The second 5:00 pm start of the WSOP goes to Event #6, $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, marking the first appearance for Omaha at this year's Series. This popular fixed-limit event will draw a large turnout and is scheduled to run for three days.
The winner of this event can only hope to match the success of last year's champ, when Russia's Alex Kravchenko broke through for the win, then went on to a wonderful run through the rest of the WSOP. Kravchenko's history-making triumph was worth $228,446. The event kicks off a busy Thursday in the Amazon Room at the Rio.
Poker Room
The players are taking their seats in preparation for Event #6, $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better. Some players are being relocated to a different section of the Amazon Room due to the overflow from the rebuy event, so there may be a short delay as the players find their new starting seats. Play is scheduled to kick off in about ten minutes' time, so stay tuned to PokerNews.com for all of the live action as it unfolds.
Some faces spotted so far in today's event are Tom "DonkeyBomber" Schneider, Chris Reslock, Allen Kessler, Bryan Devonshire, "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Scott Clements, Jordan Morgan, Josh Arieh, David Sklansky and defending champion Alex Kravchenko.
It's hard to get a feel for how big today's field is at this stage, as once again we are spread out all over the Rio. We have tables in multiple sections of the Amazon Room, the Tropical Room is bursting at the seams, and we once again have a few overflow tables outside Buzio's Seafood Restaurant.
Once again, the Tropical Room is in use for an over-sized field. Table #6 is clearly the feature table, including notables Berry Johnston, Chad Brown and everyone's favorite High Stakes Poker commentator, Gabe Kaplan. Other familiar faces in the Tropical Room include Marcel Luske, Leif Force, Amir Vahedi, Kristy Gazes, Robert Mizrachi, Chip Jett, David Rabbi and Brett Jungblut.
As is to be expected for a limit omaha split event, the field is older than a typical no-limit hold'em event.
Also spotted in today's field are Scotty Nguyen, Men 'The Master' Nguyen, Sabyl Cohen, Noah Boeken, Shannon Elizabeth, Jean-Robert Bellande and Linda Johnson.
As mentioned earlier, Omaha Hi-Lo Split tends to draw an older crowd than most of the no-limit games. In addition, the game tends to draw Hi-Lo specialists such as Chris Reslock and David Rabbi. The great thing about the World Series of Poker is that regardless of what you play, there is usually an event just for you.
Gabe Kaplan, ever the entertainer, is keeping Table #6 in the Tropical Room in high spirits.
"Are you having fun?" he asked the table. "I'm having fun. I'm playing lots of hands. Hope I get lucky. It's hard to have any luck if you don't play any hands."
He turned to Chad Brown and added, "See, you don't know what you're doing, and you don't act like it. I at least like act like I know what I'm doing."
