Event #16 of the WSOP saw a decent turnout for one of the smaller scale tourneys in the Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better contest. 551 paid the $2,000 buy-in to create a $1,002,820 prize pool.
Some of the big name players who would take part in this event included Layne Flack, Barry Greenstein, Justin Bonomo, and Alan Kessler.
Out of this group, only Greenstein would be left after the field was cut down to 169 players. Joining him were people like David Williams, Josh Arieh, Dutch Boyd, John Juanda, and Kristy Gazes.
Here’s how the chip leaders looked going into the second day:
Rank/Player/Points
1. Ivan Demidov 40,300
2. Rouhollan Sohayegh 35,800
3. James Richburg 35,000
4. Josh Arieh 33,000
5. Kevin Petersen 32,500
6. David Williams 31,000
7. Scott Clements 30,000
8. Kia Hooshmand 28,200
9. Mark Roland 27,500
10. Richard Weeks 27,300
Day 2 sought to trim the field down to two final tables for the last day of play. That meant goodbye to 151 of the remaining 169 players.
Of the aforementioned stars, none of them would make it to the last couple tables. The best known players to make it through day 2 were Ralph Perry and Scott Clements. The rest were pretty much unknowns.
Interestingly enough, Perry and Clements would also make it to the final table as well. Joining them were Andrew Brown, Jimmy Fricke, Allan Enciso, Ted Forrest, Soheil Shamseddin, Kia Hooshmand, and Jim Pechac.
The first one to leave this group would be Jimmy Fricke as Brown’s two pair was good enough to eliminate him. Allan Enciso was next to go as he saw Ted Forrest and Scott Clements split his chips.
Clements couldn’t celebrate too long though as Brown hit a full house against him sending him out in 7th place. Not yet finished, Brown went against Ralph Perry who was all-in. Brown hit a set of 7’s and Perry got no help from the board and finished 6th.
Kia Hooshmand was the next to leave after Forrest eliminated him. After this, Brown hit another full house against Soheil Shamseddin to send him packing.
Brown grabbed a two pair to eliminate Jim Pechac and lead the tourney into heads-up play for the bracelet. It was Brown going against Forrest for the top prize.
The battle went on for over an hour before it came to a conclusion. In the end though, it was Brown who claimed victory, his first WSOP bracelet, and the $226,483 cash prize.
Here’s how the rest of the standings looked:
Rank/Player/Money
1. Andrew Brown $226,483
2. Ted Forrest $143,420
3. Jim Pechac $88,065
4. Soheil Shamseddin $71,961
5. Kia Hooshmand $58,877
6. Ralph Perry $46,297
7. Scott Clements $36,232
8. Alan Enciso $28,684
9. Jimmy Fricke $21,135
10. Lee Grove $13,587
11. Ralph Rudd $13,587
12. Mallory Smith $13,587
13. Jose De Paz $11,071
14. Joe Aronesty $11,071
15. James Richburg $11,071
16. Michael Sohayegh $8,554
17. Pat Poels $8,554
18. Michael Reed $8,554
19. Shirley Rosario $6,541
20. William Sheppard $6,541
21. Bob Oxenberg $6,541
22. Cam McKinley $6,541
23. Kevin Petersen $6,541
24. Josh Arieh $6,541
25. Ryan Carey $6,541