True to Texas fashion, it was another action-packed day here at Champions Club here in Houston as the $1,100 PLO Championship has come to a close. After the dust settled, it was local crusher Vladyslav Shovkovyi who walked away not only with the win, but also his first-ever PLO cash!
Shovkovyi completed his night with a heads-up win over runner-up Nan Liu, when his wrap got there over the pair and flush draw of Liu. For the win, Shovkovyi claimed $50,730 and the champions’ trophy, while Liu took home $34,800 for his second-place finish.
Shovkovyi came into Day 2 with a commanding chip lead and he definitely did not let it stagnate. Known for his hyper-aggressive play in NLH tournaments, Shovkovyi seemed right at home in the PLO streets.
PLO Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladyslav Shovkovyi | $50,730 |
| 2 | Nan Liu | $34,800 |
| 3 | He Feng | $20,970 |
| 4 | Jake White | $12,980 |
| 5 | Carl Masters | $9,850 |
| 6 | Joshua Barney | $8,160 |
| 7 | Karim Bevans | $6,960 |
| 8 | John Compton | $5,950 |
| 9 | David Diaz | $4,970 |
Winner's Reaction
“Umm, it was super easy,” the champion joked after it was over, “I’m going to start playing PLO tournaments more!”
A man of few words, the Ukranian went on to describe the biggest moment of the tournament happened on Day 1c, when he soared into the chip lead…
“Oh yes, it was definitely yesterday when I decided to gamble all in three ways…I thought if I win this pot I’m going to run this table… So I won it and I got 600 (thousand) and I didn't play even one big pot… I just did bubble punishment at my table, they loved it.”
When asked if he had plans for the winnings, he simply replied, “Now I have 20 bullets for high-roller tomorrow.”
Action on the Day
Contrary to what is usually expected on Day 2s, the action was pretty slow for the 26 players that started the day and it was several hours before they were cut down to two tables.
Once that happened, the floodgates were released as players quickly began falling to the wayside. It was at this time that Shovkovyi got involved in arguably the most pivotal spot of the day. He got it all in on the flop with a pair and a flush draw against the top two pair of recently-made chip leader John Compton, the only player in the tournament that covered Shovkovy. Both players stood up as the turn was a brick but the river brought in the flush for Shovkovyi and he was shipped the 131 big blind pot! He then proceeded to knock out Southisak 'Tony' Seunsom in 10th place while David ‘Lefty’ Diaz was simultaneously eliminated at the other table in 9th.
With the elimination of those two players, the final 8 took their seats at the stream table.
Once the cards were in the air, it took a bit to lose the first player as short-stacked Compton doubled up on the second hand of the stream. Unfortunately for him, he could not do it again as he was eliminated 12 hands later when he got it in with top two pair on the flop but Liu hit a bigger two pair on the turn to send him out in 8th place.
Exactly an orbit later, a massive cooler took place when Karim Bevans moved all in on the river of an all-diamond board with the ace-high flush but ran right into the straight flush of Liu to send him out for a dramatic finish in 7th.
The action slowed down a bit after that as the bigger pay jumps came into play and it was over an hour before the next player was lost in the form of Joshua Barney. He got involved in two back-to-back hands with Jake White where they had almost the same holding, and they managed to chop the first one but White hit a deuce on the second one to double up and left Barney on life support. Barney then got it all in soon after but failed to survive when his pocket tens fell to Liu when he hit ace-king for two pair to send him out in 6th.
Two orbits later, it was Tennesee native Carl Masters who was on the chopping bloc when he got it in with ace-king-three-three against Shovkovyi with a rundown hand. Shovkovyi managed to hit a superior pair of sevens on the flop and wound up with a straight on the river to send Masters to the payout desk in 5th. This was Masters’ first time playing at Champions Club and it was only because he was watching the Monster Stack stream and saw there was a PLO tournament! Masters also said he thoroughly enjoyed his time playing with everyone so hopefully Houston will see more of him soon!
Shovkovyi then continued this hot streak by eliminating Jake White in 4th place with aces versus queens and then He Feng the following hand. Against Feng, he flopped two pair against a big straight and flush draw, but the board bricked out to score him the pot and Feng was eliminated in 3rd.
After over an hour of back-and-forth heads-up play, Shovkovyi finally secured the victory over Liu when he turned a straight after they got it all in on the flop and faded the flush to knock out Liu in second. He was then awarded the Champion’s Club trophy along with a handsome payout of $50,730!
This concludes PokerNews’ coverage of the PLO Championship here at Champions Club Texas. Stay with us though for our continuing coverage of the Winter Poker Open with Day 1e of the $1,000,000 Main Event on Saturday followed by Day 2 & 3!
