WSOP: Frankie O'Dell Snags $10K Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
Frankie O’Dell Wins Third Omaha Hi-Lo Bracelet
Frankie O’Dell just might be the best Omaha Hi-Lo tournament player ever. On Sunday he beat out a final table that included Robert Mizrachi and Owais Ahmed to win his third bracelet in that variation and if you’re still unsure about his place in the game, just ask him.
“Well if you don’t know, there’s only one person who has three limit Omaha eight bracelets and you’re talking to him,” O’Dell said after his win. “So until someone passes me or catches me, I’m not going to say nothing. I’m just going to leave it right there.”
O’Dell’s first bracelet came in 2003 when he outlasted 258 other players to win a $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo event. Four years later he beat Thang Luu heads-up to win a $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo event. He’s also adept at other games. Last summer he finished second in the $1,500 Dealers Choice event and that performance has stuck with him since.
“I thought about it the whole year. I came back this year and my mentality was to do better,” O’Dell said. “I had an opportunity here today, I had chips, we had the best Omaha players in the world in this tournament and I ended up on top. So that was my motivation.”
Ahmed earned $443,641 for his win while Ahmed, who won his sole bracelet in a $1,500 Seven Card Stud/Omaha Hi-Lo event in 2011, earned $274,192 as the runner-up.
Final Table Payouts
- Frankie O’Dell – $443,641
- Owais Ahmed – $274,192
- Robert Mizrachi- $194,850
- Nick Guagenti – $140,522
- Robert Campbell – $102,868
- Jake Schwartz – $76,456
- David Benyamine – $57,709
- Edmond Vartughian – $44,245
- Shaun Deeb – $34,467
Joe McKeehen Amongst Millionaire Maker Day 2 Leaders
Joe McKeehen is mostly known for winning the 2015 WSOP Main Event, but it’s impossible to ignore the success he’s had at the WSOP in massive No Limit Hold’em fields. In 2014, he finished runner-up out of 7,862 entries in the $1,500 Monster Stack. In 2017, he managed to outlast all but 25 other players in the 6,716-player $1,500 Monster Stack. Last summer, he finished third out of 7,361 players in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker. Now he’s in position to do it again.
McKeehen finished Day 2 of the $1,500 Millionaire Maker with the fourth largest stack. The day started with 2,263 players all hoping for a seven-figure score but just 309 players made it through Day 2. Samuel Cosby leads the way with 3,023,000 while McKeehen bagged up 2,416,000.
Former #1-ranked Joao Simao finished in the top 10 with 1,891,000. Other notables moving on to Day 2 include Calvin Anderson, Steven van Zadelhoff, Scott Clements, Shawn Buchanan, Ramon Colillas, Olivier Busquet, JC Tran, Chris Hunichen, and Daniel Strelitz.
There were 941 players who started the day with the chips, but failed to make it past the money bubble. Vitaly Lunkin, Jim McManus, Phil Hellmuth, Faraz Jaka, Elio Fox, Eric Baldwin, Bryan Piccioli, Adrian Mateos, and Dzmitry Urbanovich were among the players who did manage to sneak into the money but not survive the day.
Action resumes Monday at Noon.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Samuel Cosby – 3,023,000
- Unknown Player – 2,521,000
- Nathan Russler – 2,443,000
- Joe McKeehen – 2,416,000
- Renato Kaneoya – 2,351,000
- Ryan Leng – 2,277,000
- Vincas Tamasauskas – 2,265,000
- Ricky Welch – 1,920,000
- Joao Simao – 1,891,000
- Joshua Reichard – 1,854,000
Eli Elezra Leads $1,500 Seven Card Stud Final Table
Sunday’s action in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event started with just 10 players left and finished after three hours of play with six players. Action was stopped with six players left to accommodate streaming of the final table on CBS All Access/PokerGO.
Eli Elezra started the day in the middle of the pack, but made the most of those three hours and finished with the chip lead. Elezra ended with 1,221,000 which puts him just 2,000 ahead of Anthony Zinno. He bagged up 1,219,000.
Those two are comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. Valentin Vornicu is third with 262,000 and the three remaining players all have 61,000 or less.
Rodney Pardey Jr., Tim Frazin, Scott Seiver, and Joshua Mountain were the players eliminated on Sunday.
The final six players resume play at Noon PT and will be streamed on CBS All Access/PokerGO at 1 PM PT.
Final Table Chip Counts
- Eli Elezra – 1,221,000
- Anthony Zinno – 1,219,000
- Valentin Vornicu – 262,000
- Rep Porter – 61,000
- Tab Thiptinnakon – 60,000
- David Singer – 30,000
Jean-Robert Bellande On Top of $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Final Table
To the surprise of nobody, the final table of the $10,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Championship is a star-studded group. Jean-Robert Bellande ended Day 2 action with 1,231,000 and the chip lead. For Bellande to pick up the second bracelet of his career, he’ll need to outwit, outsmart, and outplay Prahlad Friedman, Paul Volpe, Darren Elias, Jim Bechtel, Day 1 chip leader Pedro Bromfman, and Vincent Musso.
