Event 40 - $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship - Live Updates

Vitaly Lunkin had a chip lead of 9-1 at one point against Matt Graham. Somehow, just fifteen minutes later, the title was in Graham's hands.

The hand that got Graham to a 9-1 deficit was a doozy. Lunkin made it 300,000 to go and Graham re-potted it. Lunkin shoved and Graham called. 

Graham turned over Q♠ Q♥ 8♠ 7♥ while Lunkin only had A♣ K♣ 5♠ 3♦.

Graham was ahead, but not by much. This is PLO! The dealer rapped the table and turned over the A♦ 2♣ 4♣!

Lunkin had not only flopped a wheel, but he also had the nut flush redraw. Graham needed to hit a running full house or straight if he was to do it.

The turn was the 2♦ which gave Graham a chance at a full house but the river was the 6♦ to give Lunkin the 8.25 million pot and leaving Graham with just 600,000.

After a ridiculous string of double ups, Graham had chipped his way back up to the point that both players were nearly even.

Enough so that after the conclusion of the hand it was unclear who had won.

Lunkin limped from the button and Graham checked. On a flop of 6♦ 4♥ T♦, Graham checkraised Lunkin.

It was 480,000 to go for Lunkin and he called. On the 9♠ Graham fired out 1.1 million. Lunkin moved all in and was snap called.

Graham turned over T♣ T♥ 6♣ 5♠ while Lunkin tabled K♦ J♠ 9♦ 2♦. Lunkin had a flush draw and a gutshot against Matt's set of tens. The river was a glorious (for Graham) brick.

The floor counted down the chips before announcing that it was over and Graham had just won the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship.

Vitaly will take home $419,832 for his effort while Graham won $679,379.

And so the day ends. Tomorrow there will be more tournaments and more bracelet winners. Make sure to check back starting at high noon to see what the day brings!

Just like that we're heads up. It took about five hours to drop the first three players and just forty minutes to drop the next four.

After a flurry of action, the tournament is now heads up. It's almost eight hours into the final table so it couldn't come a moment two soon.

Matt Graham and Vitaly Lunkin are set to battle it heads up. Vitaly already has a bracelet this year. He took down the $40,000 NLHE event. Matt Graham won a bracelet last year and is back for more.

Keston Rubbed Out

Robin Keston was the last player to make less than $200k at this tournament. He took home $196,994 for fourth place when he lost a battle against Matt Graham.

Graham had raised preflop to 210,000 and Keston reraised all in for 785,000 total. Graham called and tabled A♥ T♣ 9♦ 8♥ while Keston only had K♥ T♠ 7♣ 6♣.

The flop was J♣ 2♣ 5♥ which gave Keston a flush draw. Unfortunately for him, the turn was a brick and the river paired Graham's ace.

Marcus Ejected

Van "Sirens" Marcus knows how to play PLO extremely well. He had made the final table in the $5,000 event and came up short. This was his second chance at a PLO bracelet this year but he fell short once again.

Matt Graham made it 200,000 to go and Van Marcus re-potted it. Graham shoved all in and Marcus called. Graham turned over A♠ A♣ J♦ 9♣ while Marcus turned over his Q♠ J♠ J♣ 7♦. By the turn, Graham had made a set of aces.

Marcus could still catch a king to make broadway. But the river wasn't a king. Marcus went off to collect his $278,409.

Two more players were zapped during this level. Lunkin is still the chip leader - no surprise there. His stack has ballooned to over 4 million chips.

Just four players remain and, at a rate of losing about one player per 90 minutes, that means that we should still have a lovely four and a half hours of PLO madness coming your way.

Steffan Stuffed!

Steffan Mattsson was quietly hanging around biding his time for just the right moment. Vitaly Lunkin made it 210,000 to go and Mattson pounced from the big blind and re-potted it. Lunkin immediately set him all in and Mattson called. Mattsson tabled his Q♥ J♦ T♠ 8♦ and Lunkin tabled A♠ A♥ K♥ 3♠. Oops.

