After 10 levels of play, Day 1 of Event #64: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship just wrapped up, and two players have distanced themselves from the pack: Chance Kornuth bagged 338,200 to take the chip lead into Day 2 in a photo finish over Ruslan Dykshteyn (338,000). Kornuth already has a bracelet to show for his PLO prowess, as he topped a $5,000 event in 2010 for more than $500,000.
The 418-player pool for the event was a significant jump over the 386 who registered for this event last year, when it had a triple chance format and was won by Daniel Alaei. That's an impressive feat in a time when many are questioning the long-term health of the game. A total of 132 players made it through to Day 2.
Tom Marchese (300,100), David Williams (225,200), JC Tran (214,900), Sam Trickett (214,000), Sergey Rybachenko (178,900), Jans-Peter Jachtmann (150,200), Matt Stout (149,800), and Daniel Negreanu (149,700) were among the notables bagging well-above average stacks in the star-studded field. Among the fallen: Dan Cates, Alaei, Jason Koon, Ole Schemion, Jason Somerville, Brian Rast, Scott Seiver, Mike Gorodinsky, Brian Hastings, and many more.
Day 2 begins at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, so be sure to return to PokerNews for more coverage of this event.
Chance Kornuth is making a late challenge for the chip lead, as he just busted a player on a board of . Kornuth held for nines full, good enough to send his opponent packing with .
We found Ruslan Dykshteyn potting it over a bet of about 20,000 from Ryan Goindoo on an flop. Goindoo shoved all in for well over 100,000, and Dykshteyn called.
Dykshteyn:
Goindoo:
Dykshteyn had a gutter and a flush draw, but Goindoo had a set of aces and the lead. The changed nothing on the turn, but the filled Dykshteyn's straight and caused Goindoo to let out an exclamation of disappointment, having gotten it in with the nuts for a massive pot and come up short.
We found Ole Schemion facing a wager from Ruslan Dykshteyn on a flop of . Schemion slid out a stack of raising chips, and Dykshteyn wasted no time jamming it all in.
Dykshteyn:
Schemion:
Schemion was in a less-than-ideal spot with a flush draw against a set, and he bricked on the turn and river.
Ludovic Lacay picked up the beautiful hand and stared at it for a second.
"So this is what this looks like," he said longingly.
Schemion busted a short time later, as he was left with just 11,000.
Joseph Cheong is among those at a very tough Table 366.
Four players saw the flop at Table 366, which came . Two checks ensued, and a player in middle position fired 7,700. Noah Schwartz called from the cutoff, and the other players folded. The turn and river got checked through, and the first player showed for kings. Schwartz had it beat with .
With the tables in the back breaking and the former residents of Table 403 long since having been scattered, Table 366 appears to have taken over as the local shark tank. Josh Pollock sits in Seat 1, going for his second straight year with a Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet. In the next spot, Yevgeniy Timoshenko is grinding a short stack, while Justin Bonomo occupies the four seat. Next in line is Christian Harder, and two spots later Schwartz sits next to Joseph Cheong.
Kory Kilpatrick bet 2,800 on a flop from late position, and Josh Ladines called from the big blind, while the third player folded. Both checked the turn, and a river prompted 6,000 from Ladines. Kilpatrick quickly called.
Ladines slid into the middle for a backdoor flush, a winning hand.
"I didn't like the way you showed your hand," Kilpatrick said, adding that he knew he was beat when Ladines showed so quickly. "I wanted you to pick it up and pick through it."
Dan Smith bet 4,000 on the turn from the big blind, and one opponent folded while Daniel Alaei called on the board. The hit the river, and Smith bet 9,000. Alaei thought for roughly a minute before splashing in a call, and Smith showed for a wheel.
Despite the setback, defending champion Alaei has a nice early stack.
Sometimes, poker players are late. In fact, lots of times poker players are late; they aren't known to be the most punctual lot. Many simply don't care if they miss the first level or two, as blinds are often so small as to be inconsequential. Knowing they will still have plenty of big blinds if they miss the first bit of a tournament, many prefer to get some extra rest, so precious if one is playing a packed tournament schedule and/or spending late nights grinding cash games.
However, one consequence of late registration is that a player sometimes ends up at a table with a bunch of other late registrants. Sometimes, that can mean getting sat a table full of lions in a field composed of mainly lambs. This is not such a field, but there's still an especially tough bunch gathered at Table 403: Brian Rast, Erik Seidel, Dan Cates, Matt Marafioti, and Chris DeMaci. Each player there certainly has his work cut out for him, but luckily for them it will likely be an early breaking table as it's located near the back of the tournament section.
For the time being, Cates grabbed a bit of early chips when he bet 1,175 into a multiway pot after two checks on a board of and was called by DeMaci on the button. On the turn, DeMaci folded to a barrel of 3,100.
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Daniel Alaei, pictured in an event earlier this year.
As No-Limit Hold'em becomes less and less popular at the highest stakes of cash games, the game of choice has become the poker variant whose $10,000 championship event will be played today: Pot-Limit Omaha. PLO is widely considered to be an "action" game, and since many players prefer it to NLHE, hundreds are doubtless eagerly awaiting the biggest PLO tournament of the summer, Event #64.
The structure for this year's PLO championship event is considerably changed from the one won by Daniel Alaei at last year's World Series of Poker. Last year, each player received 10,000 in tournament chips to begin, along with two lammers that they could exchange for another 10,000 at any point during the tournament up to a certain time where they had to be exchanged for chips. The "triple chance" format has been banished to dustbin this year, and a more traditional freezeout format in which each player gets 30,000 in chips has returned. Alaei took down $852,692 for his victory, defeating a field of 386 players.
Players will be in their seats by 4 p.m. local time if they hope to see the first cards come flying off the top of the deck, and they'll be scheduled to play through 10 levels, each lasting an hour. Don't go anywhere, as we'll be bringing you live updates throughout the evening about one of the most exciting events of the summer.
. Kornuth held 
for nines full, good enough to send his opponent packing with 
flop. Goindoo shoved all in for well over 100,000, and Dykshteyn called.
changed nothing on the turn, but the 
. Schemion slid out a stack of raising chips, and Dykshteyn wasted no time jamming it all in.
turn and 
turn and 
river got checked through, and the first player showed 
for kings. Schwartz had it beat with 
turn, and a 
into the middle for a backdoor flush, a winning hand.
turn, DeMaci folded to a barrel of 3,100.