Friedman was the only other player to end Day 2 with a seven-figure stack. The former online prodigy finished with 1,019,000. Right behind him is former #1-ranked Paul Volpe with 938,000. Elias, who has a third and ninth place finish in this event on his resume, sits fourth with 887,000.
There were 29 Day 1 survivors who were joined before registration closed at the start of Day 2 by Mike Watson, Per Hildebrand, Jake Schwartz, Kane Kalas, Chris Klodnicki, Matt Glantz, and Dan Smith.
The remaining seven players are now being forced to take a day off before returning to play on Tuesday. The day off is to allow for the event to be streamed on PokerGO.
Final Table Chip Counts
- Jean-Robert Bellande – 1,231,000
- Prahlad Friedman – 1,019,000
- Paul Volpe – 938,000
- Darren Elias – 887,000
- Jim Bechtel – 665,000
- Pedro Bromfman – 395,000
- Vincent Musso – 360,000
Massive Fields Continue: $1,000 Double Stack Event Draws 3,253
First, there was the Big 50, then the $600 Deepstack, and the Millionaire Maker. Huge fields in some of the more recreational player-focused events are becoming the norm at the 2019 WSOP. The $1,000 Double Stack event started Sunday and 3,253 players packed the tables to the max with just 430 of them making their way through 20 levels of play and onto Day 2.
Bulgaria’s Ivan Uzunov bagged up the Day 1 chip lead after amassing 1,912,000 in chips. Only five other players ended the day with a million chips in the bag. Israel’s Timur Margolin is the closest challenger to Uzunov, finishing with 1,333,000.
Some of the notable names moving on to Day 2 include WPT Player of the Year Erkut Yilmaz, Adam Levy, British boxer Audley Harrison, Blair Hinkle, Jennifer Tilly, Maria Ho, Maria Konnikova, and Dan Ott.
Day 2 begins at Noon and is scheduled to play down to a champion.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Ivan Uzunov – 1,912,000
- Timur Margolin – 1,333,000
- Jose Carlos Brito – 1,147,000
- Sridhar Natarajan – 1,096,000
- Jorden Fox – 1,075,000
- Christopher Andler – 1,062,000
- Eugenio Pernia – 901,000
- Sven Reichardt – 852,000
- Philip Wang – 830,000
- Zachary Donovan – 824,000
Michael Mizrachi Bags Top 5 Stack in $1,500 Eight Game Mix
A year after drawing 481 players, the $1,500 Eight Game event saw a huge uptick in attendance with 612 players sitting down to play the mix game event. Aleksandr Gofman finished with 95,800 to top the 225 players who managed to move on to Day 2.
Mihails Morozovs sits second with 77,100 and Michael Mizrachi is right behind him in third with 74,500. John Cernuto, Matt Glantz, and WPT Aria Summer Poker Championship winner Matthew Wantman all finished with top 10 stacks. Other notables who are moving on to Day 2 include Andrey Zaichenko, Ian O’Hara, Jen Harman, Matt Grapenthien, Patrick Leonard, Dan Smith, Mike Sexton, and David ‘ODB’ Baker.
Top 10 Chip Counts
- Aleksandr Gofman – 95,800
- Mihails Morozovs – 77,100
- Michael Mizrachi – 74,500
- John Cernuto – 74,000
- Keeth Beharrell – 73,500
- Ashish Gupta – 72,600
- Matt Glantz – 66,300
- Isaac Crow – 63,900
- Ben Ponzio – 62,600
- Matthew Wantman – 60,400
‘loofa ‘ Wins $600 Online Pot Limit Omaha Championship
It took 13 hours, but ‘loofa‘ wasn’t complaining as he beat out 1,215 other players to win the $600 Online PLO Championship early Monday morning. The win came with a WSOP bracelet and $139,470.33.
Runner-up ‘TheBigGift‘ earned $85,560.10.
Phil Galfond, who had the chip lead with five left, finished fifth for $29,680.12.
This is the second online event of the 2019 WSOP. Yong ‘LuckySpewy1′ Kwon won the $400 No Limit Hold’em event in the opening week.
Final Table Payouts
- loofa – $139,470.33
- TheBigGift – $85,560.19
- jebronlames1 – $59,163.26
- bathroomline – $41,565.31
- Phil ‘heyguys’ Galfond – $29,680.12
- babycow – $21,537.79
- FlushStr8ted – $15,956.35
- Tane. – $12,016.51
- Daval_17 – $9,192.96
