Bradley "DrStrange7" Ruben Wins First WSOP Bracelet in Event #62: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha ($220,160)
Yet another mixed tournament of the 2020 GGPoker World Series of Poker Online Bracelet Events has come to a thrilling conclusion and it was Bradley "DrStrange7" Ruben who came out on top of a field of 990 entries in Event #62: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha. In a short-lived heads-up duel with Dorel "DorelEl" Eldabach, Ruben claimed the lion's share of the $1,410.750 prize pool as he walked away with the top prize of $220,160 and a package for the WSOPE.
Hailing from Hernando, Florida, Ruben has had 13 WSOP cashes and two Circuit cashes to his name prior to the online festival and most of them were either in Pot Limit Omaha or Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better. After a hiatus of more than two years, Ruben cashed eight times during the ongoing festival on the GGNetwork and made his ninth result count as he earned the maiden WSOP bracelet in what appears to be his preferred poker variant.
Ruben has nearly $370k in recorded live cashes according to The Hendon Mob and this victory is his biggest score to date. Runner-up Eldabach is no stranger to the great game of PLO either as he has previously participated in PLO tournaments at the King's Resort and Casino in Rozvadov, host venue of the World Series of Poker Europe.
Final Result Event #62: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bradley "DrStrange7" Ruben | United States | $220,160* |
| 2 | Dorel "DorelEl" Eldabach | Israel | $168,478 |
| 3 | Jens "Tankanza" Lakemeier | Austria | $122,264 |
| 4 | Naman "pokermafiaa" Madan | India | $88,727 |
| 5 | Blaz "Sc4rm4k3r" Zerjav | Slovenia | $64,389 |
| 6 | Sami "YrttiDekaani" Kelopuro | Finland | $46,727 |
| 7 | Patrick "NeatDad1971" Serda | Canada | $33,910 |
| 8 | Tal "bonboni555" Peretz | Israel | $24,608 |
*the winner also receives a package for the World Series of Poker Europe
On a tough final table with several notables, Ruben steamrolled to victory after dispatching his final four opponents one by one in just over 40 minutes. Among the well-known names of the final showdown were Patrick "NeatDad1971" Serda, Sami "YrttiDekaani" Kelopuro, Blaz "Sc4rm4k3r" Zerjav and Jens "Tankanza" Lakemeier. The final table bubble saw Simon "FiestaPagana" Mattsson and Adam "MikePrice82" Hendrix bow out on separate tables to reduce field from ten to eight.
The seventh Pot Limit Omaha tournament of the festival on the GGNetwork once again attracted mixed game aficionados from all over the world and the field size grew by the minute during the registration period, which lasted for the first three and a half hours. An early carnage with plenty of re-entries ensured that just one third of the field remained when the prize pool information was finalized.
Many notables arrived and departed without anything to show for such as Alex Foxen, Roberto Romanello, Manig Loeser, Erik Seidel, Isaac Haxton, Fedor Holz, Hun Wei Lee, Yuri Dzivielevski, GGPoker ambassador Felipe Ramos, Sean Winter, Farid Jattin, Brandon Adams and Juha Helppi to name just a few. Another big name that came up short of the money was GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu.
Daniel Negreanu was eliminated before the money bubble by Kamal "hki23" Huseynov.
Frantic Post Bubble Period Reduces the Field Rapidly
Once the registration closed, it took under two hours to cut the remaining field into more than half and let the bubble burst. Among those to narrowly miss out on the min cash were Pascal Hartmann and Joshua "thefreshest" Mccully. It was then Kenneth "Forrest_Li" Edberg that got it in with double-suited kings against the double-suited ace-king-queen-nine of David "Mclovin86" Mzareulov, and an ace on the flop let the bubble burst.
It would not take long to see dozens of players head to the rail and collect their min cash, until the next scheduled break the first pay jump was notables such as Mike McDonald, Rainer Kempe, Chris Brewer, Mohsin Charania and Ludovic Geilich all ran out of chips. Ronny Kaiser was the first to earn more for his efforts and the Swiss high stakes player was soon joined by the likes of Shankar Pillai, Ami Barer, Gavin Cochrane, and Stephen Chidwick.
Despite the seriousness of the tournament stage, several players used the snap cam feature to show their instant reactions after big hands to the entire table, which was usually received with either table chat in return or the usage of the various available emojis.
The Portuguese poker pros Rui Ferreira and Joao Vieira also departed in quick succession and Sami "YrttiDekaani" Kelopuro slowly but surely established himself at the top of the leaderboard as the final six tables were reached. Natural8 ambassador Thai Ha and 2020 WSOP Online Bracelet winner Simon Lofberg saw their hopes of an even deeper run vanish, as did Mark Herm, Stefan Huber, and Benjamin Juhasz.
The elimination of Mark "Beanboozled" Herm came in spectacular fashion when his full house on the river was beaten by a turned straight flush.
Patrik Antonius was one of the high-profile casualties in the late stages of the tournament and PLO bracelet winner Craig Varnell also hit the rail on the final three tables. The action barely slowed down as GGPoker streamer Michiel "Easterdamnz" Van Elsacker was quickly followed to the rail by Christian Rudolph. Andriy "smbcall911" Lyubovetskiy fell victim to the hot run of Dorel "DorelEl" Eldabach and two eliminations on separate tables then set up an eight-handed final table.
Ruben Dominates Late Stages of the Final Table
Bradley "DrStrange7" Ruben was on the verge of elimination on the final two tables but secured a vital double before they combined to one table. He remained near the bottom of the leaderboard for some time whereas Patrick "NeatDad1971" Serda went from chip leader with eight left to 7th place finisher in under 40 minutes.
Ruben doubled through Kelopuro when he flopped a set of tens and then chipped up without showdown to take over the lead. For the highly accomplished Finn, the end came soon after when he busted to Blaz Zerjav.
It was the last elimination on the final table that didn't involve Ruben directly as he shifted gears and won almost every single big pot that mattered. Ruben doubled Naman "pokermafiaa" Madan only to make up for it right after by knocking out Zerjav. Madan, however, gave all his chips to Ruben in a three-bet pot when his kings ran into a set of queens. Not even 20 minutes later Ruben had accumulated all the chips of Lakemeier and Eldabach to earn his maiden WSOP bracelet.
That wraps up the PokerNews live updates for this event but the next WSOP Online bracelet event is just around the corner.
Pot Limit Omaha Bracelet Winners During the Festival So Far
| Event | Buy-In | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | Top Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event #35: $5,000 PLO Championship | $5,000 | 328 | $1,558,000 | Juha Helppi | Finland | $290,286 |
| Event #37: $1,050 Bounty PLO | $1,050 | 971 | $971,000 | Hun Wei Lee | Australia | $161,886 |
| Event #40: $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha | $2,500 | 532 | $1,263,500 | Simon Lofberg | Sweden | $224,493 |
| Event #42: $400 PLOSSUS | $400 | 4356 | $1,637,856 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | $221,557 |
| Event #51: $400 Pot Limit Omaha | $400 | 2005 | $753,880 | Eoghan O'Dea | Ireland | $100,945 |
| Event #53: $800 Double Stack PLO | $800 | 831 | $631,560 | Frank Crivello | United States | $94,253 |
| Event #62: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha | $1,500 | 990 | $1,410,750 | Bradley Ruben | United States | $220,160 |