Poker pro David "ODB" Baker, not to be confused with David "Bakes" Baker, won a legendary Las Vegas sports betting competition. His team also finished 2nd place in another contest.
Baker and fellow poker pro Mark Gregorich, both of whom have impressive WSOP and tournament resumes, entered the popular Westgate SuperContest and the new Circa Millions NFL betting competitions. The NFL season concluded last weekend, and they each earned a massive payout for their season-long performance.
Both sports betting contests began at the beginning of the NFL season in September. Each team predicts five games against the spread weekly throughout the season. At the end of the season, the teams that rack up the most points win money, much like in a poker tournament.
Circa's new contest paid its winner $1 million and the Gregorich/Baker team had a slim lead of 1/2 a point heading into the final week. They held that same small lead going into the last weekend of NFL play in the Westgate SuperContest, which paid $435,000 to the winner.
The final weekend was quite a sweat for the poker pros. Runner-up in the Circa contest was worth $300,000, a nice payout but a $700,000 difference compared to 1st place. Over at the Westgate, 2nd place was $335,000 less than 1st place. So, the pair had big bucks riding on those last five picks.
One for two
In the Westgate SuperContest, "OMDMG," Baker and Gregorich's team name, went 3-2, earning three points (1 point per win, 1/2 point for a push), bringing their season total to 56.5.
"YUGO77," an unknown team, entered the week in 2nd place at 53 points, down 1/2 point from the poker pros. That team, however, was only able to manage 2 points (2-3) and finished with 55 points, earning the 2nd place $100,000 payout, which means Gregorich and Baker shipped the $435,000 championship prize.
Over at Circa, a new casino in downtown Las Vegas, however, they lost out by just 1 point and took home $300,000 for 2nd place. In total, they'll split $735,000 between the two contests.
Baker is no stranger to being a champion. He won the 2019 WPT L.A. Poker Classic for $1 million and won WSOP bracelets in 2012 and 2019. Gregorich, a respected poker author, has 71 cashes in bracelet events for $1.2 million.
The pair can now stake claim to being sports betting champions. The Westgate SuperContest is essentially the WSOP Main Event of the sports betting world.
Featured image source: Flickr
