PokerNews qualifier Jimmy Schmotzer came a very competitive 3rd in his flight and now faces a nervous wait to see if he's made the final round.
Jimmy staged a remarkable comeback in the final 20 or 30 seconds climbing off the canvas from around 15th or 16th to finish 3rd.
We caught up with Jimmy afterward who said he was just taking everything 'step by step' and was going to take his mind off things before the results are posted later this afternoon.
Fingers crossed!
We caught up with PokerNews qualifier Jimmy Schmotzer after he made the final day of this year's WTOS.
Check out Jimmy's stay in Paradise as well as his thoughts ahead of the semi final, with his flight getting underway in around 10 minutes:
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The tension has just ramped up another notch as we are into the final hour of the semi-finals.
We've had hundreds of players already take their shot, and hundreds more still to come, including PokerNews qualifier Jimmy Schmotzer and his wife Michele who will be taking to the stage around 12:40pm!
Watch Casino Kelly and the team stream the final day of action here at Atlantis live on YouTube:
The atmosphere is electric here in a packed out WTOS Arena as our semi-finals have just got underway.
95 players from this round of 225 will progress to the final and the chance to play for $1m...
Today's the day. The WTOS will crown its newest winner for 2025 and someone will be flying home with $1m and the accolade of being the reigning slots world champion.
On a packed Saturday of action here at the Atlantis, Bahamas, here are the highlights to look out for:
| Event | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Semi Final Round Registration | 9am-11am | WTOS Arena |
| Semi Final Round | 11am-11:30am | WTOS Arena |
| Wildcard Draw + Game Team Bingo | 3pm-3:30pm | Bar Sol |
| Final Round Registration | 3pm-4pm | WTOS Arena |
| Final Round | 4:30pm-5:30pm | WTOS Arena |
| Awards Gala (Black & Gold Party) | 7pm-10pm | Royal Pool Deck |
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For the past few days, the 2nd Annual World Tournament of Slots (WTOS) has been taking place at the Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, a locale well-known to poker players as home to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise and formerly the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).
While reigning WSOP Main Event champ Michael Mizrachi proved himself a slot champ in a special ‘Drama in the Bahamas’ event against inaugural WTOS champ Stephanie “Win-It-All” Hall, “The Grinder” wasn’t the only poker player in town.
PokerNews actually spotted Eddie Blumenthal, a poker pro with nearly $2.6 million in lifetime earnings according to the Hendon Mob, who was on vacation at the resort, taking advantage of a Caesars Rewards 7-Star benefit.
“I’m just enjoying a non-poker vacation for once,” explained Blumenthal, who next month will relocate from Wisconsin down to South Florida. When asked if he’s a slots player, Blumenthal admitted that he was indeed.
“That's how I got 7 Stars, like tier credit grinding,” he said with a smile. While he wasn’t in attendance for the WTOS, he took notice of the festivities and noted it was different than his usual visit to the island (which is his “7th time, yeah, I think probably my 8th or 9th”).
One thing that anyone who knows Blumenthal for a while will immediately notice is his buffed-up physique, which is a result of some huge lifestyle changes.
“It was kind of a long time coming. I've been a little bit of a partier my whole life and just kind of got to the point the last few years where if I was going to keep going in poker and just other things in life, I was going to have to make some big changes, and it was pretty difficult, but we're.
He continued: “I haven't had a drink this entire year of 2025, which, people who know me are pretty surprised by that, but yeah, it's gonna be me from now on.”
While traveling down the sobriety path, Blumenthal has put a heavy emphasis on other healthy lifestyle choices.
“I was a nationally-ranked wrestler when I was younger, and I've kind of done these fitness things in passing, you know, for a month or two, and then I'll get back into the old ways,” he said. “So, this is just not doing that for 9 or 10 months. When I quit drinking, I was like I need to get back into the wrestling mentality and out of the poker lifestyle, which can be tough on the road all the time.”
So will this new version of Eddie Blumenthal lead to poker success?
“I hope so. This year's been kind of up and down. I've had some deep runs in things. I made Day 5 of the WSOP Main and I got 12th in another tournament. But I think so. I have more energy. I'm making deeper runs, catching more often, and just seeing things more clearly. So yeah, just a matter of time, I think.”
