By Frank Op de Woerd
It was another big day for the World Poker Tour Online Championships on partypoker. Six events were playing down to a winner, with three more closing out their Day 1.
Big-name partypoker pro’s Jeff Gross and Kristen Bicknell secured a spot on Day 2 of the $1,050 buy-in Main Omaha Opener, though the latter is in the hot zone with the event not yet in the money.
Check out all the action from the sixth day of the WPT Online Championships!
Main $1,050 Omaha Hi-Lo Closer ($50K GTD)
On day 2 of this massive event, play got underway with just five players remaining.
Partypoker pro Roberto Romanello was the shortest stack going in, but he would ladder one spot before making his exit. Daniil Shalaev, who finished fifth in one of Vegas’s last significant events this year before the Corona-virus shutdown, was the first to go. The Russian player received $3,250 for his fifth-place-finish.
Roberto Romanello
Romanello was next to go, taking home $4,500. Andreas Paliogiannis, or Ἀνδρέας Παλιογιάννης as he’s shown in the partypoker lobby, started the day second in chips but ultimately finished third, banking $6,250.
The two remaining players made a deal, chopping up the remaining prize pool when they were about even in chips. Both took home a little over $15,000 with Andrey Sorokin taking down the title for $15,915.02. Deniss Lebedevs had to settle for second place, winning $15,084.99.
Mini $109 Omaha Hi-Lo Closer ($20K GTD)
The action resumed with still fifteen players in contention for the title. Richie Allen started with a considerable lead over Dutch player Dwayne Sluis.
Sluis wouldn’t fare too well, bowing out in ninth place for $560. Allen did much better, though he couldn’t close it out. The Brit made it to the heads-up against Santiago Torres but ultimately had to leave the honors to the player from Mexico. When the dust had settled, Allen finished runner-up for $3,183.50 while Torres took home the virtual trophy and $4,872.50.
Micro $11 Omaha Hi-Lo Closer ($5K GTD)
From a field of 454 players, just 38 logged back onto partypoker to play Day 2 of this small-buy-in big reward tournament.
With just $27.50 guaranteed at that point and the first-place prize of $938 for grabs, the tension was high. Nikita Krasikov started in the lead with 2.4 million in chips of the 45 million in play. The Russian player made it to the Top 10 but had to leave it at that, busting out for $67.50. Matthew Gregory, who started fourth in chips, and Chanthan Mölzer, who started in third, were already out by that time, finishing in 23rd ($37.50) and 15th ($45), respectively.
Stephen Ralph from the United Kingdom had started the day second in chips and rode the wave to victory, beating his Ukrainian opponent heads-up. Ralph saw partypoker wire $938.13 to his account for his triumph.
Main $530 Omaha Turbo [PKO] ($30K GTD)
Sixty players signed up for the Omaha Turbo last night, exactly matching the $30,000 guarantee that was put on the event.
With chips flying because of the turbo format, it wouldn’t take long before the bubble started. Shakhabiddin Muradov from Latvia was the unlucky player to go home empty-handed, busting in tenth place and guaranteeing the top nine a payday on top of the bounties they had collected.
Benny Glaser, with over $2 million in live earnings and a trophy cabinet matched by few, was the first to dip into the regular prize pool. His ninth-place-finish netted him $549.30, which he added to the $593.5 he had gathered in bounties.
Benny Glaser
Two players that already made the money in the Closer event, both made the final table here. Dutchman Dwayne Sluis finished fifth for a combined score of $1,271.62, and Roberto Romanello finished third for $2,226.67. While Sluis’ bounty of $187.50 was already relatively small, Romanello one-upped him. Romanello collected no money from the bounty prize pool, meaning he had busted no players the entire tournament.
The title went to Johann David Ibañez Diaz, playing from Argentina. Diaz, known as johann2707 online, won for $3,871.15. On top of that, including his own bounty, he received $7,046.88 from the bounty prize pool for a total prize of $10,918.03. Alexander Hartley from the UK had to settle for second-place worth a combined $5,227.49.
Mini $55 Omaha Turbo [PKO] ($10K GTD)
The mini edition of the PLO Turbo PKO saw 203 entries collected, going just over the lofty guarantee of $10,000.
