The 2021 WSOP Event #53: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller attracted some serious attention this year.
Pot-limit Omaha has always been a popular game among high rollers. Twice the cards, twice the action. That fast action keeps things exciting, while the small edges keep the fish coming back by feeding them a decent share of good days.
As a result, 212 players forked out two-and-a-half Main Event buy-ins to play the PLO $25k.
The total prize pool for this event ended up being a post-rake $5,008,500. $1,251,860 of that $5 million was earmarked for first place, with 32 spots paid in total.
This is all the more impressive when you consider that U.S. Customs Officers are still under orders to turn European players back at the border. PLO has always been more popular on the far side of the Atlantic.
Despite the border guards, the final table was fairly international. David Benyamine of France took sixth for $205,655, Veselin Karakitukov of Bulgaria took $276,870, and Ka Kwan Lau of Hong Kong took $773,708 for second.
Final table action
Big-name players who entered but didn't make the final table included: Daniel Negreanu, Josh Arieh, Jeff Gross, Ryan LaPlante, Felipe Ramos, Joe Hachem, JC Tran, Erik Seidel, Anthony Zinno, and Tommy Le.
Le has been beating up the PLO scene at the WSOP this year. In this event, he came 9th, right on the final table bubble. In the process, he rounded out a hat trick of top ten finishes in PLO events. He previously took 2nd in the 2021 WSOP $1,500 PLO event. He also took the bracelet in the 2021 WSOP $10k PLO event.
With Le gone the official final table got underway. Chips moved back and forth for several hours in which Charles Sinn, Ben Lamb, Benyamine, Karakitukov, Maxx Coleman, and John Beauprez all exited (in that order).
Play had to pause after Benyamine's exit with the final five players returning on Day 4.
The WSOP tweeted the state of play at the end of Day 3:
"The final 5 players in the $25,000 PLO High Roller starting at 4pm, the delayed
@PokerGO stream starts at 8pm ET/5pm PT:
Seat 1 Veselin Karakitukov 2.745m
Seat 2 Maxx Coleman 5.73m
Seat 3 Shaun Deeb 3.64m
Seat 4 John Beauprez 8.725m
Seat 5 Ka Kwan Lau 10.75m"
The last hand
With Bauprez's exit, only Deeb and Lau were left to play heads-up for all the marbles. Lau went into heads-up play a considerable underdog. Deeb had Lau covered almost three times over.
Lau survived an all-in to double up, closing the gap to something more like 2:1. But Deeb kept the pressure on.
Norman Chad was on hand to provide commentary via Twitter.
"I am watching final table of WSOP 25k PLO High Roller on @PokerGO. @shaundeeb is wearing a 'Trophy Husband' T-shirt," Chad wrote. "If Shaun Deeb is a Trophy Husband, then I'm a Trophy Ex-Husband."
The final hand arrived with blinds at 150k-300k with a 300k big blind ante.
Deeb limped in and then called Lau's raise to 900k. Lau had a little under 10 million and the A❤️K♦️K♣8♦️ in front of him.
The flop came 8♠8♣6♣, giving Lau trips and plenty of outs to improve. He bet 700k and Deeb called.
Deeb bet 2 million into the 5♦️ on the turn and Lau called.
The 5♣ on the river could have filled up a flush draw or house, but didn't change much else.
When Deeb fired 6.2 million into a pot of 7.2 million, Lau paused, tanked, then called the rest of his chips off.
Unfortunately for Lau, Deeb flipped over A♣7♦️6❤️5♠ for a full house fives over sixes. Lau's trips were dead, and he took home $773,708 for second place. Deeb took home bracelet number 5.
2021 WSOP Event #53: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller complete final table results
Featured image source: PokerGO
