Bohlman Does It Again, Leads PLO 6-Max Ahead of Final Day
Scott Bohlman has been playing in a phenomenal form this summer and doesn't seem willing to slow down towards the end of the series. Having played WSOP events for well over a decade, Bohlman finally got rid of the goose egg in his bracelet status and nabbed the gold in the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet. Then he came close to pioneering a title pair when he made it to the heads-up in the $10k Stud Hi-Lo Championship. He walked away with the silver medal but Bohlman eyes another spectacular result on the horizon.
The 2018 WSOP hasn't celebrated a double champion yet, but Bohlman might be the one to break it. He was flawless on Day 2 of Event #69: $3,000 PLO 6-Max, mainly in the final two-level stretch. The play had to be paused for a while with a power outage hitting the Amazon Room and the final 45 players in the PLO event moved to the Pavilion Room. While it's not a typical location for a deep stage of bracelet events, Bohlman wasn't bothered. He put his foot firmly on the gas pedal and started amassing huge piles.
It was almost a deja vu. Bohlman had done the same on Day 2 of the Mixed Big Bet Event which saw him emerge as an overwhelming leader ahead of the final table. Bohlman recalled that day, one of the most spectacular one-man show the World Series has ever seen: "That was sick!"
Bohlman won't have as big of an advantage coming to the PLO final day. First, there are 24 players left in the contest so the road to the victory is still rather long. Second, Bohlman may have put his name atop of the leaderboard but his left-hand neighbor Blake Whittington made a fine push in the dying minutes of Day 2 and almost tied Bohlman for the chip lead. Bohlman is still the captain with 1,570,000 but Whittington is on his heels with 1,500,000.
The two favorites are followed by two further millionaires. Evangelos Kokkalis is on 1,209,000 while French youngster Romain Lewis finished with 1,054,000. Lewis thrived all day and PokerNews caught him winning several major pots including a set-over-set clash against Dominik Nitsche in level 16, the biggest pot of the tournament at the time.
If Lewis was a standout player today, Daniel Negreanu is used to taking the spotlight in any competition he decides to join. Negreanu had dozens of fans railing him on Day 2 and he provided them with a great show. Mostly on a short stack, Negreanu managed to score a handful of doubles to stay afloat.
But poker doesn't know invincibles and even Negreanu had to go through the fundamental part of the game; a bad beat. Just when it looked that Negreanu was getting the wind in his sails after bouncing back from a nub, he found his double suited aces cracked by kings. More accurately, Ryan Lenaghan flopped and rivered a six to connect with his dangler to end Negreanu's bid for his seventh title.
So there won't be Kid Poker featured on the final day but there's still a lot of names to sweat. James Chen, Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Martin Kozlov, Matt Stout, Tommy Le, Chris Frank, Phil Galfond, Rob Salaburu, Brock Parker or Dermot Blain, they will all be back in action when the play resumes on Tuesday, July 10, at 2pm local time.
Make sure to come back to PokerNews then to follow the ultimate battles for the $475,033 first-place prize and a coveted bracelet.
Day 3 Seat Draw
| Room | Table | Seat | Player Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miranda | 620 | 1 | Christopher Frank | Germany | 386,000 | 32 |
| Miranda | 620 | 2 | Phil Galfond | United States | 274,000 | 23 |
| Miranda | 620 | 3 | Tommy Le | United States | 390,000 | 33 |
| Miranda | 620 | 4 | Alex Bolotin | United States | 166,000 | 14 |
| Miranda | 620 | 5 | [Removed:321] Abedi | United States | 360,000 | 30 |
| Miranda | 620 | 6 | Jonathan Depa | United States | 614,000 | 51 |
| Miranda | 621 | 1 | Robert Salaburu | United States | 154,000 | 13 |
| Miranda | 621 | 2 | Ronald Keijzer | Netherlands | 437,000 | 36 |
| Miranda | 621 | 3 | Jan-Peter Jachtmann | Germany | 800,000 | 67 |
| Miranda | 621 | 4 | James Chen | Taiwan | 832,000 | 69 |
| Miranda | 621 | 5 | Blake Whittington | United States | 1,500,000 | 125 |
| Miranda | 621 | 6 | Ardit Kurshumi | United States | 420,000 | 35 |
| Miranda | 622 | 1 | Martin Kozlov | Australia | 604,000 | 50 |
| Miranda | 622 | 2 | Ryan Lenaghan | United States | 664,000 | 55 |
| Miranda | 622 | 3 | Scott Bohlman | United States | 1,574,000 | 131 |
| Miranda | 622 | 4 | Matt Stout | United States | 439,000 | 37 |
| Miranda | 622 | 5 | Evangelos Kokkalis | Greece | 1,029,000 | 86 |
| Miranda | 622 | 6 | Ben Palmer | United States | 455,000 | 38 |
| Miranda | 623 | 1 | Pallas Aidinian | United States | 231,000 | 19 |
| Miranda | 623 | 2 | Richard Hu | United States | 428,000 | 36 |
| Miranda | 623 | 3 | Brock Parker | United States | 136,000 | 11 |
| Miranda | 623 | 4 | Dermot Blain | Ireland | 136,000 | 11 |
| Miranda | 623 | 5 | Romain Lewis | France | 1,054,000 | 88 |
| Miranda | 623 | 6 | Grant Wall | Canada | 460,000 | 38 |