The flop was nearly as good as Mattson could've hoped for: J♥ 6♦ 3♦. A pair and a flush draw gave him a billion outs. The 4♥ turn changed nothing and the brick 7♠ sent Mattson to the rail. Mattsson will take home sixth place prize money amounting to $118,463.

Gabriellson Ferreted

Ferit Gabriellson was next to go. He raised it 280,000 and Matt Graham flatted from the small blind.

On the A♦ 5♠ K♣ flop Graham fired 250,000. Gabriellson shoved all in and Graham called. It was J♦ J♣ T♠ 3♠ for Graham and K♠ J♠ 9♥ 8♠ for Ferit.

Amazingly, Gabriellson was ahead with his second pair of kings and Graham needed to catch the single remaining jack in the deck.

Somehow that jack managed to work it's way up to the top of the deck and it popped out on the turn. The river was meaningless and Ferit walked off in a daze to the payout line.

This could be a record for a PLO final table folks. After five hours of play just three players have been eliminated. Out of the six that are left only Ferit Gabriellson is relatively short stacked.

Vitaly Lunkin has held onto his chiplead for the duration of the final table and it doesn't look like he has any plans of relinquishing it. He's playing quite snugly.

Typically someone will raise and take it down uncontested preflop or, even worse, the big blind will get a walk. The tournament director is announcing the action at the final table to the crowd.

He will occasionally turn his back to the final table and look towards the heavens perhaps hoping for some divine intervention.

Ferit Back In it

Ferit Gabriellson is still at the bottom of the leaderboard despite just doubling up. He's sitting on 700,000 but moments ago was down to just half that.

He got all in preflop against Vitaly Lunkin preflop. Gabriellson turned over J♥ T♣ 8♥ 6♦ while Lunkin tabled K♣ Q♣ 5♦ 5♠.

Gabriellson made a runner runner flush when the turn and river came hearts.

The pot was just a drop in the bucket for Lunkin but Gabriellson walked away from the table and gave his friends an enthusiastic fist pump.

It seemed for a minute that the tournament was starting to pick up the pace, but after Arieh's elimination the table tightened right back up.

A few small pots happened here and there but Van Marcus was the only player that made any real progress.

He now has over a million in chips, which is much better than the 500,000 or so he had at the beginning of the hour.

Van-tastic

Van Marcus won a few pots here and there to keep him treading water but he won a big one against Matt Graham. Graham made it 130,000 to go preflop and Marcus re-potted it.

Graham thought for a bit before making the call. The flop was 5♠ 2♦ 5♥. Marcus only had about 50,000 left so that's what Graham bet.

Marcus called and turned over A♠ A♦ J♣ 4♦ while Graham only held Q♠ J♦ 9♦ 4♠.

The board bricked out for Graham and Marcus was shipped the pot. Marcus now sitting on just over 1 million.

Ferit Re-vitaly-zed

Vitaly Lunkin made it 150,000 to go and Ferit Gabriellson made the call. The flop was Q♣#47♥.

Lunkin bet just 95,000 and was called. Both players checked the T♦ turn however the 9♠ river prompted Lunkin to fire a healthy 300,000.

Gabriellson made the call and turned up A♣ J♦ J♣ 8♦ for a small straight. Lunkin showed his J♠ J♥ 6♥ 7♦ before mucking.

Gabriellson had dropped a few chips during the earlier part of the level and the much needed pot boosted back up to about 1.25 million.

Finally some progress in the $10k PLO Championship! It took over two hours before someone finally was eliminated but by the time the third hour had rolled around, three players had been waxed.

Bear Clawed

Barry Greenstein was the first to go. Vitaly Lunkin made it 120,000 and both Josh Arieh and Barry Greenstein called.

The flop was 9♣ 6♠ 2♣ and Arieh and Greenstein checked. Lunkin bet 200,000. Greenstein made it 800,000 to go and Arieh folded.

Lunkin stood up and flipped a coin. We're not sure if it was heads or tails but whatever it was, it told Lunkin to call.

Greenstein turned up 9♦ 7♠ 8♣ 5♣ while Lunkin flipped over A♥ A♦ 8♥ 7♣. Lunkin was ahead but Greenstein was a favorite to take it down.

