Today's Event 26: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha features a game that not everyone may be familiar with, but has certainly grown immensely in popularity over the past couple of years. The game we're talking about is Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO). In fact, some of the largest games in the world are run strictly with PLO because it tends to induce more action. We all know poker players love action and to gamble, which makes PLO such an intriguing and fun game for them.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the game of PLO, you can refer to the PokerNewsPoker Rules: Omaha Poker page to check things out and get a feel for how the game is played. The page is complete with game rules, terms and also strategy links.
Omaha is similar to Hold'em in that it is a flop game, but instead of two hole cards, you receive four. The trick is that you must you two cards from your hole cards and only two cards, to make your best five-card hand at the end. This is the part that sometimes confuses people new to the game as they'll make the mistake of only using one card from their hand or trying to use three.
Just like Hold'em, there is a betting round preflop followed a betting round after each of the flop, turn and river. The most popular form of Omaha is pot-limit, which you'll see here today in Event 26. That means you are only able to bet up to the current amount of the pot at any given time.
If you think you've got the basics down and would like to dive into some strategy, Lex Veldhuis joined Kristy Arnett and Donnie Peters on the Strategy with Kristy podcast to discuss some PLO. Click here to check it out. There's also another podcast with high-stakes cash pro Jared Bleznick where he discusses some PLO. Check that one out here.
Robert Williamson III fired 4,500 on the board and Joshua Field made the call after some thought. The river then completed the board with the and Williamson bet 8,600. After a couple minutes of thinking, Field called again.
"Full house," announced Williamson before spreading the . Field mucked and Williamson won the pot.
Williamson knows a thing or two about the game of Pot-Limit Omaha. He's sixth on the World Series of Poker All-Time Omaha money list and also has a gold bracelet in the game. The bracelet he won came from 2002 in the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event. He also took second in both the $2,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event in 2004 and the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event in 2005, among many other tournament scores.
Sam Stein defeated 684 players to win this event last year for a nice chunk of change ($420,802). He bagged up 48,300 chips yesterday giving him 60BB to play with, and he has just increased that to 81BB in the following hand.
Stein opened the action with a 1,700 raise from the cutoff. Max Kruse was seated in the button and he declared he was all-in. The big blind tank-folded before Stein asked the dealer to confirm the actual raise size. The answer was 4,650 more which would leave Kruse with 6,200 in the tank. Stein decided to make the call and hope the flop looked good.
Flop:
The flop was good and Stein and Kruse played for the last 12,400. When they turned their cards over it was a case of made hand versus draw and Stein needing to hit.
Stein
Kruse
The turn card was the and Kruse moved away from the table in disgust. The completed the board and Kruse was out; Stein meanwhile moved up to 65,000 in chips.
Joseph Ressler finished up the night last night as the tournament chip leader. He just lost some chips and dropped back a bit, but is still up towards the top of the counts. Here's what happened.
Picking up the action on the board with 5,800 in the middle, Sandeep Pulusani fired the pot for 5,800. Ressler was next and put in a raise to 21,000. After him was Viacheslav Igin and he tank-called. Pulusani then folded.
The river completed the board with the . Ressler checked and Igin checked behind. Ressler announced two pair, but Igin showed the for the wheel and won the pot.
A few notes on Ressler, the overnight chip leader, are that he is from North Potomac, Maryland and has over $225,000 in live tournament earnings. He's cashed four times in World Series of Poker events, with three of those four coming during last year's Series.
On record, Ressler's largest score came from a fifth-place finish in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha - Six-Handed event last year. He took home over $105,000 for that effort. He also won an event held at Harrah's Atlantic City in May 2010 for over $36,000, which is his only win on record.
We joined the action on a flop of and with three players in the hand including Shreeniwas Kelkar (BB) and Guillame Darcourt (EP). The action checked through to the turn where we saw the , the player in the small blind checked, Kelkar bet 3,200 and Darcourt called. So two players left to see the river and the . Kelkar made a small 2,200 bet and Darcourt made the call. Kelkar tabled for the flush and Darcourt mucked his hand.
Shreeniwas Kelka has 6 World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes to his name including 1 in this format. Guillaume Darcourt has 3 WSOP cashes to his name and 1 in this format.
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There was about 13,000 already in the pot going to the flop between Lee Thomas and Robert Williamson III. Thomas bet 5,200 and Williamson raised to 12,800 and was all in. Thomas called.
Williamson:
Thomas:
When the money went in, Thomas held two pair and a straight draw. Williamson had top pair, a straight draw and overs. The turn gave Williamson a better two pair and the river gave him a jack-high straight. Williamson won the pot and doubled up to almost 40,000 in chips.
Phil Ivey made it to Day 2 of this event without ever playing a hand on Day 1. The reason? He was busy working his magic over in Event 24: $5,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better where he finished the day as the chip leader with 27 players left.
Because he was simply blinded off all day yesterday, Ivey made Day 2 with just 700 in chips. He never showed up today, either, as he's over in the other event, but his 700 in chips were put in when it was his turn to be the big blind. As soon as the dealer pitched out all the cards, his hand was mucked and his chips pulled into the pot. So much for that $3,000 investment.
board and Joshua Field made the call after some thought. The river then completed the board with the 
and Williamson bet 8,600. After a couple minutes of thinking, Field called again.
. Field mucked and Williamson won the pot.
![[user169505]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Kruse moved away from the table in disgust. The 
completed the board and Kruse was out; Stein meanwhile moved up to 65,000 in chips.
board with 5,800 in the middle, Sandeep Pulusani fired the pot for 5,800. Ressler was next and put in a raise to 21,000. After him was Viacheslav Igin and he tank-called. Pulusani then folded.
, the player in the small blind checked, Kelkar bet 3,200 and Darcourt called. So two players left to see the river and the 
. Kelkar made a small 2,200 bet and Darcourt made the call. Kelkar tabled 
gave Williamson a better two pair and the river 
gave him a jack-high straight. Williamson won the pot and doubled up to almost 40,000 in chips.
