Pot Limit Omaha is known as an action game, which makes all the WSOP events of this type extremely entertaining. 685 players put up $3,000 to play PLO in Event 31, which meant a $1,870,050 prize pool and $420,802 for first place.

Day 3 began with 25 players eyeing the golden bracelet, with Sam Stein as the chip leader. Known as “KingKobeMVP” online, Stein has amassed over $1.2 million in winnings grinding online tournaments. His transition to live poker can be described as seamless as he has won over $2.2 million live since mid 2009. He was definitely a favorite to make the final table.

Ben Lamb came into Day 3 second in chips, 25 big blinds behind Stein. Known as benba online, Lamb had amassed over 1.1 million in earnings previous to this PLO event.

Ben Lamb sits on a large stack. Photo courtesy of PokerNews.

En route to the final table, numerous notable players fell short. Andrew “achen” Chen, Rami “arbianight” Boukai, and Kory “s00tedjokers89” Kilpatrick, all long time winners in the online poker world, busted before the final nine. Bubbling the final table in tenth was Tex Barch. Barch is known for taking third place in the 2005 Main Event for $2,500,000.

Despite these significant elimninations, the final table was a shark tank. Both Stein and Lamb made the final table, along with Christian “charder30” Harder, Adam “ajunglen” Junglen, and Brock “t soprano” Parker.

Somewhat surprisingly, the final table started off quite slowly, and it took over two hours for the first bustout. After the first elimination, however, the all-in confrontations became numerous. Parker was the first notable bustout, losing an all-in preflop against Warren Fund’s AAxx.

Zimnan Ziyard’s bust in 6th place for $71,548 made the final five about as tough as they come. Stein had reclaimed the chip lead, with Junglen and Lamb close behind. Bringing up the rear were Harder and Fund, with less than a big blind separating them. The stacks were all close enough that if anyone doubled through Stein, they would be the new chip leader.

Junglen was the first to try to double through Stein, but he couldn’t beat the chip leader in the all-in pot. He busted in 5th plce for $96,737.

Harder was the next out, eliminated by Lamb in 5th place for $132,623. Fund then followed suit in a post flop pot with Stein, receiving $183,368 for his 3rd place finish.

The quick eliminations set up a heads-up duel between the men who began the day in first and second. Stein began heads-up play with 4,425,000 to Lamb’s 1,920,000.

The heads-up battle didn’t last long. The two played a post flop hand in which Lamb got it all-in on the turn drawing to a chop at best. The river did not produce the said chop and he was finished in second place for $259,918.

Congratulations to Sam Stein for a fantastic victory! He received $420,802 and the prestigious golden bracelet.

Sam Stein poses with some lovely ladies. Photo courtesy of PokerNews.

Congratulations to everyone else who also cashed WSOP Event 31. Stay tuned to FTR for more WSOP coverage.

 

Final table payouts:

1 – Sam Stein – $420,802
2 – Ben Lamb – $259,918
3 – Warren Fund – $183,368
4 – Christian Harder – $132,623
5 – Adam Junglen – $96,737
6 – Zimnan Ziyard – $71,548
7 – Brock Parker – $53,633
8 – Austin Scott – $40,748
9 – Dilyan Kovachev – $31,360