He’s a veteran of the pot-limit Omaha streets, with several tournament wins on his poker resume, including a $52,000 win just four days ago at the Aria Poker Classic.
But when it comes to the split-pot 8 or Better version? Well, it was completely new to Frederic Normand. He’d never played the variation before.
Pas de problème.
The French Canadian learned on the job through three days of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event to win his first World Series of Poker bracelet in incredible fashion.
“I played one Big O tournament, I think two years ago. I learned the rules there. I didn’t even know what certain low is better than a certain low, and I guess I learned that yesterday.
"I mucked some lows," he admitted. "I don’t know... I just figured it out while I was playing, and I guess some things were logical in my mind. I have a good background in PLO, so I learned the rest while playing. Why not?”
Indeed, Normand has a great background in PLO, with wins and cashes around the world in stakes right up to a $78,000 buy-in Triton event at WSOP Paradise in December. But a bracelet had eluded him until Saturday. The closest he’d come previously was a runner-up finish in the $5,000 8-max No-Limit Hold ‘em event last summer.
Arieh ousted in third
En route to his long-awaited win, he denied Josh Arieh his eighth bracelet, eliminating the WSOP legend in third place in a critical pot that had Normand using all of his newfound PLO8 knowledge.
After Arieh limp-called a pot-sized raise preflop, he check-potted a bet from Normand on a flop of 
. The bet was for almost all of Arieh’s chips, which sent the eventual champion deep into the tank for several minutes before the clock was called on him.
Normand elected to go with it, moving all in for slightly more, which Arieh called.
Arieh: 
Normand: 
Arieh was ahead with bottom two pair and a gutshot to Broadway, but Normand was drawing to a better two pair with his aces.
Normand hit his second pair with the 
turn, and the 
river ended Arieh’s day, setting Normand up with a 5-1 lead for a heads-up match with runner-up Michael Rodrigues that lasted one hand.
Normand explained most of his thought process on that critical hand that eliminated Arieh.
“There was a lot in the pot with what happened preflop. I felt it was a close spot with the backdoor low draw. I don’t think he had that many ace-nine or kings.
"Apparently, nine is not a good card in this game, so I felt like I had to put it in with the backdoor equity. As I said, I don’t really know this game, I just feel it was close. Someone better than me will tell me.”
Is PLO8 now Canada’s game?
Normand’s victory also brings a unique distinction with it, as he makes it back-to-back wins in this event for Canadians, with the 2025 edition won by Zachary Zaret, who topped a field of 1,176 for his bracelet and $248,245.
Normand bested a field of 1,093 players to earn $235,377 and his first WSOP bracelet.
Zaret’s bracelet was the only one for Canada in 2025, and Normand is eager to add more for the Great White North in 2026, starting with the $10,000 PLO 8 or Better Championship next week, because, as he said himself, why not?
But first, an encore of ‘O Canada’ in the Horseshoe Event Center.
“It’s pretty cool, yeah… it will be fun at the bracelet ceremony to hear the national anthem.”
$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better final table results:
- Frederic Normand (Canada) - $235,377
- Michael Rodrigues (Portugal) - $156,863
- Josh Arieh (USA) - $110,085
- Ryan Hansen (USA) - $78,430
- Dennis Weiss (Germany) - $56,738
- Rocky Paradise (USA) - $41,688
- Jordan Polk (USA) - $31,117
- Tobias Huasen (Germany) - $23,602
- Darin Utley (USA) - $18,196
