Paul Matties is the 2016 National Handicapping Champion
Paul Matties of Ballston Spa, NY, just a short distance from Saratoga Race Track, is the winner of the 17th National Handicapping Championship. With the title he takes home the $800,000 winner’s share of the $2,775,000 prize pool, an Eclipse Award as the Top Handicapper of 2016, and a spot in next year's NHC.
About the victory Matties joked, “Horseplayers always think they’re smarter and better than everybody else so to beat all the smartest people in the world, what an honor."
Matties was on top of the leaderboard heading into the Final Table of ten, which included his younger brother, Duke. He was able to hang onto the lead through the seven mandatory races, which were split between Gulfstream Park, Fair Grounds, Oaklawn Park, and Santa Anita.
“My brother Duke’s the greatest,” Matties said. “He was rooting for me more than he was rooting for himself the whole time. I’ve never seen him so nervous.”
Going into the seventh and last race of the final table, the ninth at Santa Anita, which was the California Cup Turf Classic, with a full field of 12, Paul Matties was $10.40 ahead of Roger Cettina. These two were $48.50 ahead of the rest of the field making them the main contenders for the top prize of $800,000 and the runner-up money of $250,000.
At this point there was a great deal of money at stake and the players had to decide if they were going to pick a horse with higher odds and take a shot at the first place money or try and move up the leaderboard and bring home a bigger check. A mere $35.70 separated the next six handicappers, who were in places three to eight.
With their final choices, the players made it clear that they were going for the big money. Nobody selected a horse shorter than the 7-1 fourth choice, while most went for double digit odds and the big score. But when the horses with the lowest odds finished one-two, NHC17 was over with no change to the leaderboard.
photo courtesy of Horsephotos/NTRA
In addition to the $250,000 that Roger Cettina won for finishing second, he also took home a $25,000 bonus and an entry into NHC18 for having the best finish from those that were in the Top 20 on the NHC Tour.
Dave Gutfreund, a founding partner of Derby Wars and the leader after Day Two, finished in fifth place defeating 634 players to earn $75,000. Gutfreund is no stranger to final tables having been at several on the Heartland Poker Tour.
FINAL 10 RESULTS
1) Paul Matties, Ballston Spa, NY, [50-1] -- $800,000
2) Roger Cettina, Rumson, NJ, [40-1] -- $250,000
3) Charlie Davis, Seattle, WA, [80-1] -- $125,000
4) Duke Matties, Laguna Beach, CA, [40-1] -- $100,000
5) Dave Gutfreund, Chicago, IL, [60-1] -- $75,000
6) Joe Perry, Hamilton, NJ, [60-1] -- $65,000
7) Peter Deys, Edmonton, AB, [175-1] -- $59,000
8) Ernest Powers, North Reading, MA, [175-1] -- $54,000
9) Stanley Bavlish [field 4-1] -- $52,000
10) Mark Richards, Pembroke Pines, FL, [175-1] -- $50,000
The odds above were available at the Treasure Island sports book prior to the start of NHC17.