Benson Leads Final 22 Players; Six to Fall Before Money is Reached

On Sunday, the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific continued with Day 1 action from Event #3 $1,650 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO). The tournament attracted 123 runners – down 49 from the year before – which created a prize pool of $184,500 that is to be awarded to the top 16 finishers with the winner taking home $51,660.

The man best positioned to make a run at the five-figure payday, as well as the championship gold bracelet, is Australian Poker Hall of Famer and WSOP bracelet winner, who lead the advancing 22 players with 71,200. However, several others are looking to stand in his way including Jeff Lisandro (60,400), Jason Gray (34,500), Ismael Bojang (27,000), Oliver Gill (26,300), Ami Barer (25,600), and Mike Watson (6,900).

PLO is a volatile game, so it was no surprise to see players hit the rail early. Among the first to go was Mike Leah, who said he called a raise holding the and then called a bet on the flop. Leah, who had two pair with a flush draw, called another bet on the turn, and then put out a big bet after his opponent checked the river, which was a heart. His opponent woke up with a check-raise, and Leah called off his last few hundred with his flush. Unfortunately for him, it was no good as his opponent held the nut flush with .

Others who fell on Day 1 included Jonathan Duhamel, Mohsin Charania, Jeff Madsen, Jonathan Dimmig, Phil Hellmuth, Ryan Riess, Billy “The Croc” Argyros, Antonio Esfandiari, and Australia’s very own Joe Hachem, who was playing in his first event of the 2014 WSOP APAC.

As for Benson, he got many of his chips in the last level of the night. On a flop of , two players checked before Benson bet out 6,000 from the hijack. Dylan Wilkerson then went into the tank for a minute from the cut off before potting to 24,800. The other two players got out of the way before Benson moved all in for a total of 30,300 and was called.

Benson:
Wilkerson:

Benson had the better over pair as well as the nut flush draw leaving Wilkerson with very few outs. The on the turn and on the river were no help, and after a count of all the chips it was determined that Wilkerson had 100 less then Benson and was therefore eliminated.

The remaining 22 players will return to action at 12:30 p.m. local time on Monday, and the plan is to play down to the final table of nine. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there every step of the way to bring you all the action and eliminations from the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia.