Eddie Blumenthal’s Hopes Sobriety Lead To Poker Success

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.”

Check out the full interview with Blumenthal here:

PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, host of both the PokerNews Podcast & MPST Podcast Presented By PokerNews, and 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.