Kevin Gerhart opened to 500,000 on the button and Matthew Kaplan defended from the big blind after doubling through Gerhart a few hands earlier.
Gerhart continued with a bet of 750,000 on the flop of and Kaplan check-raised all-in. Gerhart went into the tank before calling.
Matthew Kaplan:
Kevin Gerhart:
Kaplan was in the lead with a pair and straight draw while Gerhart had the better spade draw. The board ran out to give Gerhart the winning hand with a flush and send Kaplan home in third place.
"You're supposed to fold that hand, buddy," Kaplan said after shaking his opponent's hand.
On the final hand of the tournament, Kevin Gerhart on the button, and Dustin Dirksen in the big blind, saw a flop reading .
Dirksen fired out a bet on the flop and Gerhart called and called again when the peeled off on the turn.
The river brought the and Gerhart fired enough chips to put his opponent all-in. After a moment, Dirksen opted to make the call.
The hands were tabled and it was the held by Gerhart for one pair of Kings that bested the for one pair of jacks held by Dirksen, and the latter was eliminated in 2nd place and took home $115,440 in cash.
With this hand, Gerhart secured the victory and won his fourth coveted WSOP gold bracelet along with the $186,790 in first place cash.
Please stay tuned to PokerNews for a full recap of the day's action as well as the winner's interview.
Kevin Gerhart won his fourth World Series of Poker bracelet — and second bracelet of the series — on Wednesday, Nov. 3 by taking down Event #62: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better for a score worth $186,789. Gerhart sealed the victory by beating Dustin Dirksen in a heads-up battle to send Dirksen out in second for $115,440.
“It’s absolutely amazing," Gerhart told PokerNews about his run this fall. "It’s unreal and more than I ever could have expected. All these different mixed disciplines are so much more fun than playing No-Limit Hold’em.”
To get his fourth bracelet, Gerhart had to navigate through a field of 725 players in a tournament that generated a total prize pool of $967,875. Gerhart entered Day 3 second in chips out of 13 remaining players and used his stack to lean on his opponents.
Event #62: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Final Results
PLACE
PLAYER
COUNTRY
PRIZE
1
Kevin Gerhart
United States
$186,789
2
Dustin Dirksen
United States
$115,440
3
Matthew Kaplan
United States
$81,696
4
Sterling Lopez
United States
$58,695
5
Alexandr Orlov
Russia
$42,823
6
Roman Hrabec
Czech Republic
$31,733
7
Michael Trivett
United States
$23,891
8
Dylan Wilkerson
United States
$18,278
“PLO8 is hugely about just applying maximum pressure on your opponents and making them fold," he said. "Equities run so close in that game that even if you get the smallest edge by being more aggressive than your opponent, you have to take it.”
Final Table Action
The official final table of eight turned to seven when Dylan Wilkerson jammed into the full house of Matthew Kaplan as the player at risk. But it was Gerhart who did most of the eliminating on Wednesday, including knocking out Michael Trivett, Roman Hrabec, Sterling Lopez, and Kaplan — who Gerhart sent home in third place to get heads-up play underway.
It seemed inevitable that the heads-up battle would be between Dirksen and Gerhart as Dirksen prodded the chip leader throughout the day and predicted it would end with the two of them.
“Just double me up three times and I’m there,” Dirksen said in good spirits in the early stages of the final table. “I bet you’ve never heard a short stack talk this much shit.”
It was a heads-up match that almost never happened. While playing four-handed, Dirksen was all-in with pocket sixes and dominated by the flopped trip sevens Gerhart. But Dirksen spiked a six on the river to improve to a full house and stay in contention.
The final hand of the tournament occurred when Gerhart, holding , put Dirksen all-in on a board of . Dirksen called with for second pair and was no good against the top pair of Gerhart. But Gerhart was not betting for value, the four-time bracelet winner told PokerNews.
“I can rep that I have queen-ten and get my opponent to fold a worse hand," he said about the final hand. "But I turned my top pair into a bluff and my opponent snap-called me with second pair. I thought I was dead when he snap-called, obviously. I did not turn my hand over in a winning fashion, let’s say that.”
Gerhart said much of his poker variant prowess can be credited to a $80/$160 mixed game that started at the Wynn and has since moved to Resorts World. "I get to bounce ideas off of and play against some of the best players in Vegas on a daily basis in mixed games, which definitely helps my skill level.”
That wraps up the PokerNews live reporting teams coverage of Event #62: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better. Head over to the WSOP live reporting portal to check out coverage of other events.