Ingram - Newcomer Chris Ba. of Detroit Jokers fame defeated heads-up opponent Eric W. to take down S4E4 PLO early Sunday morning and in the process became the "Master of Potbets".
What was poised to be another PLO near sellout (19 seats filled) was abruptly dashed by the late cancellations of Fran D. and Nick & Anita G. When the tournament bell tolled, 16 players were to compete for the FNCPT's 3rd installment of Pot Limit Omaha.
Playing at the blue table, Jeff R. was felted and rebought, but still couldn't get any traction. On his last hand, he pushed all in and made a baby flush, but sub Mike M. had a bigger flush and Jeff became the night's first elimination. Lolly was next (also at the blue table) when her two-pair was called by "Buffalo" Bill B's flopped set of kings. Chris S. quietly exited in 14th place from the bronze table followed by Jason Ta. back at the blue table. Jason, the season 2 PLO champ and season 3 PLO third place finisher, found himself card dead and short-stacked. He flopped a straight and pushed all in, but was mathematically behind to Eric's draw to a straight, flush, OESD and full house. The river gave Eric the full house and sent Jason packing.
Jason Tr, last season's PLO champ, got it in good in a few pots but was outdrawn each time and crippled. Down to just 5,500, he managed to quad-up after he slow-rolled a winning flush. But a few hands later, he woke up with A-A-8-10 and the few chips he gained were all in the middle. "Buffalo" Bill called with J-J-Q-7 and flopped a set of jacks. No help came on the turn/river for Jason and he was out in 12th place.
Angie S. quietly exited the tournament in 11th place followed by sub Mike M. who got all his chips in the middle in a three-way pot between "Buffalo" Bill and Jim O. When the smoke cleared, Jim took the main pot with a runner-runner straight, Bill took the side pot with aces up and Mike took the rail in 10th place thus forming the final table.
Final table play began with blinds at 3k/6k/500. Jim O. was the first casualty when he pushed with top two-pair against "Buffalo" Bill who insta-called with trip queens. It was Bill's third set against Jim in 15 minutes, and this was a fatal blow. [Editors note: if eventual winner Chris Ba. was the "Master of Potbets" then Bill was easily the "Master of Flopped Sets" this evening].
Eric and Marc H. tangled in a hand with two queens on the flop. Each player checked the double-queen flop, but when Marc matched the turn for a full house, he pushed all in. Eric called to find out the bad news, but then made a bigger boat on the river, sending Marc out in 8th place.
Despite an early rebuy, Keith managed to build up his stack and found himself in a position to compete for a top four spot. But after a run of too-many-flops and second-best hands, Keith was all-in with 3 callers. With a flop of A-A-A, the bets checked around. With a 5 on the turn, John led out, getting one call, but pushing Eric out of the hand. John got the rest of his chips in the middle on the river, showing the case ace (which he initially declared was only aces full of fives -- "because you have to play two hole cards in Omaha"), taking down the pot and felting Keith in 7th place.
A few hands later, John found himself all-in on the flop and got a caller in sub Greg S. Greg rivered a set of queens to send John out in 6th place.
With five players remaining and the bubble looming, fireworks erupted when Mike T. and sub Chris Ba. exchanged pot, pot, all-in and call raises totaling 750k preflop. Mike revealed K-K-8-5 whilst Chris revealed a better A-A-6-T. But the T-8-8 flop gave Mike the lead with trip 8's. The turn brought a 7 which gave Chris an inside straight draw. The river brought just that, a 9, giving Chris a winning straight and sending a stunned (but gracious) Mike out on the bubble in 5th place.
Sub Greg S. bowed out in 4th place after he got it all-in preflop and got called by Chris Ba. who eventually made trip 10's.
Greg was followed by "Buffalo" Bill (out 3rd) who was all-in preflop and called by Chris. Bill managed to river a flush but that same river card gave Chris aces full of jacks.
Head's-up play between Eric and Chris started just after 1 AM with Chris having a 2-1 chip lead over his opponent. Both players exchanged pots into the 20k/40k level with neither player gaining much of an advantage. Then Chris started stringing together pots, taking them down PF with pot-raises. With the enormous blinds of 60,000/120,000, Eric found himself short-stacked with only about 350,000 chips.
On the final hand of the night, Chris button-potted it and left Eric with a decision: make a stand, or surrender the big blind and look for a better spot.
Holding middle pair and a suited connector, Eric pushed for another 80,000 on top of the button pot, knowing full well that the raise was not enough to get Chris off any four cards. As expected, Chris called, revealing Qc-Kh-4d-5c: a 51-49 favorite.
Chris immediately took the lead on the flop by hitting a queen in the window for top pair and a commanding 4:1 lead in the hand. The Kd turn gave Chris top two-pair, and left Eric with only 4 outs. The 10s river missed Eric and gave Chris his first FNCPT victory in as many tries.
Chris joins a now growing small group of players who have had immediate success in the FNCPT. Despite rebuying, Eric managed a 2nd place finish gaining much needed POY points. A total of 5 rebuy's were purchased Saturday night which helped bloat the shortened field's purse.
~Jason Tr.
River Jackpot
An increase to $2 a card had no effect on sales of RJP cards Saturday night as all 40 cards easily sold. With a carry over of $35 from S4E3, the jackpot grew to $115. The 10s river card gave "Buffalo" Bill the jackpot. Congrats to Bill on the hit and his 3rd place finish in the tournament.
All future RJP cards will be sold in pairs for $5. Sales in each event will be limited to 20 pairs (40 cards).
April 8 Update
As the PLO event drew to a close, only one thing remained the same: John M. was still out front. Three idle players dropped out of the top 8 while the top three finishers all vaulted upward. With his victory (without a rebuy), Chris Ba. planted himself in 7th place with only 1 event under his belt.
1. John M. (20.50 points)
2. Bill B. (17.97), up 3 spots
3. Jim O. (13.11), up 3 spots
4. Matt P.(13.08), down 2 spots
5. Eric W. (13.01), up 8 spots
6. Jason Tr. (12.80), up 1 spot
7. Chris Ba. (12.65), debut
8. Chris S. (11.81), up 1 spot
After missing 2 events, Tom is only 0.07 points out of the April 8. Likewise, Jason Ta. is only 0.64 points back. Fran is also less than a point out, sitting 0.76 points down. Jim H. has missed two straight events and is only 1.3 behind the April 8 pack. And despite sitting in 13th place, Angie is only 2 points out of 8th. Even Joe H., with only 1 event under his belt, is only 2.59 points behind. With a good showing in Event 5, any of these players can crack the top eight.
If Event 5 fills up at 20 players, first place will be worth 15.81 points, which is more points than six of the top 8 players have accumulated for the season. Needless to say, anyone in the field can do well (even another newcomer which seems to be the current trend) and find themselves in the top eight. As we get toward the middle of the season, there are still ample opportunities for players to gain significant ground.
PLO will return this season. Well, sort of. We will be playing HO (NLHE/PLO) in Event #9 in January.
