Event #20: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better
Day 1 Started
Event #20: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low 8-or-Better
Day 1 Started
Today the 2013 World Series of Poker continues with Day 1 action from Event #20 $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better. Despite the low buy-in, this tournament has morphed into one of the most storied in recent WSOP history. That was mainly due to Alex Kravchenko's win in 2007, Thang Luu's back-to-back wins in 2008 and 2009 and Michael Chow's victory in 2010.
In more recent years, Francesco Barbaro topped a field of 925 player in 2011 to win the title, while then 71-year-old Herbert Tapscott of Birmingham, Alabama defeated young Gavin Griffin after an epic two-hour heads-up battle in last year's event. Tapscott earned $264,400 for his victory over the 967-player field.
This year we expect to see some of the biggest names in the game take their shot at a Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better title, and thanks to Twitter we can already confirm a few participants:
playing event 20 $1500 omaha8 today at noon... gl all! #wsop13 http://t.co/OjkugmwcgxFollow @scottfischman88
I will not be the winner of the plhe event. Tomorrow is a head phones required $1500 Omaha 8 or better event.Follow @JonathanLittle
We also wouldn't be surprised to see Joseph Mitchell in today's field. After all, he did win the 2013 Carnivale of Poker Event #103 $365 Limit Omaha 8 or Better last week for $11,934. Mitchell, who lives in Las Vegas, would no doubt like to grab a gold bracelet to go along with his Carnivale of Poker championship medallion.
Play is set to kick off at 12:00 PST, which is just over an hour from now. Be sure to keep it here throughout the day for all the updates from the Brasilia Room here at the Rio All-Suite Casino in Las Vegas!
Level: 1
Blinds: 25/50
Ante: 0
Today's Event 20: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better is yet another tournament at the 2012 World Series of Poker that includes a game other than No-Limit Hold'em. The game we're talking about is Omaha Hi-Low.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the game, you can refer to the PokerNews Poker 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. This game is also a split-pot game with the high hand getting half of the pot and the low hand getting the other half of the pot. Just like Hold'em, there is a betting round preflop followed a betting round after each of the flop, turn and river.
For example, let's say there is a final board reading and Player 1 shows versus Player 2's . In this showdown, Player 1 would win the high half of the pot with trip queens and an ace kicker. Player 1 also has a qualifying low hand with his , but Player 2's makes a better qualifying low hand to win that half of the pot.
In the Omaha 8-or-better case where players share a high hand or low hand, they would divy up that half of the pot accordingly. This is why the term "quartered" often comes into play during games of Omaha 8-or-better. In the above example, if a third player in the hand held , he would split the half portion of the pot with Player 2, meaning they would each get one quarter of the overall pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Jonathan Little | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Cory Zeidman
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Chad Brown | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Justin Bonomo
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Cheech Barbaro
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Linda Johnson
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Kathy Liebert
|
4,500 | |
James Van Alstyne
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Gavin Smith | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Roland Israelashvili | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Maria Ho | 4,500 | |
Bryan Micon | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Brian Schwartz | 4,500 | |
Barry Reuther | 4,500 | |
Adam Coats | 4,500 | |
Allyn Shulman
|
4,500 | |
Mike Sexton
|
4,500 | |
David Bach
|
4,500 | |
Ari Engel
|
4,500 | |
Yuval Bronshtein
|
4,500 | |
Vanessa Selbst | 4,500 |
We just took a stroll through the Silver Section of the Pavilion Room and it's full of notables. Among them are defending champ Herbert Trapscott; the 2007 runner-up in this event Bryan Devonshire; 2010 Player of the Year Frank Kassela; and poker tournament director Matt Savage, who is playing in his first event of the summer.
My 1st foray into Rio for @WSOP $1,500 O/8. There better be a decent amount of big bets or @AllenKessler and I will be looking for @WSOPTD!Follow @SavagePoker
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Bryan Devonshire | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Chris Tryba
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
John Cernuto
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Frank Kassela
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Herbert Tapscott
|
4,500 | |
Matt Savage | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Scott Fischman | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Ismael Bojang
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Jimmy Fricke | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Brandon Shack-Harris
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Doug "Rico" Carli
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
PokerNews spotted Fransesco "Cheech" Barbaro, a Chicago native and mix game specialist, going for his second Omaha Hi-Low bracelet in today's event. Cheech won this event in 2011, beating 925 entrants to take down the first place prize of $262,283 and the elusive gold bracelet.
Cheech's unique style and aggression come from his experience as a mix game cash specialist, where creativity is the key to beating the game at the "snake-pit" high-limit mix tables. Barbaro plays in the Mix and PLO games at the Horseshoe in Hammond, Indiana, where you will find some of the toughest games in the Midwest.
We will be keeping an eye on Cheech throughout the tournament, bringing you live updates on him and all the other notable Omaha Hi-Low players in the field.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Carlos Mortensen
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Frankie O'Dell
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Jeff Lisandro
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Owais Ahmed
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Chris Reslock
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Ryan Laplante
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Michael "Carwash" Schneider
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
James Dempsey
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Dutch Boyd
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Joe Kuether | 4,500 | 4,500 |
John Monnette
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Perry Friedman
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Jeff Madsen
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Mel Judah
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Randy Ohel
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Jason Potter | 4,500 | 4,500 |
David Chiu
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Mike Beasley | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Aaron Steury
|
4,500 | 500 |
Mark Gregorich | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Jon Turner | 4,500 | 4,500 |
Max Pescatori
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Barry Shulman
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Greg Raymer
|
4,500 | 4,500 |
Don Zewin | 4,500 | 4,500 |
The tournament clock say that 843 players have registered for this event so far, and that number will surely go up as registration is open until the start of Level 5.
The field is already so large that the Brasilia Room is completely full and new tables are being opened in the Amazon Room. That's a bit of a trek from where we're stationed, but we'll do our best to keep you updated on the players over there.
Here's a look at who we spotted on our initial walk through the Amazon:
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Joe Tehan | 4,500 | |
Jamie Kerstetter | 4,500 | |
Blair Hinkle
|
4,500 | |
Jason Lester
|
4,500 | |
Mike Matusow
|
4,500 | |
James Mackey
|
4,500 | |
David Levi | 4,500 | |
Scott Clements
|
4,500 |