With 27 places paid, Tomas Fara was the last player to go before the remaining players were guaranteed $56.23. Fara did collect $87.50 in bounties for a small profit on the event. The last player to go home truly empty-handed was Mantas Bulotas from Lithuania. Bulotas finished 31st without busting anyone.
Adam Owen made a deep run but came no further than a 19th place -finish, netting him $58.81 plus $56.25 in bounties.
The title went to Igor Antypchenko from Ukraine, beating Canadian Andrew Ojeda heads-up. Ojeda received $894.27 for his second place and just $78.12 in bounties. Antypchenko received an equal $895.44 for his win plus the biggest bounty of them all; $1,322.09 for a combined prize of $2,217.53.
Micro $5.50 Omaha Turbo [PKO] ($3K GTD)
Big, smaller, smallest. The micro edition falls in the last category with a buy-in of just $5.50. But while the initial investment might be reasonable for most players, the potential payout is enormous. For the winner, $326.38 was set aside from the main prize pool. Add te bounties to that, and a big payday awaits anyone who can ride to victory.
The event collected 379 entries with $2.50 of the prize pool distributed regularly, while the other $2.50 was put on everyone’s head as a bounty.
Christoph Tanzer bubbled the event in 49th place. The event was over in a little over four and a half hours, so one can imagine it didn’t take too long before they reached the final table.
Vladimirs Korbuts did best, taking down the event for $326.38 plus $189.86, the biggest bounty of them all. No other player came close to that big a bounty, with James Queiroz Alvarez from Brazil “only” getting $26.03 in bounties for his second place.
Concludes tonight
Main $1,050 Omaha Opener ($75K GTD)
Seventy players signed up for this event with a hefty buy-in of $1,050. Johann David Ibañez Diaz, who won the aforementioned Main $530 Omaha Turbo [PKO] for almost $11,000, was the first player to bust.
Play halted at the end of level 20, with twelve players remaining. The last dozen players aren’t in the money just yet, with only nine players securing a payout.
Amongst the players on the hot seat is Kristen Bicknell. The partypoker pro will start Day 2 with 291,367 in chips, just under 15 big blinds. With blinds starting at 10,000 and 20,000, Robin Joakim Palm is the shortest stack with just 60,521. Tomas Geleziunas brings a little over 11 big blinds with 230,839.
Jeff Gross sits in seventh place with a stack of 407,644. The chips are spread unfairly with the Brits Richard Gryko (1,796,372) and Romanello’s brother Francesco (1,460,032) bringing by far the most. Their next closest competitor is Anton Suarez with 566,138.
Jeff Gross
Play resumes at 7 pm (BST). The min-cash for ninth and eight place is $2,727.30, with the winner taking home $25,706.18.
Mini $109 Omaha Opener ($20K GTD)
The Mini version of the Omaha Opener saw 177 players sign up, with just 23 remaining after twenty levels of play. This event, however, is in the money with Tyler Roseborough out in 24th. Roseborough collected $254.78.
Andres Ojeda, who finished runner-up in the Mini $55 Omaha Turbo [PKO] earlier last night, is still in contention. He brings 898,060 in chips, worth almost 45 big blinds. Ojeda finds himself in the middle of the pack with Ioannis Angelou-Kostas (1,931,886), Niki Juhani Nurmisto (1,468,240), and Stefan Lehner (1,462,136) the top three players to beat.
The winner awaits a prize of $4,856.32 with play getting back underway at 7 pm (BST) tonight!
Micro $11 Omaha Opener ($5K GTD)
For one percent of the Main Omaha Opener buy-in, 341 players got a hundred percent of the fun of playing PLO. For just $11, they battled it out for twelve 15-minute levels. And wouldn’t you know it, they made it comfortably past the bubble.
Dutch player Greet Houtman ultimately finished in 49th place to be the last player to receive no payout. The remaining 48 players were guaranteed $29.67, Jean-Phylippe Provencher being the first to collect that for his 48th-place-finish.
When the action resumes at 7 pm (BST), 36 players remain in contention for the $982.01 first-place price. Joachim Hainzl (4,554,293) from Austria leads with almost twice as many chips as his closest opponent, Aleksandr Malykhin (2,287,682) from Russia.
Tonight’s schedule
