WSOP
The $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Event #61 was the last event to finish before the Main Event takes sole control of the limelight in Las Vegas. This event attracted a small field of 386 players, but didn’t skimp on quality. Players who made the money included Scott Seiver (42nd for $17,162), Marcel Luske (41st for $17,162), Mike “Sir Watts” Watson (29th for $21,081) and Jonathan Duhamel (18th for $32,691).
The official final table started when Oleksii Kovalchuk was eliminated by a cold deck when his Q
Q
7
3 was crushed by Gergj Sinishtaj’s AAQ8. Kovalchuk was also informed before the flop was dealt that the last queen had already been mucked, to leave him drawing very thin. The Ace high flop brought Kovalchuck a back door broadway draw, but it didn’t come, leaving the Ukrainian with no chips, but a $52,611 payday.
Jared Bleznick went into the final table with a 25 big blind lead over Daniel Alaei, who was in second place with about 70 big blinds.
The players managed to play to the dinner break without losing anyone, and it took 34 hands of the official final table to see the first elimination. James Wiese made a 2.5x raise to 100k from the button, and Alex Kravchenko immediately raised the pot from the small blind. Sean Dempsey was sitting in the big blind, repotted the action, forcing the initial raiser, Wiese, to fold.
Kravchenko flipped over A
973 for a double suited hand, with some straight possibilities, but he was still behind Dempsey’s AK87. Dempsey was about 60% to win the hand, and the flop couldn’t have gone much better for him. The three cards were turned over to show 546, and gave Dempsey an 8 high straight. Kravchenko needed to see an 8 or see his tournament come to an end. Unfortunately for the Russian, the board was completed by the 6 and the 5, and he finished in 9th place for $67,742.
With some pretty aggressive chip moving action, it was surprising to have to wait until hand 74 of the final table to see the next bustout. Short stacked Rory Rees Brennan pushed his remaining two and a bit blinds over the line from early position, and he got action when Jared Bleznick three bet to 200k from the hijack, and got the rest of the table to quickly fold.
Brennan turned over his hand to show TT43 while Bleznick turned over his hand to show KKJ
6 to have a near 70% chance of winning the hand.
The Irishman gave Bleznick a sweat when the A27 gave him a straight flush draw, but the Q on the turn removed the two remaining tens from his outs, and the 4 on the river finished off his hopes for a WSOP Bracelet. Brennan finished in 8th place for $88,061.
In what may seem to be a tribute to George Orwell, hand 101 was a horror for Sean Dempsey. Numit Agrawal raised big from middle position to 210k, Dempsey three bet the pot, Agrawal returned the raising favour, and Dempsey called for his remaining chips.
Dempsey showed T872, and was probably unhappy to see Agrawal turn over KJT9 for a slim 9% lead. The 5Q8h on the flop gave Dempsey a pair of eights to take the lead, but the A came on 4th street to give Agrawal a plethora of outs to eliminate the American. the outs included the T, which fell on the river to send Dempsey to the rail in 7th place for $115,637.
6th place came along pretty quickly when Gjergj Sinishtaj made a raise from early position, and got called by Alaei in the cuttoff and Wiese in the big blind. The dealer spread the 8TAh flop and Gjergj shipped his remaining 710k over the betting line. Alaei made the call while Wiese mucked his hand. Sinishtaj turned over
AKJ3 to be slightly behind Alaei’s JT87. The 9 on the turn improved Alaei from two pair to a jack high straight, and leaving just a non spade queen as outs for Gjergj. The 9 on the river wasn’t helpful, and Sinishtaj was eliminated in 6th for $153,372.
Numit Agrawal was sent to the rail in 5th place when he three bet his AA63 and called Wiese’s four bet shove with KQT9. The board ran out 7J83K to give Wiese a straight and leave Agrawal headed to the cage to pick up his $205,512.
4th place came about when Tom Marchese got most of his stack into the middle preflop against Bleznick. The
T52 flop saw Bleznick put Marchese all in, and the cards were put on their backs. Marchese held AK73 while Bleznick had 9875 to be in front with a pair of fives. The Q turn, and the Q river weren’t any help, and sent Tom to the rail in 4th place for $278,298.
It only took another 18 hands to bring the action to a heads up matchup. Wiese min raised from the button, and Bleznick three bet the pot from the big blind. Wiese called, and the dealer dealt the T62 flop, and the rest of the chips soon joined their brethren in the middle of the table. Wiese held QJT6 for two pair, tens and sixes, while Bleznick was drawing to a straight with his K987. The turn of 5 followed by the river of the 4 completed a straight for Bleznick, and Wiese left the table in 3rd place for $380,836.
Play was in the final level of the day, and if a winner wasn’t decided, the players would have to come back the following day, possibly impacting the ability of either player to make a deep run in the Main Event.
We needn’t have worried though, the heads up matchup was a quick affair, lasting a whole hand, and leaving a good 14 minutes of the level, after which the extra day would be needed.
Alaei had the chip lead, and min bet from the button, and Bleznick called to bring the 742c flop. Bleznick check raised to 1.25 Million chips over Alaei’s raise of 275k. Daniel made the call without needing to sit in the tank. The turn snapped over as the T, and Bleznick insta-bet the pot, Alaei didn’t bat an eye as he shoved over the top. Jared made the call, and just like that, all the chips were in the middle.
Alaei was ahead when he turned over TT43 for a set of tens, while Bleznick was chasing an open ended straight draw with his K765. The 2 bricked off the river, and Daniel Alaei was crowned the champion of the final WSOP event to have a winner before the European leg begins
The final table paid out like this:
- Daniel Alaei – $852,692
- Jared Bleznick – $526,625
- James Wiese – $380,836
- Tom Marchese – $278,298
- Numit Agrawal – $205,512
- Gjergj Sinishtaj – $153,372
- Sean Dempsey – $115,637
- Rory Rees Brennan – $88,061
- Alex Kravchenko – $67,742