The $1,100 Limit Omaha 8 Championship, which took place Dec. 17-18, saw 209 entrants compete for a $202,730 prize pool, which was more than double the $100K guarantee. The top 27 finishers made the money including Frankie O’Dell (11th - $3,993), Rupesh Pattni (17th - $2,767), Shirin Oskooi (20th - $2,539), and Benny Glaser (25th - $2,236).
After France’s Fabrice Soulier bowed out in third place for $21,406, the title came down to two of the best mixed games players in the world in Nathan Gamble and Yuval Bronshtein. The former ultimately came out on top of the heads-up match and took down a $47,472 top prize and the coveted Wynn trophy.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas started with 3,835 entrants, and on Tuesday just 16 players returned for Day 6 action. By the end of the night, the final table of six was established.
The player in the best spot to make a run at the $5,678,000 first-place prize is Andrew “Lucky Chewy” Lichtenberger, who bagged a big chip lead with 148,200,000 (124 bb). While he has a WPT Alpha8 title on his poker résumé, Lichtenberger is looking to claim his first WPT Main Tour title.
“I would say in myself, I’m really just making sure that I’m energized enough to be able to think clearly about my decisions,” Lichtenberger told the WPT earlier in the day. “Not get too overly excited, because there’s still a long way to go, and just trying to stay even keeled. And yeah, I guess I’m looking for that in my opponents as well. There’s such an interesting dynamic as it gets deeper, where fatigue can set in.”
WPT World Championship Final Table Chip Counts
Seat
Player
Count
Big Blinds
1
Ben Heath
36,700,000
31 bb
2
Andrew Lichtenbeger
148,200,000
124 bb
3
Dan Sepiol
34,300,000
29 bb
4
Artur Martirosian
29,400,000
25 bb
5
Georgios Sotiropoulos
46,200,000
39 bb
6
Chris Moorman
88,300,000
74 bb
According to live updates from the tournament, Lichtenberger was on a heater for a good part of the day, which included a big double after flopping a set of fives.
Not long after, there was a board that read A♦K♠K♥A♠K♦, and Ben Jacobs, who had started the day as chip leader, decided to bluff at it. Unfortunately for him, Lichtenberger held the fourth king and picked up a healthy pot.
Minutes later, Lichtenberger looked down at pocket aces on the button and put in a raise. An unsuspecting John Richards then jammed from the small blind with king-ten suited and an ace on the flop would promptly seal his fate in 10th place for $566,900. That brought about the final table of nine players.
Lichtenberg eliminated Jacobs shortly thereafter. It happened on Hand #26 of the final table in Level 34 (600,000/1,200,000/1,200,000). That is when Jacobs jammed his last 14.2 million with two black kings and Lichtenberger called with ace-queen suits. An ace appeared on the flop and that was all she wrote for Jacobs, who took home $566,900 for his ninth-place finish.
On Hand #34 in the same level, Moorman raised to 21 million from the small blind and essentially put Carl Shaw, who was in the big blind, to the test. Shaw jammed for 23.8 million and Moorman called the additional 2.8 million with the 10♦9♦.
He was behind the A♦K♦ of Shaw, but Moorman locked it up with a turned straight after the board ran out 8♦6♣6♥7♣K♥. Shaw had to settle for seventh place and $928,900 while the final six players bagged for the night. The remaining six players are guaranteed $1,207,000 in prize money and action will resume with 61 minutes remaining in Level 34 (600,000/1,200,000/1,200,000).
WPT World Championship Day 6 Eliminations
Place
Player
Prize
7
Carl Shaw
$928,900
8
Mark Mounsey
$721,600
9
Ben Jacobs
$566,900
10
John Richards
$566,900
11
Maxime Chilaud
$456,500
12
Jason Min
$456,500
13
Ade Olonoh
$363,300
14
Paulius Vaitiekunas
$363,300
15
Henrique Zanetti
$291,700
16
Raphael Blouet
$291,700
The seventh and final day of the tournament, which will be livestreamed, will take place at 4 p.m. local time on Thursday and play down to a winner. Cards-up coverage and commentary will be on a 30-minute security delay. Once again, PokerNews will publish a recap after play concludes for the day.
