Dash Dudley Crowned Champion in Event #52: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship ($1,086,967)
A new millionaire and maiden bracelet winner has been crowned at the 2019 World Series of Poker as Event #52: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship drew to a conclusion after four and a half levels on the final day. The main feature table in the Amazon room of the Rio All-Suite and Hotel set the stage for the Pot-Limit Omaha specialists to determine their champion out of a massive field of 518 entries, which created a massive prize pool of $4,869,200.
Ultimately, it was Dash Dudley from Lansing, Michigan that went wire-to-wire and claimed his first WSOP bracelet, which came with a payday of $1,086,967. Dudley was supported by a boisterous rail from Michigan including fiancé Racquel, and that support lifted Dudley on his way to victory.
His mother Kimberly was also there and Dudley credited her as the main reason to get started in poker.
“It is kind of a funny story. The reason I play cards is because of her, primarily. She used to have a game way back when I was 13, 14 years old. They played Dealer's Choice, I watched for quite a bit and finally, I decided to jump in and try it out ... and they crushed me. They were playing No Limit Seven Stud, it may be the only No Limit Seven Stud game in the country.”
While Dudley started the day with the chip lead, it wasn't a walk in the park by any means for the PLO cash game specialist, and he dropped down to as low as eight big blinds in three-handed play. Two quick double ups in quick succession put Dudley back on track and every pot he raked in was met with frenetic applause from his rail.
“Last night I prepared for that actually, I really feel strongly about my short stack game and I have been short-stacked for years. People have been making fun of me, I even said 'it is no more Min Cash Dash' as I was playing for the win."
His rail featured plenty of poker players including Nick Guagenti, and they were definitely the most vocal throughout the entire final table, which in return helped to boost the confidence of Dudley further.
"I have been working on my game a lot and I finally got a breakthrough that we have all deserved and I got a lot of people in my corner, I got great support here, all my friends and a lot of people back in Michigan cheering for us. It definitely feels good when I am sure to have all those people behind me.”
Dudley has been around the poker tables since he went to college back in 2002, with his first WSOP result dating back to 2010 in Hold'em Events. Since then, he has almost entirely cut out two-card from his schedule.
“I really caught on the game when it was blooming, right before the boom. It helped to be around back then and see the game evolved, how crazy it has become. The guys are really good and there is so much information out there now. You really have to work on your game if you want to stay in the lead and there are so many good players all over that are cutting the edge down.”
Dudley prides himself as a PLO specialist, however, he hardly plays tournaments anymore and mainly focuses on the cash games. The rare exception to take a shot at a gold bracelet in Las Vegas turned out to be spot on, as he walked away a millionaire and latest member of the WSOP bracelet winner's club.
With a seven-figure cash and an upcoming wedding, the luck has indeed turned around for Dudley, who had 33 WSOP cashes for more than $360,000 to his name prior to his breakout win. He was also responsible for several high-profile knockouts on the way to reaching the eight-handed showdown.
“What did Stuey say, what was it?” Dudley joked when asked what the money would be used for before adding “I will definitely invest a lot of the money and it feels good to win a tournament. I haven't won a tournament in a long time, in a tough field.”
He may also take another shot at glory in the upcoming Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship, but that rather depends on his poker friends on the rail.
“A lot of the guys on my rail are very good at that game, I could use some more time talking to them before I jump in there. However, I gonna enjoy this for a minute, take a little break and not worry about getting the low.”
Dudley started heads-up with British PLO specialist James Park dead even in chips with more than 30 big blinds at their disposal, yet it only took half an hour to determine a champion. Australia's Joel Feldman finished in third and the two former WSOP Main Event finalists Jeremy Ausmus and Eoghan O'Dea had to settle for 4th and 6th place respectively.
Final Result Event #52: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dash Dudley | United States | $1,086,967 |
| 2 | James Park | United Kingdom | $671,802 |
| 3 | Joel Feldman | Australia | $463,814 |
| 4 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | $325,693 |
| 5 | Kyle Montgomery | United States | $232,680 |
| 6 | Eoghan O'Dea | Ireland | $169,173 |
| 7 | Andrey Razov | Russia | $125,215 |
| 8 | Will Jaffe | United States | $94,380 |
Multiple bracelet winners, the defending WSOP player of the year, and pure PLO specialists just like Dudley filled the tables of the Amazon room throughout the four days of the event, a fact that he specifically pointed out.
"The field was surrounded with killers, some of the best players in the world and I really just focused on isolating them and trying to get them in bad. There were some phenomenal players and it was really a challenge at every table, especially when we got deep the field was very tough."
On Day 2, he sent Gjergj Sinishtaj to the rail and added the chips of Shaun Deeb, Luke Schwartz, and Daniel Alaei to his stack one day later to end the penultimate tournament day at the top of the leader board before he had to endure a roller coaster ride on his way to victory.
Action of the Final Day
Eight players remained and took their seats in the Thunderdome at noon and the first few hands provided fireworks, pointing at an early finish. In the very first hand, Will Jaffe got it in with kings against the aces of Feldman, who also had a jack in their hand. Three jacks on the flop gave Feldman quads and Jaffe could all but walk away in disbelief. Soon after, Dash Dudley sent the second short stack of the final table, Russia's Andrey Razov, to the rail and the field was cut down to the final six.
Until the first break, however, a stalemate took place with very even stack sizes and big pay jumps dominating the action. Once again in the first hand after returning to the seats, it would be Eoghan O'Dea that ran with kings into the aces of Jeremy Ausmus to finish in 6th place. Two years ago, the Irishman finished in the same position and he was railed by his father and Irish poker legend Donnacha O'Dea.
Kyle Montgomery never got much going on the final table and had to settle for fifth place, and Ausmus would then be outed in fourth. Having previously taken over the chip lead with five remaining, Ausmus dropped back to the bottom of the counts and couldn't get there with a wrap against the aces of James Park.
Down to the last three, things looked grim for Dudley as he was decimated to fewer than ten big blinds. However, he doubled through Park with trips over trips and held up with aces against the ace-king-king-five of eventual third-place finisher Joel Feldman to take over the lead.
With sheer aggression, Dudley increased his lead in heads-up and finished the job after not even half an hour when his queens for an overpair on a jack-high flop bested the top pair of Park to let the Michigan rail explode in celebration.
That brings an end to the coverage of the PLO Championship, but the PokerNews team will be on the floor for the remainder of the summer to provide all the action from each bracelet event from start to finish.