2012 World Series of Poker

Event 39: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
Day: 1
Event Info

2012 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a542
Prize
$661,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$2,754,200
Entries
293
Level Info
Level
25
Blinds
20,000 / 40,000
Ante
0

Sage, Kushner Lead after Day 1

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 0 ante
Benjamin Sage - chip leader
Benjamin Sage - chip leader

Day 1 of Event 39: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha is in the books, and after ten levels of play, Benjamin Sage is your chip leader with 358,400 chips. Following Sage is Joe Kushner (352,500), who won a mind-boggling, five-way all in against Brian Hastings, John Juanda, and two other opponents. Kushner had a pair of aces on a {4-Clubs}{3-Clubs}{3-Hearts} board, and the {3-Diamonds} on the turn gave him a full house. No one could top that, and he raked in a massive pot.

Event 39 attracted 293 runners, generating a total prize pool of $2,754,200. The top 36 finishers are guaranteed a minimum of $16,801, while the winner will take home $661,000 and the World Series of Poker gold bracelet. Joining Sage and Kushner in the running for the top prize are Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Jerome Bradpiece, Andrew Brown, Jason Mercier, John Riordan, Nikolai Yakovenko and 2009 Main Event champion Joe Cada.

Phil Ivey was one of the first players to make an exit today, and plenty of notables followed him out the door, including Daniel Negreanu, Justin Bonomo, Martin Staszko, Viktor Blom, Tom Marchese, Joseph Cheong and Brian Hastings.

Kushner wasn’t the only player to partake in a crazy hand, Mike Cameron was involved in two, and in both of them he lost to quads! In the first hand, Cameron turned quad fours, but his opponent, Mohsin Charania, rivered quad eights. In the second hand, Cameron had tens full of fives on a {6-Diamonds}{5-Hearts}{5-Clubs}{10-Hearts}{k-Clubs} board, but Will “The Thrill” Failla had flopped quad fives. Cameron was later eliminated, and was none too happy about how his day went.

Play will resume tomorrow at 1:00 PM local time, and we’ll play ten more levels (unless we reach a final table). For now, good night from Las Vegas!

Tags: Benjamin Sage

Racener Extracts Some Revenge On Duhamel

Jonathan Duhamel (Event 37)
Jonathan Duhamel (Event 37)

From early position, 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel raised to 3,000. Action folded to the man he beat heads up to win the title, John Racener, in the big blind and he reraised to 11,200. Duhamel moved all in for around 20,000 and Racener quickly called.

Racener held the {A-Diamonds}{A-Clubs}{Q-Diamonds}{5-Hearts} and was against Duhamel's {Q-Spades}{J-Clubs}{J-Hearts}{10-Hearts}.

The flop, turn and river ran out {K-Hearts}{10-Diamonds}{7-Spades}{J-Spades}{4-Hearts} and Racener made a Broadway straight to win the pot and bust Duhamel.

Duhamel wished Racener luck as he left. After Duhamel was gone, Will "The Thrill" Failla piped up and said, "Too bad you couldn't do that in November," citing that Racener lost heads up in the Main Event to Duhamel.

"I know, right," responded Racener. "I can beat him now when there's 100 people left."

Player Chips Progress
John Racener us
John Racener
WSOP 1X Winner
65,000 23,000
Jonathan Duhamel ca
Jonathan Duhamel
Busted

Tags: John RacenerJonathan Duhamel

Kihara Triples Up in Another Big PLO Pot

Kihara after winning Event 35
Kihara after winning Event 35

On the {10-Clubs}{6-Spades}{4-Spades} flop, Naoya Kihara, John Racener and Cary Katz all got the money in. Kihara held the {A-Hearts}{Q-Spades}{10-Hearts}{10-Diamonds} for top set, Racener held the {A-Clubs}{K-Spades}{6-Hearts}{6-Clubs} for middle set and Katz held the {A-Spades}{8-Spades}{7-Hearts}{4-Hearts} for a big draw.

The turn was the {4-Clubs} and paired the board to give both Kihara and Racener a full house. Even despite them filling up with Kihara being in front, Katz could still spike the case four to quad up and win the hand.

The river was the {8-Hearts} and Kihara's full house won the pot. He was all in for 37,200 in chips on the flop, which covered Katz's 33,000 and eliminated him. Racener had both the players covered and was forced to send over the double-up chips for Kihara. Racener was left with about 21,000 in chips.

Last night, Kihara won Event 35: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha - Six-Handed for over $512,000. Not only did he win his first-ever gold bracelet, but he became the first Japanese player to do so. He's up to about 125,000 now in this event and looks to be making another run at a PLO title. Here is his winner interview from last night.

Player Chips Progress
Naoya Kihara jp
Naoya Kihara
WSOP 1X Winner
126,000 96,000
John Racener us
John Racener
WSOP 1X Winner
21,000 -41,000
Cary Katz us
Cary Katz
Busted

Tags: Cary KatzJohn RacenerNaoya Kihara

Last Pot-Limit Omaha Event of the Year Set To Start

2011 champion Ben Lamb
2011 champion Ben Lamb

Welcome to our continuing coverage of the 2012 World Series of Poker. Today is Day 1 of Event 39, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. Last year, a field of 361 gathered for this prestigious event and when it was all said and done, none other than 2011 WSOP Player of the Year Ben Lamb was the last man standing.

This is the fourth and final pure Pot-Limit Omaha event left of the schedule, saving the biggest buy-in for for last. The champions this year include Vincent van der Fluit (Event 11: $1,500 PLO), Austin Scott (Event 26: $3,000 PLO), and Naoya Kihara (Event 34: $5,000 PLO Six-Handed). Today's field is likely to include them and guaranteed to draw some of the best in the game once again, so be sure to keep it here throughout the day for updates on all of the exciting action as it takes place.

Play is set to begin at noon local time, about 25 minutes from now, so we'll see you then!