MrSmokey1 Leads WSOP $1K PLO With 6 Left
On Friday, Steve MrSmokey1Billirakis (pictured) will go after his third World Series of Poker bracelet. This time, he leads a $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha event at the Rio in Las Vegas, the site of the WSOP. The tournament, according to ESPN’s Andrew Feldman, has set records already: “Event 3 of the @WSOP, $1K PLO, became the largest non-Hold’em event in the history of the WSOP (1,128 players).” It was the first of eight $1,000 events on the WSOP schedule this year.
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Billirakis sent Loren Klein to the rail in eighth place on Thursday after the latter’s final chips went in on a flop of 4h-5s-6s. Billirakis had Ah-Kh-Ks-9s, while Klein flipped over 4c-10c-As-Qs. The board filled out 9c-Jh, leaving Klein with no chips and propelling Billirakis to a spot in Friday’s finale.
Billirakis has a stack of 961,000 in chips, well ahead of the second place count of 695,000 belonging to Brandon Shack-Harris. Speaking of Shack-Harris, he was quite busy, eliminating Patrick Arena in seventh, Nick Guagenti in ninth, Peter Charalambous in 11th, and John O’Shea in 12th as the action whittled down to six. Here’s how the chip stacks look:
Steve MrSmokey1Billirakis – 961,000
Brandon Shack-Harris – 695,000
Matthew Ryan – 604,000
Iori Yogo – 575,000
Morgan Popham – 303,000
Robert Paddock – 250,000
The blinds were at 6,000-12,000 when the cards stopped flying on Thursday.
Billirakis has two WSOP bracelets, the first of which came in 2007 in a $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event. In the process, he became the youngest WSOP bracelet winner everat the time at 21 years and 10 days old. He won a PLO event at WSOP Europe four years later for his second piece of hardware. Billirakis has one WSOP Circuit ring to boot.
Meanwhile at the Rio, Jason Mo and Vanessa Selbst (pictured) will battle for a bracelet in the final heads-up match of Event #2,$25,000 Mixed-Max No Limit Hold’em. Mo defeated JC Tranin the semifinals to set up a date with Selbst, who ousted Al Decarolis. Selbst has two WSOP bracelets to her name, while Mo has none, but Mo was the runner-up to Brian Stinger885 Hastings in a $10,000 Heads-Up event two years ago.
According to WSOP coverage, there might already be some bad blood between the two finalists, as Mo called Selbst “so bad” on Twitter “after she put a bad beat on his friend Ryan Fee earlier in the day.” On Thursday night, Mo added, “Let’s get some bets in for me winning tomorrow, throw me some offers.”
This weekend should be quite busy at the Rio, as the $1,500 Millionaire Maker No Limit Hold’em tournament starts on Saturday with the first of two Day 1s. Players who are eliminated on Day 1A can buy into Day 1B; the winner of the $1,500 buy-in tournament will receive at least $1 million.
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