Duek Dominates Day 2 of $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship; Madsen Among the Big Stacks
The money bubble has burst on Day 2 of the largest $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship in the history of the World Series of Poker to date. Out of a field of 683 entrants, only 39 players remain in contention for the biggest slice of the $6,368,975 prize pool. The new record attendance in Event #69: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship was further cemented thanks to 42 new entries prior to the start, some of which made a profit on their investment already.
Upon completion of ten 60-minute levels in the latest marquee event of the 2022 WSOP in its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas, the money bubble has burst and several dozen contenders headed to the payout desk. When the dust had settled, Michael Duek emerged as the chip leader with a massive stack of 4,460,000. His nearest followers Shiva Dudani (3,280,000) and Tom Hu (2,315,000) trail by a significant margin.
The overnight top ten feature eight players from the US including two WSOP bracelet winners in Robert Nehorayan (2,105,000), and Jeff Madsen (1,795,000) while Russia's Iakov Onuchin (1,950,000) and Canada's Lev Zerkal (1,115,000) were able to break into the American domination thus far.
Top Ten Stacks After Day 2
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Duek | United States | 4,460,000 | 178 |
| 2 | Shiva Dudani | United States | 3,280,000 | 131 |
| 3 | Tom Hu | United States | 2,315,000 | 93 |
| 4 | Robert Nehorayan | United States | 2,105,000 | 84 |
| 5 | Iakov Onuchin | Russia | 1,950,000 | 78 |
| 6 | Jeff Madsen | United States | 1,795,000 | 72 |
| 7 | Michael Russell | United States | 1,265,000 | 51 |
| 8 | Nitesh Rawtani | United States | 1,155,000 | 46 |
| 9 | Lev Zerkal | Canada | 1,115,000 | 45 |
| 10 | Tesfaldet Tekle | United States | 1,105,000 | 44 |
Another seven WSOP gold bracelet winners will aim to increase their tally in the next two days. This also includes the UK's Patrick Leonard, who joined the elusive circle a few days ago in Event #55: $1,000 Tag Team alongside Espen Jorstad. The Brit will be among the shortest stacks for the Day 3 restart on Monday, July 4, 2022 at 2pm with 340,000 in chips.
William McMahan was the last player to leave the tournament empty-handed without anything to show for. He was eliminated by Fabian Brandes after his stack was reduced to fumes and the German rivered a flush. For Brandes, who has a victory and runner-up finish in PLO bracelet events at the 2022 WSOP at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas to his name, the tournament ended soon after with a min-cash.
Among the Day Two casualties in the money were plenty of notables and lovers of the four-card variant. Perhaps the most well-known PLO specialist among them was the two-time winner of this very event Tommy Le, who also has another third place in the $10,000 PLO Championship to his name as well.
Le's title defence was cut short in 76th place for $17,551 when Ronald Keijzer turned quads to deny the chance at a repeat victory. However, his brother and fellow WSOP bracelet winner Allan Le will be among the 39 hopefuls for Day Three and has 600,000 chips at his disposal to potentially continue the family tradition.
Other familiar faces heading to the payout desk in the late stages of the night were Isaac Baron, Luis Calvo, Bruno Fitoussi, Tom McCormick, Jared Jaffee, Vivian Saliba, Stephen Chidwick, Ben Yu, and Rick Alvarado.
During the frantic final levels, John Kabbaj suffered a horrendous beat when he was two-outered by Aden Salazar and walked over to the payout desk in disbelief. Salazar was also responsible for the double elimination of Dario Sammartino and Michael Cox.
The largest pot of the tournament so far unfolded in a large tussle between Shiva Dudani and Kazuhiko Yotsushika in the penultimate level of the night. With trips fives on the board, high-stakes PLO cash game player Yotsushika bet the pot with very few chips behind only to call it off against a full-house.
All 39 hopefuls will return to their seats in the Paris Ballroom at 2:00 p.m. local time on Monday, July 4, 2022. The blinds in level 21 will be 10,000-25,000 with a big blind ante of 25,000. Up to ten levels of 60 minutes each are scheduled for the penultimate tournament day, which is set to whittle the field down to the last five contenders.
Stay tuned right here on PokerNews to find out who emerges as the champion in Event #69: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship, as the live reporting team will be on the floor to provide exclusive updates from start to finish.