Congratulations to Josh Pollock, Winner of Event #22: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha ($279,431)
After three relatively quick days of play, the 2013 World Series of Poker Event #22, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha has crowned a champion—Josh Pollock. The 29 year old from Silver Spring, Maryland topped a field of 1,021 players to win his first WSOP gold bracelet and $279,431 top prize.
The day kicked off with an early elimination when Brandon Crawford, who had finished as the Day 1 chip leader, fell on just the sixth hand of the final table. It happened when he got the last of his chips in on the turn with three pair only to run into Noah Schwartz’s flopped nuts. The river failed to help Crawford and he exited in ninth place for $19,909.
It took awhile for the next elimination to occur, 61 hands in fact, but finally came in Level 21 (8,000/16,000) when David Greene fell to Josh Pollock. In Level 22 (10,000/20,000), Wisconsin’s Eddie Blumenthal was eliminated by Schwartz, giving him his second seventh-place finish of the 2013 WSOP—the other came in Event #15 $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. for $28,778.
Later on in the same level, Eric Shanks of Chicago, Illinois got unlucky when his 
was cracked by Pollock’s 
in an all-in preflop confrontation after the board brought three spades. Shanks exited in sixth place and took home $43,460.
On the first hand back from the dinner break, which was also the first hand of Level 24 (15,000/30,000), Shawn Silber was eliminated in fifth place by Pollock , though Silber was essentially done in by James Park when he was crippled in the last hand before dinner. Three hands later (Hand #133 of final table), James Park also eliminated KT Park—no relation.
Unfortunately for him, James wasn’t able to ride that moment past third place. That’s where he finished when he ran queens into kings against Schwartz. That left Schwartz with a nearly 3-1 chip lead going into heads-up play against Pollock.
Schwartz seemed destined to win his first bracelet, but over the course of a 62-hand-long heads-up battle, Pollock managed to score a few fortunate doubles and then took the chip lead shortly thereafter. From there, he whittled Schwartz down and then delivered the fatal blow on Hand #215 of the final table.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Josh Pollock | $279,431 |
| 2nd | Noah Schwartz | $172,931 |
| 3rd | James Parks | $108,196 |
| 4th | KT Parks | $78,532 |
| 5th | Shawn Silber | $57,974 |
| 6th | Eric Shanks | $43,460 |
| 7th | Eddie Blumenthal | $33,057 |
| 8th | David Greene | $25,483 |
| 9th | Brandon Crawford | $19,909 |
Congratulations to Josh Pollock on becoming a World Series of Poker champion and taking home his first gold bracelet!