Tuesday featured yet another World Series of Poker (WSOP) final table jam-packed with familiar faces. The 179 players who turned out for Event #18, the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Omaha H/L, made up a tough field in which a number of known pros were able to navigate their way through difficult competition and make it to the final nine.
Four former bracelet winners were vying to repeat, three-peat, or, in the case of PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu, go for bracelet number five. Negreanu was back at the final table once again, just a couple of days after finishing as the runner-up to internet pro Brock “t_soprano” Parker in Event #14, the $2,500 buy-in 6-handed Limit Hold’em event. Joining him were bracelet winner and “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up Annie Duke, cash game player extraordinaire Daniel Alaei and Full Tilt Pro and Omaha specialist Scott “Big Riskky” Clements.
Duke was the first of the pros to fall, finishing in 8th place for $58,049. Shortly after her elimination, she made her way over to the newly started $3,000 buy-in HORSE event to give it another go at a title. Duke has a history of success in Omaha H/L. She won her bracelet in an Omaha H/L event in 2004 and she cashed in the smaller buy-in Omaha H/L event just last week.
While he is not as recognizable a face as some of the others at the table, it is worth mentioning that the sixth place finisher, Greg Jamison, has final tabled this event for the past three years, an impressive feat considering this tournament’s notoriously tough competition. Fifth place finisher John Monette has also displayed some impressive results against well known players – he finished second to Phil Ivey in the Deuce to Seven Lowball event a few days ago.
After getting crippled in a hand during 4-handed play, 4th place finisher Negreanu tried to mount an impressive comeback, but fell short and was eliminated with a consolation prize of $130,401. Like Duke, he was not content to call it a day and jumped in the HORSE tournament as well. To give you an idea of just how long their days were, the final 17 players in the Omaha event resumed play at noon and the HORSE event did not call it a night until 3AM.
In the end, heads-up play came down to Clements and Alaei. While both are exceptionally skilled players, Clements clearly had an advantage when it came to experience with the game. Both of his bracelets are in Omaha H/L and he is considered by many to be one of the world’s best. However, by the time heads-up play began the betting limits were so large that it took only two hands for Alaei to defeat Clements to take his second bracelet and the $445,898 prize. BigRiskky had to settle for second place, worth $275,946.
Alaei is not known as an avid player of Limit games, but his reputation as one of the toughest No Limit and Pot Limit cash game players around meant he was never discounted as a contender. With this win, Alaei picked up his second bracelet at just his second career WSOP final table, but that didn’t appear to be enough for him.
“In the poker world, bracelets are like trophies”, Alaei said afterwards in a post-victory interview. “So, it is good to win. Now, I want a third bracelet. Before, I wanted number two. And now, I want number three.”
The Omaha Championship was just one of several events taking place on Tuesday at the Rio. The $2,500 6-Handed No Limit Hold’em event (Event #20) tried to play down to the final table, but stopped at 11 players once the 3AM deadline rolled around. The two chip leaders in that event also happen to be the two biggest names remaining in the field. European player Joseph Serock is atop the chip count while none other than Brock Parker is nipping at his heels, trying to see if he can win two bracelets just days apart from each other.
Two new events also kicked off yesterday. As has been mentioned, the $3,000 buy-in HORSE event (Event #22) drew 452 entrants, 192 of which survived to make Day 2. PokerStars pro Andre Akkari and Full Tilt Pro David Singer are two of the bigger chip stacks remaining from the first day of play.
The other new offering Tuesday was Event #21, a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event. The tournament drew a smallish crowd of 633 runners and some fast and furious action left only 62 players standing by the end of the evening. Two online pros, Jason “TheMasterJ33” Dewitt and Jeremiah “Believer82” Vinsant, lead the chip counts and known pros Erik Seidel, Kathy Liebert, and Joe Sebok also remain in contention for the bracelet.
