Ryan Laplante beat Chance Kornuth to claim victory in 2019 Poker Masters $10K PLO event. (Drew Amata/PokerCentral)

On Tuesday, Chance Kornuth final tabled the opening event of the Poker Masters before finishing second to Isaac Baron. On Wednesday, Kornuth once again took on the role of bridesmaid as Ryan Laplante eliminated the final four players to win the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event for $186,000.

With blinds of 25,000/50,000, Tim McDermott was down to just 140,000 when he moved all in with AhQh9c5h from early position. John Riordan made 545,000 from the button with KhKs6s2h. Thai Ha and Laplante folded their blinds. The board ran out Qc7s5s9s8s to give Riordan a flush and eliminate McDermott in sixth place.

Five minutes later, defending Purple Jacket winner Ali Imsirovic went up against Laplante. From the cutoff, Laplante raised to 125,00 with –AsJhTd2s before Imsirovic re-raised from the button to 450,000 with AcAh9s2h and Laplante called. The Qs6s3s flop gave Laplante the nut flush. Laplante bet 190,000 – exactly what Imsirovic had left – and Imsirovic called. The 5c turn and 4h river combo were unable to save Imsirovic from a fifth place finish.

Laplante found himself on the good end of a bustout an hour later. Riordan raised to 280,000 from the button with AcJs4s3d and Laplante defended his big blind with Th8s6h2d. After the Qd9d3c flop, Riordan called Laplante’s pot-sized bet with his tournament life on the line. The 8c turn moved Laplante ahead and the Jd river was no help for Riordan and he was eliminated in fourth place.

While all the excitement in his home state of Pennsylvania has been focused on the launch of PokerStars PA, Thai Ha has been putting in the work at the Poker Masters. Following his eighth place finish in Event #1, Ha was guaranteed a better finish but couldn’t manage to grab a win. After Kornuth folded his button, Ha called from the small blind with 9s8s7c2c before Laplante raised to 240,000 from the big blind with KdKs7d6h. The Th9d6d flop gave Ha a straight and he bet 560,000. Laplante instantly moved all in and Ha called. The 4d turn gave Laplante a flush and Ha could only shake hands and say goodbye as the 3h river completed the board.

Heads-up play began with Laplante holding a better than 2-1 chip lead over Kornuth. It took just two hands of one-on-one play for Kornuth to put a wrap on his first live win since December 2016. Kornuth raised to 240,000 from the button with QdQh6c3s and Laplante called with ThTs9c8s. The Tc3c3h flop gave Laplante a flopped full house and Kornuth lead out for 225,000. Laplante moved all in and Kornuth called. The Ad turn and 7s river failed to give Kornuth any relief and he was eliminated in second place for the second time in two days.

“I’ve been working a lot on my training site, Learn Pro Poker, it’s a lot of GTO-based content. When you’re working on stuff like that it really helps a lot of aspects of your game and I’ve just been running very, very well this year,” Laplante said after the win.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Ryan Laplante – $186,000
  2. Chance Kornuth – $124,000
  3. Thai Ha – $86,000
  4. John Riordan – $62,000
  5. Ali Imsirovic – $49,600
  6. Tim McDermott – $37,200