Mikita Badziakouski became $7,114,500 richer on Wednesday by winning a thrilling World Poker Tour (WPT) Big One for One Drop final table, defeating Mario Mosboeck heads-up to close it out.
Six players returned to Wynn Las Vegas for one final session — Day 3 — but only four would go home with money. Two others left the casino with nothing but memories of the $1 million they spent to enter the tournament.
WPT Big One for One Drop Final Table Results
Rank
Player
Prize
1
Mikita Badziakouski
$7,114,500
2
Mario Mosboeck
$4,663,950
3
Dan Smith
$2,806,750
4
Isaac Haxton
$1,224,800
Final Table Action
The bubble in this type of event is far more stressful than any other tournament as the player who bubbled left down $1 million, and everyone who cashed was guaranteed at least a $224,800 profit.
Santhosh Suvarna, a high-stakes regular who owns a casino in India, busted first at the final table when he lost a race to Mosboeck. Nick Petrangelo then finished on the stone bubble in the 17-player super high roller.
The pressure of reaching the money and avoiding a seven-figure loss was gone for the remaining four players. But there was still plenty of business to take care of given the jump from fourth to first place was nearly $6 million.
Haxton held the chip lead at the time, but barely over Mosboeck. Badziakouski also wasn't too far behind, and Smith, who finished Day 1 and Day 2 with the chip lead, had become the short stack.
Mosboeck made his big move on Haxton in a 3.2 million chip pot that ended in a Haxton river fold. For quite some time, the match remained four-handed with the same chip leader. Smith began to fade below the 10-big blind threshold. Haxton, with 2,600,000, went all in with A♥Q♥ against the 8♣8♥ Badziakouski had been dealt.
The board ran out 4♦2♥5♠10♥J♦ and Haxton was out in fourth place, good for $1,224,800.
Three-Handed Play Begins
At the start of three-handed play, it appeared Mosboeck and Badziakouski were destined to soon battle heads-up given Smith was down to just seven big blinds. Would he go on to spin it up? The answer is no.
Smith, who now has over $52 million in cashes on The Hendon Mob, quickly moved all in with A♥4♣ against Mosboeck's K♣7♣. The board came 10♥7♦Q♣5♠K♦, and that was ballgame for the man with the cowboy hat. Third place paid the future Poker Hall of Famer $2,806,750.
At the start of heads-up play, Mosboeck was up nearly 2-1 in chips, but ran into a bad break with A♦5♠ on a board of A♥7♦9♠5♥K♠ because his opponent, who earned a full double-up on the hand, had 8♣6♣ for the stone-cold nuts.
Mosboeck, however, who inevitably fell into a deep hole, would find a doulbe up, but was still down approximately 3-1 in chips. Badziakouski, who now has over $50 million in live tournament cashes, would finish off the tournament with with A♦9♠ against K♣J♦ when the best hand preflop held up through the river on the 8♣10♦10♣8♥4♥ board.
Had Mosboeck won the hand, he would have nearly tied up the match. As a consolation prize, Mosboeck took home $4,663,950, which should lessen the sting of not winning the tournament.
$1 Million One Drop Tournament History
The $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop was started in 2012 by recreational poker player Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil and the One Drop clean water initiative charity. Laliberte, who was a prominent figure at the time, brought the seven-figure charity event to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) that year.
Antonio Esfandiari won the inaugural event, originally slated to be hosted every other year at the WSOP, for $18,346,673, a live poker tournament record at the time. The "Magician" outlasted a field of 48 players to capture his career-defining victory in a bracelet event televised on ESPN.
Two years later, again on ESPN, Dan Colman won the 42-player tournament at the WSOP for $15,306,668, beating Daniel Negreanu heads-up for the title. Attendance in the event has declined each time, starting in 2016 in Monte Carlo where Elton Tsang beat a 28-player field for $12,246,912.
The event then returned to the Rio in Las Vegas in 2018 for the last time with Justin Bonomo defeating 27 players for a $10,000,000 score.