Preflop a short stack was all in for a mere 1,700 out of the big blind and he was called by an opponent in late position and Ronan Nally in the small blind. On the flop, Nally check-called a bet before check-raising the turn to pick up a call. Nally bet the river and the sole remaining active player called all in.
Nally turned over for the nut straight and neither opponent could beat that. Nally earned a few chips more after a low earned him half the pot against a flush and a straight, but he is not the biggest stack at the table just yet. That honor currently belongs to Frank Muir.
With late registration closed, the total prize pool and payouts for Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better have been announced. A total of 911 players created a $1,229,850 prize pool, with 137 of them getting to take a slice of it.
The minimum cash awarded is $2,252 and will ramp all the way up to the first place prize of $239,771, in addition to the gold WSOP bracelet that awaits the winner on Saturday, June 2.
On the second day of the 2018 World Series of Poker, the limit Omaha Hi-Lo aficionados came out in full force to contest for the bracelet in Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better. A total of 911 players paid the requisite $1,500 to play, six more than the event drew last year. Together, they created a total prize pool of $1,229,850, and the winner on Saturday, June 2 will receive the biggest chunk worth $239,771, as well as the gold WSOP bracelet.
After ten levels of 60 minutes and plenty of chopped pots, 295 of the entrants made it through to the second day. It was Dao Bac who claimed the Day 1 chip lead with 74,700. Nick Guagenti, who had a deep run in last year's Main Event, also had a strong showing with 65,600, as well as Pamela McPeak, who bagged 64,900.
Top Chip Counts After Day 1
Place
Name
County
Chip Count
Big Bets
1
Dao Bac
United States
74,700
75
2
Nick Guagenti
United States
65,600
66
3
Pamela McPeak
United States
64,900
65
4
John Monnette
United States
62,000
62
5
Tommy Chen
United States
61,400
61
6
Frank Muir
United States
61,300
61
7
Kate Hoang
United States
58,400
58
8
John Jenkins
United States
58,200
58
9
Michael Zepek
United States
53,200
53
10
Brian Haack
United States
53,100
53
Among those that made it through to the second day were many former WSOP bracelet winners, including six-time winner Layne Flack (41,500), four-time winner Jeff Madsen (31,900) and three-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser (27,200). Glaser won this very event back in 2016 and will be trying to achieve an improbable second victory in three years. Allen Kessler (39,600), John Racener (31,300) and Mike Leah (22,500) also advanced to Day 2.
Mike Matusow made it to Day 2 with 14,800. "The Mouth" showed why he earned his moniker by bombarding his opponents with a non-stop barrage of words throughout the day. Matusow made it through in good company, as fellow bracelet winners Madsen, Chris Tryba and Leif Force also advanced from a stacked table that brought a combined 16 bracelets together at one point.
Six of those belonged to Chris Ferguson, who busted out shortly before the end of the night at the hands of Matusow himself. Holding a hand with ace-four of clubs, Matusow flopped the nut flush to end Ferguson's bid for a seventh piece of jewellery in the ultimate level of the night.
Plenty of notables showed up for this event and many of them fell by the wayside on the first day. James Woods was among the first to fall, and the actor was joined on the rail by Ari Engel, Sorel Mizzi, Brian Hastings, James Obst, Mike Ross, Felipe Ramos, Kathy Liebert, Kristen Bicknell, Jeff Lisandro and Todd Brunson.
On Friday, June 1 at 2 p.m. local time, the remaining players will return in level 11, with limits of 500/1,000. Another ten levels of 60 minutes are scheduled as play continues in the Amazon Room of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. PokerNews will be on the floor to cover this event start-to-finish as the 2018 World Series of Poker rolls on.