Unfortunately for Barry, the turn was a Q♦ and the river was a 3♠. Lunkin took down the pot and a fresh autographed copy of Greenstein's book.

Austin Texas'd

Vitaly Lunkin has been pretty tight at this final table, but that's ok if every pot he plays ends up eliminating another player. Richard Austin was the next one to take on the Russian.

Lunkin raised to 120,000 and was called by Austin. The flop was A♣ 6♠ 5♣. Austin fired 120,000 and Lunkin pushed in enough chips to cover the rest of Austin. Austin called and showed 9♥ 8♠ 7♥ 5♦. Lunkin turned up K♣ K♥ 4♠ 2♣.

The turn was a brick but the 8♣ on the river gave Lunkin the nut flush. It would have been a great story if Richard Austin had won both the $5k PLO and the $10k PLO bracelets but he'll have to settle with just one PLO bracelet this year.

Arieh Busted

Josh Arieh's chip stack took a crippling blow from Van Marcus and just a few minutes later he found himself all in for the last of them.

He was up against Ferit Gabriellson. Arieh had A♣ A♥ 4♣ 9♦ and Gabriellson showed up with K♣ K♦ 3♣ T♠.

Things were looking up for Arieh until a king on the flop and another one on the river had Arieh singing a different tune.

It's a snoozefest at the PLO Championship final table. Another hour went by without any eliminations. The only real excitement during the level was an an all in between Barry Greenstein and Matt Graham.

Both of them had aces and the board resulted in a chop. Other than that, it was just an hour of blind stealing and few flops.

The players just went on break and the floor is busily trying to color up the yellow 1,000 chips. Hopefully during the break the players get some coffee or something to get the energy levels up.

The first hour back from dinner was about as interesting as watching paint dry. It wasn't what you would expect from an action game like PLO.

Not much happened and all the same faces that made it to the final table are still sitting there.

The only interesting thing to go down was a nice bluff by Arieh and Greenstein winning a small pot.

It looks like the players are just starting to feel each other out before they start bringing out the big guns.

Arieh Bluffs

Barry Greenstein and Josh Arieh both called out of the blinds when Ferit Gabriellson raised from the button. The flop came down 9♥ 5♠ 4♣ and both Greenstein and Arieh checked.

Gabriellson made it 100,000 and just Arieh made the call. The turn was teh J♦ and both players checked. The 4♠ hit on the river and Arieh checked again. Gabriellson fired out 150,000 but was countered by an Arieh check-raise to 450,000.

Gabriellson tanked it but eventually folded. Arieh turned over his A♥ K♠ 3♦ 2♥ - a complete bluff!

The Bear Wins

Barry Greenstein made some progress in the right direction when he took down a hand against Matt Graham.

Graham raised it to 65,000 and Greenstein made the call. The flop was 4♣ T♣ 2♣. Graham bet 81,000 and Greenstein made the call. Both players checked the 3♣ turn and the 6♣ river. Barry turned up T♦ T♥ 8♥ 8♣ for top set - a hand Graham couldn't beat.

Two more eliminations in the last hour meant we had our official final table line-up!

It's packed with star-quality as you will see in a few moments. Following those eliminations, the players were sent to dinner for an hour, ready to re-congregate at the televised Final Table for one of the WSOP's high-profile event finales.

Here's how the eliminations pre-dinner went down.

Giang Banged! (11th)

Chau Giang was the 11th place finisher, his exit delivered first-class courtesy of Josh Arieh.

Giang was unfortunate in his exit hand, shipping his chips in an unraised pot with K♠ J♦ 7♣ 5♠ on a K♣ T♦ 5♦ board for two pair.

Arieh had also liked the board enough to stick around, his A♥ K♥ Q♣ 8♣ for "top,top" and a gutshot behind to Giang's kings-up.

The turn jack however changed the balance of power considerably, giving Arieh the nut broadway straight.

Giang still had 5 outs to re-draw to a full house but blanked the river to leave him on the rail with $61,838 his reward.

Doud, Where's Your Chips? (10th)

Nathan Doudney also succumbed to Arieh, finding K♦ K♠ A♣ 4♦ to Josh Arieh's under the gun raise to 80k.

