Only halfway through its 68 tournament schedule, the 2016 World Series of Poker has already crowned three double bracelet winners. The latest, the United Kingdom’s Benny Glaser, earned his latest piece of jewelry in the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo Eights or Better World Championship.
It took a little extra work to get the tournament completed as three men – Glaser (3.225 million), Doug Lorgeree (3.095 million) and Matt Glantz (1.85 million) – couldn’t complete action on Tuesday night before the WSOP curfew hit. Thus, they came back on Wednesday to battle it out for the latest bracelet and took little time to settle their personal score.
Within ten minutes of the opening bell, the chips were flying around the table and a new leader had taken over the table. Lorgeree was able to capture several of those hands and moved out to four million chips, a two million chip edge over Glaser. Even Glantz got into the action, pumping his stack over the two million mark while knocking Glaser down to “only” 1.75 million after 30 minutes of play.
Being the short stack at the three-handed table seemed to annoy Glaser. In a rush of three hands, Glaser would power his way back into a larger chip lead than what he had to start the day (3.9 million to Lorgeree’s 3.4 million) and never let his foot off the gas. Then, with one key hand, Glaser firmly asserted command of the final table ship.
After a raise from Lorgeree, Glaser defended his big blind and saw a dangerous 9-9-8. Glaser check-raised a bet out of Lorgeree to see a trey on the turn. This time Glaser took the lead and, after a call from Lorgeree, a river seven was dealt. Glaser fired again on the river, despite there being straight, flush and full house opportunities on the board, and after Lorgeree made the call, turned up a Q-9-5-2 for trip nines with an 8-7-5-3-2 low. Lorgeree would stare at his cards, trying to find a way to split the pot with Glaser, but he would eventually toss them to the muck as Glaser scooped the pot to move over five million in chips.
Glaser didn’t just heap abuse on Lorgeree. Glantz would be eliminated by Glaser when, on a J-7-5-3-Q board, Glantz got his chips in on the turn with an excellent Q-6-5-2 for a made low (7-6-5-3-2) and a weak pair of fives, but Glaser turned up a straight and a better low (6-5-4-3-2-) with his 10-6-4-2. Needing to have a four just to be able to chop up the pot, Glantz instead saw a Queen come on the river and was out of the tournament in third place.
Up by more than a 4:1 margin, it only took Glaser roughly 30 minutes to take down Lorgeree. On the final hand, all of Lorgeree’s chips made it to the center pre-flop and the cards were turned up. Lorgeree had a 10-8-5-3 menagerie to take to battle, while Glaser had a pre-flop edge for the high at the minimum with his J-6-3-3. A K-5-4 gave a pair of fives for the lead to Lorgeree, but Glaser would turn a flush when the 8♣ came on the turn. That eight also gave Lorgeree two pair, eights up, and another eight or a five would squeak out a chop for Lorgeree that would be his only chance at survival. The river J♠ ended those hopes for Lorgeree, though, as Glaser’s flush stood to give him his second WSOP bracelet of 2016.
1. Benny Glaser, $407,194
2. Doug Lorgeree, $251,665
3. Matt Glantz, $175,754
4. Grzegorz Trelski, $125,125*
5. Robert Campbell, $90,846*
6. Per Hildebrand, $67,291*
7. Todd Brunson, $50,872*
8. Jason Mercier, $39,269*
9. Felipe Ramos, $30,965*
(* – eliminated on Tuesday, part of official final table)
Glaser joins Jason Mercier and Ian Johns as the dual bracelet winners (so far) for this WSOP and, with half the schedule still remaining, it isn’t inconceivable to think that maybe one of these men – or maybe someone else who also has won in 2016 – will earn a third bracelet. If they are able to do that, they would become the first player to do it since Jeff Lisandro took three bracelets (all in non-Hold’em events, it has to be noted) at the 2009 WSOP and join a small fraternity of men (Puggy Pearson, Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Phil Ivey and Lisandro) who have achieved the “three in a year” feat.
How Will They Handle WSOP Records?
One of the big changes at this year’s WSOP was the expansion of the prize pool across the roster of tournaments in play. Instead of paying the usual 10% of those in the field, WSOP officials decided that 15% would be paid during this year’s schedule. This has potentially created an issue when it comes to particular yearly records on the WSOP books.
2016 WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Laplante has been on a run in Las Vegas. Not only did he pick up his first WSOP bracelet in Event #12, the $565 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, he has bene able to cash in eight other tournaments so far in 2016. The record for one year at the WSOP is 11 (for just the Las Vegas event) and 13 overall (if the WSOP-Europe or the WSOP-APAC is added in) and, with plenty of chances left, Laplante is pretty much a sure bet to earn some more money at the WSOP. The question is does his achievement rank as the new record?
It can’t be overlooked how much that extra 5% of the field being paid might make on this record pursuit. If the 10% rule was in place, Laplante would not have cashed in five of his events this year. With the halfway point in sight, the difference between having four cashes (under the 10% rule) and nine cashes (under the 15% rule) is significant.
Whether he gets the record or not, Laplante has had an outstanding run (if it wasn’t for Mercier, Johns and Glaser, he’d be crushing the WSOP Player of the Year race). But will he also be able to claim the record for most cashes at a singular year’s WSOP?
UPDATE: An official for the WSOP has commented that Laplante, should he blow by the cashes record at this year’s WSOP, would be credited with the record “but with an asterisk…like Roger Maris.”
