Prendergast takes down WSOP $600 PLO bracelet

Jon Pill
Published by:
Posted on: October 14, 2021 8:47 pm EDT

The 2021 WSOP’s Event #24: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack came to an end yesterday with Michael Prendergast winning his first bracelet.

The event attracted 1,572 entries on Day 1. That put $801,720 in the prize pool after the 15% rake had been gouged out. There was $127,428 up top for first place.

Day 1 saw the field ground down to just 68 players. Among the Omaha specialists to hit the rail on Day 1 were Maria Ho, Shaun Deeb, Lief Force, Greg Raymer, David Williams, Shannon Shorr, Barry Greenstein, and actor James Woods. 

Players started with 30,000 in chips, with blinds at 100-100 and a big blind ante of 100. But by the end of Day 1 the big blind was 2,400, which gives UTG the option of a pot-sized bet of 8,400. Despite the “deepstack” moniker, the fast blind levels and high-variance nature of Omaha meant this tourney played more like a turbo.

Day 2 saw the rest of the field knocked first around and then out.

Day 2 and the final table

Popular poker vlogger Andrew Neeme made the last few tables, busting in 31st. It’s unlikely we’ll see a vlog on this particular event though, as he seems to have stopped broadcasting during the series. That’s understandable. The WSOP makes for long days of poker, and video editing is a time sink most players can ill afford during a tournament like this.

Previous bracelet winner and partypoker pro, Joao Simao, made the final table but was one of only two bracelet winners in the field (the other being Andrew Donabedian).

After he busted, it wasn’t long before the heads-up showdown. With blinds at 500,000/1,000,000 and just 47 blinds on the table, both Prendergast and his opponent Jeffrey Barnes were on pretty short leashes strategy wise.

The chips went in on the flop with Barnes playing K♠J♠8♣5♠ against Prendergast’s A♣6♠4♠4.

The flop read: Q♠68♠. Barnes had the higher flush in the bush and a pair of eights in the hand.

The turn was the 5, giving Barnes a second pair. But the A on the river turned the hand around and gave Prendergast the win.

Barnes won $78,755 for second place while Prendergast took down $127,428 for first.

2021 WSOP Event #24: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack complete final table results

PositionPlayer NamePayout
1stMichael Prendergast$127,428
2ndJeffrey Barnes$78,755
3rdJungwoong Park$57,386
4thJoao Simao$42,272
5thDaniel Wasserberg$31,485
6thDonnie Phan$23,713
7thEric Polirer$18,062
8thJohn Bunch$13,915
9thJoseph Sanders$10,845

Featured image source: PokerGO