Murkey was a friend of mine. He played poker with me. I have known him for about five years….I am one-hundred percent privileged to do (make the donation) for Louis and for the other folks and all their families,” said Shultz during an emotional post-tournament intervie. “I can’t wait to get back home because this was all for them. This was for a lot of other people rather than just me.”

Runner-up Zac Fellows, from Vancouver, BC earned $165,165.

But the biggest sideshow at the final table may have been third-place finisher Vinny Vinh. After making headlines in 2007 for failing to show up for two Day 2 restarts Vinh was back at it again. He showed up nearly 45 minutes late for the Day 3 restart and then disappeared again later in the night only to re-appear and play four consecutive hands blind. Despite his erratic behavior, Vinh earned $99,099.

For complete payouts from Event #12 visit the WSOP Results page.