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The World Series of Poker unveiled a new tournament offering the popular game of pot-limit Omaha at an affordable price point. The $365 ‘PLO Giant’ event featured five starting flights, with each one taking place on Sunday night throughout the duration of June. The survivors of all of those flights combined into one field on Monday, July 2nd and played down to a final table. Canada’s Tim Andrew who emerged victorious from the last nine players, earning his first gold bracelet in the very first WSOP bracelet event he entered.
The 31-year-old from Cranbrook, British Columbia also earned a $116,015 payday and 480 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event.
Andrew came into the final table tied for third chip position. He also came in roughly half an hour late, having overslept his alarm. He woke up with 15 minutes to get to the Rio and figured that he was going to miss some hands regardless. He allowed himself a nice cool shower before heading over to take his seat under the bright lights at the final table.
Andrew was able to survive to short-handed play with a healthy stack, despite not scoring any knockouts along the way. The player with most of the eliminations was Pedro Arroyos. He busted Raymond Walton (8th – $13,384) at the start of the final table to begin his run. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi earned a double knockout of his own when he sent Kevin Nomberto (7th – $18,444) and James Sievers (6th – $23,796) to the rail, only to have Arroyos eliminate him in fifth place not long after. The four-time bracelet winner and three-time Poker Players Championshipwinner took home $31,304 for his deep run in this event.
Arroyos kept up the aggression. He was able to avoid both a wrap straight draw and a flush draw, having his pair of aces hold up to eliminate Sandeep Pulusani in fourth place ($42,172). With his elimination of Robert Cicchelli in third place ($54,718) he took roughly a 3-to-2 lead into heads-up play over Tim Andrew.
Arroyos was able to extend his lead to mroe than 3-to-1 before Andrew began to mount his comeback. He battled his way back to within 10 big blinds of Arroyos before the key hand arose. With a flop of AJ9 Andrew got all-in holding the A542 for a pair of aces and the nut flush draw. He was up against a set of jacks, with Arroyos holding the JJ85. The turn was the Q to complete Andrew’s flush, and the 6 kept him in the lead. With that Andrew surged into the lead, and from there he never looked back.
In the end Arroyos got his last chips in with a wrap draw on a flop. Andrew called with a pocket pair of aces, which held up to earn him the pot and the title. Arroyos earned $71,703 as the runner-up finisher.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
1 | Tim Andrew | $116,015 | 480 |
2 | Pedro Arroyos | $71,703 | 400 |
3 | Robert Cicchelli | $54,718 | 320 |
4 | Sandeep Pulusani | $42,172 | 240 |
5 | Michael Mizrachi | $31,304 | 200 |
6 | James Sievers | $23,796 | 160 |
7 | Kevin Nomberto | $18,444 | 120 |
8 | Raymond “Trey” Walton | $14,968 | 80 |
9 | Srinivas Balasubramanian | $11,093 | 40 |
Source : www.cardplayer.com