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.
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.
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.
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.
Manig Loeser already has 2 World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes to his name this year, including one in this format. Lee Watkinson has 17 WSOP cashes which include a bracelet in the $10,000 version of this event held in 2006. Here are the two clashing with disastrous consequences for one of them.
Watkinson limped into the pot in middle position before Donnacha O'Dea isolated with a 2,400 raise from the cutoff. Manig Loeser then raised 'pot', Watkinson moved all-in for 13,200 and O'Dea folded. It was showdown time with Watkinson at risk of elimination.
Loeser
Watkinson
Board:
A boat for Loeser and Watkinson was left upstream without a paddle.
Jose Ignacio Barbero, otherwise known as 'Nacho' is a man who just loves to play poker. It doesn't matter what form of poker it is either. Nacho has scores in virtually every form of the game and this includes Pot-Limit Omaha. Barbero is currently plying his trade with Donnacha O'Dea and here are a few hands featuring the man from Argentina.
Barbero (SB) and the big blind were in action on a flop of and Barbero check-called a 3,500 bet. On the turn we saw the and both players checked. Then finally on the river we saw the and Barbero folded to a 9,000 river bet.
Then the hijack raised to 1,800 and Barbero called on the button. The flop was and the hijack made a 2,200 c-bet. All eyes on Barbero and he made a stack committing raise to 16,000 and the hijack mucked his cards.
Viacheslav Igin has never cashed in a World Series of Poker (WSOP) or Pot-Limit Omaha event in his short career and yet he is our chip leader in Event #26. Here he is in action with the WSOP champion Matt 'Pez' Perrins.
Perrins opened up from mid-position with a 2,300 raise, the player in the hijack seat called as did Igin in the small blind. The flop was and Perrins continued his pressure with a 3,600 c-bet and only Igin made the call. That was the end of the action as the and were checked through and Igin won the hand with his lone . Igin showed and the Perrins hand went into the muck.
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.
. Ressler checked and Igin checked behind. Ressler announced two pair, but Igin showed the 
for the wheel and won the pot.
![[user169505]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
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.
.
and Barbero folded to a 9,000 river bet.