Doudney re-popped to 172k, leaving himself just 75k back and Arieh elected to flat-call this.

The flop fell J♥ 6♣ 2♥, Doudney went all-in and Arieh insta-called with a ten-high flush draw, no pair.

The A♥ of the turn completed Arieh's flush and in very unfortunate circumstances Doudney was busted in 10th, collecting $61,838.

The Final!

And that was all she wrote before dinner. They will be back within moments for the resumption of this event and here are the nine finalists who will be duking it out for the bracelet.

Good luck one and all!

Matt Graham	1,400,000
Ferit Gabriellson	1,200,000
Josh Arieh	1,050,000
Richard Austin	1,030,000
Robin Keston	1,000,000
Stefan Mattsson	850,000
Vitaly Lunkin	850,000
Barry Greenstein	780,000
Van Marcus	500,000

Just eleven remain still in contention for the bracelet and right now it's Matt Graham who holds sway with the players on the verge of consolidating down to the final table.

The players are within touching distance of collecting this prestigious bracelet and the $650k+ that comes with the title.

Here's what's been happening in the last sixty-minutes.

Parkinson Parked (14th)

Vitaly Lunkin has dismissed Padraig Parkinson from proceedings and with it lowered the tone of joviality in the room a few notches.

Parkinson has been known to crack a joke or two, but he couldn't crack Lunkin's kings with his open-ended straight draw.

He picks up $46,226 for his 14th place finish.

Austin Powers( Podgurski - 13th)

David Podgurski shipped his chips in on a 5♠ 3♦ 2♦ board and both Richard Austin and Josh Arieh made the call.

The two live players checked the turned T♦ and rivered Q♠ and Austin looked like he felt he had already conceded the pot, flipping up K♦ J♥ 8♣ 8♠ for a lone pair of eights.

Amazingly, his hand was the best out of all three - Austin shipped the pot and Podgurski was busted in 13th for $46,226.

The Professor Caned (12th)

We are sad to lose Howard Lederer during the last level also.

He check-raised all-in with a wrap versus Robin Keston, who made a good call with top pair. It held, and Lederer was sent on his way with $61,838 bulging out of his back pocket.

The players are now on a short 20 minute recess so feel free to click through to our chip count tab to see the way the leaderboard is shaping up with the final in view.

 

The final table is approaching with increasing rapidity and Barry Greenstein is the big riser in the last level, playing out one pot of particular significance with the finishing line approaching.

There's a red-hot charged atmosphere out there as  the players home in on the bracelet and here some of those exciting moments from the last hour.

Matt Finish ( Vengrin -19th)

Matt Vengrin collects $25,817 for finishing 19th here, eliminated at the hands of another Matt, Matt Graham.

When Vengrin shoved the 8♣ 6♦ 3♥ board, Graham had to tank for some time before making the call with A♣ A♠ 2♣ 2♥ but call he did and he found it was a good one as Vengrin had a pair-less, almost draw-less K♥ J♦ T♠ 9♥.

A deuce on the turn meant Vengrin needed to hit his one draw, a long-shot gut-shot, but when the river blanked his day was done.

Medic's Life Support Turned Off (18th)

Nenad Medic has done well to run deep here but he too has seen his tournament hopes de-railed, his exit hand delivered courtesy of Padraig Parkinson, the chirpy Irishman, who is keeping up a steady stream of banter at his table.

Medic just squeezes into the next payout bracket, collecting  $34,552 for 18th.

The Bear Gets the Honey!

Sometimes Omaha is a sick game and there's no getting away from some big draws.

Greenstein found this, playing out a huge pot with the nut flush draw - A♠ A♦ 7♠ 7♥ - on a Q♥ 5♠ 4♠ board.

Greenstein had a pretty big stack, as did opponent Noah Schwartz, whose A♥ Q♠ 4♥ 2♠ had connected hard with the board also - his two pair and queen-high flush draw temporarily ahead.

All the chips went in and a one million chip pot was in the offing. The crowd surged round the tabl, eager to see how this monster pot would play out.

