After three long days of batting on the green felt, today a new Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better champion will be crowned. The winner will take home $317,076 in addition to a World Series of Poker gold bracelet.
Of the 134 players who entered Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better Championship, just five remain. Leading the way is Ari Engel, who put on an impressive display last night during the unofficial final table by knocking out multiple players and accumulating more than double the number of chips of his closest competitor.
Phil Hellmuth will enter Day 4 as the short stack, but will surely be aiming to add to his poker legacy by securing a record-setting 16th career WSOP gold bracelet.
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
1
Andrew Yeh
United States
1,105,000
2
Phil Hellmuth
United States
390,000
3
Eddie Blumenthal
United States
1,405,000
4
Ari Engel
United States
3,485,000
5
Zachary Milchman
United States
1,660,000
Play is set to begin at 4 p.m. and will be live-streamed on PokerGO. Play will continue where last night left off at level 23, which features 60,000/120,000 betting limits. Levels will last 90 minutes and players will get 10-minute breaks at the end of each level.
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we continue to bring you the action leading to a brand new WSOP champion!
Hellmuth raised on the button, Eddie Blumenthal called from the small blind, and Ari Engel made it three-bets from the big blind. Both Hellmuth and Blumenthal called.
The flop came and Blumenthal checked. Engel bet and Hellmuth called all in. Blumenthal also called.
Both players checked on the turn and Blumenthal checked again on the river — prompting a bet from Engel. Blumenthal called.
Phil Hellmuth:
Eddie Blumenthal:
Ari Engel:
Engel and Blumenthal split the pot and eliminated Hellmuth from contention.
In what would end up being the final hand of the tournament, Ari Engel raised on the button and Zachary Milchman called.
The flop came and Milchman checked. Engel bet and Milchman went deep into the tank before deciding to raise. Engel made it three bets to go and Milchman called off for his remaining chips.
Zachary Milchman:
Ari Engel:
The turn and river completed the board — leaving Engel best with queens and tens and eliminating Milchman in second place.
Stay tuned for a recap of this prestigious championship event!
Ari Engel is now a two-time bracelet winner after topping Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship at the 2021 World Series of Poker. The Canadian star won his second career bracelet after a victory in the $2,500 NLHE event back in 2019 and received $317,076 for his accomplishment.
All eyes were on Phil Hellmuth at the start of the day as 'The Poker Brat' was in search for an unprecedented sixteenth bracelet, but Hellmuth wasn't able to spin his short stack up and finished in fifth place.
A full recap of the day is to follow.
Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
Ari Engel of Canada earned his second career bracelet by winning Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship at the 2021 World Series of Poker. Engel won after an epic heads-up battle against Zachary Milchman that lasted six hours and ended in a hand where Engel's two pair was good against his opponent's pair of eights.
With the victory, Engel secured a $317,076 cash and a coveted WSOP bracelet while Milchman, a Floridian who was after his first bracelet, earned a payday of $195,968 for his runner-up finish.
Event #9: $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Ari Engel
Canada
$317,076
2
Zachary Milchman
United States
$195,968
3
Andrew Yeh
United States
$143,988
4
Eddie Blumenthal
United States
$107,204
5
Phil Hellmuth
United States
$80,894
6
George Wolff
United States
$61,877
7
Robert Mizrachi
United States
$47,987
8
Ben Landowski
United States
$37,738
9
Khamar Xaytavone
United States
$30,102
Engel, who won his first bracelet in Event #48: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em at the 2019 WSOP, had to get through a field of 134 runners that included many of the biggest names in poker, including Erik Seidel, Mike Matusow, Shaun Deeb and Phil Hellmuth — who was seeking a record-setting 16th bracelet but ultimately fell short when he was eliminated in fifth place in the first level of play on Day 4.
Engel entered the final day with a big chip lead and used it to his advantage by putting pressure on his opponents, including Andrew Yeh and Eddie Blumenthal, both of whom were eliminated by the eventual champion.
“In these kinds of situations, it’s a balance between wanting to put pressure on other players who presumably want to move up, and then at the same time kind of protecting your own chip lead," Engel told PokerNews about his strategy entering the day. “You’ve got to strike the right balance depending on how the other players are playing and how the stacks work out.”
Engel had Milchman down to under a million chips at a point, but his heads-up opponent always found a way to climb back and the two exchanged chip leads multiple times throughout heads-up play.
“He played amazing and I easily could have lost it," Engel said. "It’s not like I was crushing him or anything close to that.”
Anyone in the Amazon Room at the Rio on Thursday likely heard the screams and cheers of a rambunctious group of Engel's friends on the rail — a group that Jason Koon at one point asked to quiet down as he played for all the marbles in an adjacent tournament.
“It’s rare for me to have a crazy rail like I had today, so that’s really exciting that I did have so many friends around," said Engel. "It made it all the sweeter.”
That wraps up the PokerNews live reporting team's coverage of the Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship, but be sure to check out the WSOP reporting portal for additional coverage.