Newsblog: E6 D3 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better

The Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8-or-Better, the 6th event of the WSOP with a $1500 buyin, started off with lots of unfamiliar names. Thang Luu was the chipleader, him being a former Las Vegas employee (he finished 3rd in last year’s employee-event). At the start of the final table, the chipcount was as follows:

Thang Luu $640,000
Chris Falconer $331,000
Greg Jamison $275,000
Mark Wilds $225,000
Spencer Lawrence $222,000
Scott Clements $220,000
George Guzman $195,000
Craig Sabel $160,000
James Pritchard $155,000

After a slow start, we finally get some action when 5 players go to the flop. Lawrence, Sabel, Guzman, Wilds and Clements see the flop: . Of those, only Lawrence folds, the others bet until the betting is capped. The gets checked by all 4. With the on the river, all hell broke lose, Sable moves all-in, Wilds calls, Guzman raises and both Clements and Wilds call. Cards are shown:

Guzman:
Sabel:
Clements:
Wilds:

That means Sabel will take the high pot with his 9 high straight, and Sabel, Guzman and Wilds all split 1/3 of the low pot! Clements is the only one not getting a piece of it. Guzman of course isn’t very lucky here, he flopped the nut high, with a draw to the nut low, but ended up with 1/6th of the pot!

When we get down to the final 2 players remaining, Thang Luu, who started as chipleader, and Spencer Lawrence, we only get to see a few hands before play is concluded. Both players were very active, Luu actually said “I played every hand” in the interview after the event. The heads-up was short and aggressive, with Luu getting an early lead, expanding this lead, but than Lawrence gets back to about even. Luu switched gears again and forced Lawrence to fold in a big pot, while after that Luu hit the nut-flush and Lawrence’s stack shrinks even further. The final hand was a classic Omaha-hand. With a flop of Lawrence checks, Luu bets and Lawrence repops. Both get all-in on the flop and it’s showdown-time:
Luu:
Lawrence:
With the turn being a and the river a Thang Luu makes his full house and ships the bracelet and $243,356

Final results:

Thang Luu — $243,356
Spencer Lawrence — $156,343
George Guzman — $93,806
James Pritchard — $78,456
Chris Falconer — $64,243
Greg “Fargo” Jamison — $50,598
Craig Sabel — $39,228
Mark Wilds — $30,700
Scott Clements — $22,172

By: Pindarots