The turn was a dramatic 7♦, Greenstein spiking a set to glide into the lead and when no queen arrived to bail Schwartz out on the river, Greenstein was one of the chip leaders and Schwartz was practically out!

Another level, some more bust-outs and just nineteen players still remaining. This being a Championship event, the prizepool is very attractive, $679k the first prize.

Right now Gabriellson is still the main man, holding sway at the top of leaderboard with a big chip advantage, though Stefan Mattsson's gambling antics have brought him up to second and Gabriellson may feel him breathing down his neck soon, if Mattsson can maintain this momentum.

Here's some of the more interesting tidbits from the last hour.

Is there a Medic in the House? (Taylor -21st)

The answer to this is an emphatic "yes!", Nenad Medic doubling up in recent times - and in fortunate circumstances.

The hand started with Medic raising it up to 36k from under-the-gun, only for James Taylor to re-pop to 121k from the big blind.

Medic scratched his chin, shuffled chips and thought long and hard before calling the excess, leaving himself a pittance behind.

The flop fell Q♠ J♥ 3♥ and Medic called off his last few chips showing K♣ Q♣ 9♥ 7♦.

A weak holding pre-flop, he'd managed to spike top pair at least, although when Taylor flipped up A♦ A♣ K♠ K♥, Medic was in big trouble, a 3-1 dog for his tournament life.

The turn blanked and Taylor looked set to knock Medic out, but a nine on the river was disastrous for Taylor, who took his beat well as Medic swept up a huge pot.

Down to next to nothing, Taylor was out within a few hands, picking up $25,817 for 21st place.

Golser Downed (20th)

Markus Golser has also succumbed, the high-stakes cash player unable to outrun the kings of David Podgurski with his A♠ Q♦ J♥ 9♠.

He picks up a $25,817 for 20th place. Good game!

Here are the top chip leaders, as per worldseriesofpoker.com.

Ferit Gabriellson	1,260,000
Stefan Mattsson	840,000
Matt Graham	700,000
Robin Keston	650,000
Josh Arieh	595,000

25 players have returned to contend this Championship bracelet in one of the most dangerous action-games known to man.

Anything can happen when you get four cards instead of two, and in the first hour, the players have proved that as we have seen a number of eliminations and huge pots played out.

Here's the details.

Bar Set Too High for Barlow (24th)

If you get short in Omaha, there's no time for you to wait around for the nuts, you just have to get it in at some point and hope to ride the waves of variance successfully.

That happened to Todd Barlow, who raised pot from UTG, only for Stefan Matsson to re-raise the pot from middle position.

Barlow only had just under 50k back now, so made a quick call and the cards were on their back:

Barlow: A♥ Q♣ 6♣ 4♥

Matsson: A♣ K♠ J♣ 9♦.

The flop was interesting, Barlow taking the lead as it fell Q♦ 8♥ 4♣ to give him two pair, but when Matsson spiked the T♦ on the turn to make the nut straight, it was all over bar the singing and soon it was plain all over for Barlow, the 3♥ on the river wrapping up affairs as he exited in 24th spot for $25,817.

Mattsson Marches On (dos Santos - 23rd)

Mattsson wasn't done yet, raising UTG only to see dos Santos re-pop him from the cut-off. He made the call and when the flop fell Q♣ 7♣ 2♣, Mattsson checked...as did dos Santos.

The turned T♦ sparked action though, Mattsson checking, before dos Santos moved all-in for 110k.

Mattsson made a good call with J♦ T♥ 9♣ 7♠ for two pair, which was beating dos Santos' A♣ A♦ 5♦ 9♠.

Two pair held and dos Santos was out in 23rd for $25,817.

Russian Cowboys Spank Cousineau (Cousineau -22nd)

Vitaly Lunkin has had a superb series so far and he is still well in contention for both the Player of the Series and this bracelet.

He didn't hurt his cause in either bid by sending Tony Cousineau to the rail, racing his K♥ K♠ T♦ 6♠ against the A♥ K♣ 6♣ 4♥ of Cousineau.

His hand held over all five streets, and Cousineau is out 22nd, also collecting $25,817.

It's been an action-packed start and more carnage looks likely as the day progresses.