Event #37 - $10,000 Limit Omaha 8 or Better Final Table
They say a tie is like kissing your sister but in the case of Limit Omaha 8, a tie could be the difference
between tournament life and death. 235 players put down a cool 10K in cash to go after a piece of the largest Omaha 8 prize pool in history. Play started with 18 players and players such as Chau Giang and Berry Johnston came up just short. The final 9, their seating assignments, and chip counts were as follows:Seat 1 – Tony Ma 310,000
Seat 2 – Jason Gray 590,000
Seat 3 – Ram Vaswami 175,000
Seat 4 – Toto Leonidas 720,000
Seat 5 – David Chiu 730,000
Seat 6 – Mike Matusow 195,000
Seat 7 – David Benyamine 1,200,000
Seat 8 – Greg Jamison 450,000
Seat 9 – Eugene Katchalov 300,000
This was Tony Ma's 11th WSOP final table but he would come up short of his 3rd bracelet when he got it all in with Toto Leonidas on 10-7-3-4 all heart board. Ma had 3-4-5-8 with two hearts for a flush, 3-4-5-7-8 low, and potential small full house. Leonidas, however, had a bigger flush with the 9-2 of hearts and combined with the ace in his hand also had a better low. Ma was unable to hit a 3 or 4 on the river and was eliminated in 9th place winning $55,225.
David Chiu is fresh off a win at the WPT World Championship and came into the final table 2nd in chips but lost pot after pot and found himself short stacked. Chiu got it all in with 3-4-4-5 against Greg Jamison who had A-K-K-10. Jamison would end up hitting a straight and Chiu was eliminated in 8th place winning $71,792.
Ram Vaswami was forced all in by Jamison pre-flop and the two turned over their cards. Vaswami had Q-Q-6-6 double suited in hearts and spades and Jamison had A-2-7-8 double suited in clubs and spades (with the ace). The board came A-8-2-7-4 and Jamison scooped the entire pot. Vaswami finished in 7th place winning $88,360.
Another recent WPT winner playing at this final table was Eugene Katchalov who won the Five Diamond Classic. Katchalov would not be able to find his way into the winner's circle today as Jason Gray hit two pair and the nut low to best the Brooklyn resident. Katchalov finished in 6th place winning $110,450.
Mike Matusow was going for his 2nd bracelet of this WSOP and even though he came in as the shortest stack, he made a valiant run at it. His stack saw several swings but each time he would get low, he would win a big pot to keep him alive. Matusow was entertaining the crowd with his normal antics, running around like a kid at recess whenever he won a big pot. It would be Toto Leonidas who would quiet The Mouth when the two got it all in on an A-K-8 flop. Leonidas had top two pair and Matusow had a low draw with 3-6. No low came and Matusow was eliminated in 5th place adding an impressive $138,062 to his WSOP winnings.
After doubling up Jason Gray, Toto Leonidas was all in on the big blind and was eliminated by the flush of David Benyamine. For his superb three days of play, Toto finished in 4th place and won $171,197.
Jason Gray ran into the machine that was David Benyamine as Benyamine hit what seemed like the 10th full house against him at the final table. Gray tossed his cards into the muck, clearly unhappy, and two hands later decided to tangle with the Frenchman again. Benyamine set Gray all in on a K-J-8 two diamond flop with J-10-10-9 for second pair and a straight draw. Gray had A-2-3-Q suited in diamonds for the flush draw and gut shot straight draw, neither of which came. Gray finished in 3rd place winning $209,855.
Heads up play started with Benyamine holding a 3.7 million to 1.0 million chip lead. The way Benyamine was running, Jamison stood no chance. The heads up match didn't take long and the final hand saw Jamison putting his last chips in with K-Q-6-2 with Benyamine holding Q-10-10-3. The flop came 9-10-J giving Jamison the nut straight but Benyamine had flopped a set and could win the hand if the board paired. The turn did just that, with another jack, and Omaha specialist Jamison was our 2nd place finisher winning $331,350.
It'd been a long time coming for David Benyamine as he had played countless WSOP events and made multiple final tables without ever winning a bracelet. Those days are no longer, as Benyamine is the winner of the $10,000 Limit Omaha 8 bracelet and the $535,687 that came with it. Congratulations on your victory David!
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