LAS VEGAS (27 June 2017) – Miami's Luis Calvo has surged to victory in the 2017 World Series of Poker's Event #49, $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed.
The triumph for Calvo, a 41-year-old cash-game pro, was worth $362,185. The win was Calvo's first WSOP gold bracelet victory, and the payday more than quadrupled Calvo's lifetime earnings. Prior to this event, Calvo had earned $110,614 in two previous WSOP cashes.
One of those two earlier cashes for Calvo was a 74th-place showing in the 2007 WSOP Main Event, worth $107,950.
Calvo's surge to the win denied a bracelet in a first-ever WSOP cash to Detroit native and poker amateur Rudolph Sawa. Sawa, a 36-year-old family man and restaurant owner, earned $223,812 for the second-place showing here.
Ireland's Mark Reilly finished in third, earning $149,258. Reilly held the early lead as the final table began but was eliminated in a huge hand against Calvo for more than half of the total chips in play.
Calvo's knockout of Sawa for the title was abrupt, coming just moments after Calvo dodged huge draws for Reilly in an all-in showdown to send Reilly to the rail.
In the final hand, Calvo again dodged major draws, this time for Sawa, to claim the bracelet. The chips went in after a flop; Sawa showed , while Calvo opened . The turn and river were virtual blanks for Sawa, giving Calvo two pair and the win in a no-low pot.
Calvo's lack of a deep tourney resumé belies the fact that he's an experienced cash-game pro. "I've traveled the whole world playing Omaha and limit hold'em at higher levels, higher stakes" he told the WSOP. "I'm not really a big fan of tournaments, but I did decide to play the $1,500 [PLO] and this one; I took a bad beat in the $1,500, but I knew that I would enjoy it. I just don't enjoy no-limit.
"It is a little different," he remarked, coming out of his cermonial bracelet-photo shoot, "but I feel amazing right now."
Calvo was joined in his celebration by several Miami-area pros who railed Calvo's win, including Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi. Calvo was quick to credit his fellow Miami players for assistance and training that helped him prepare for the win. Said, Calvo, "Mike and I have been friends since '99. We started playing in the same underground clubs with Robert Mizrachi, Chino Rheem, Stuart Patterson... a lot of guys that have had a lot of success in poker. They've gone out and really crushed it on the tournament scene, and I've really just been along for the ride on the cash-game scene. They always push me to play tournaments."
Calvo's other big score, in that 2005 WSOP Main Event, came in a game [no-limit] that he really no longer plays. "Michael, he told me, 'You have to play the Main Event. How can you not play the Main Event? It's the biggest thing.' And he pushed me to play and I cashed 74th that year, for $110,000."
Calvo also detailed the big hand agaist Reilly during three-handed play that set the stage for his win:
"I flopped top pair and a flush draw and I had three live cards. I figured he was going to do a continuation bet. Little did I know he had a huge hand as well. Once I check-raised him to 1,000,000, he tanked for a while and put me all in; there was no--- I just couldn't fold there. I couldn't leave myself too short. And I figured I had outs where I was still okay. I still felt like I could win the hand. If he had a set I could make a flush. If he had a bigger flush draw maybe I could make two pair. That's exactly what happened. He had no pair," and when Reilly missed his plentiful draws, the pot was Calvo's.
Even with this big score, Calvo has no plans to give the Main Event another go. However, he hasn't ruled out taking his shot in a couple of major PLO events still ahead on the WSOP's schedule.
Nineteen players from Event 49's official field of 630 entrants survived into Day 3, and it took four more hours to winnow the field to an unofficial final table of seven. Costa Rica's Alberto Fonseca bubbled the official final six in a big three-way hand won by Eric Hicks that also left Russia's Aleksei Altshuller on fumes.
While Hicks and Reilly battled for the chip lead, the other four players were left to chase. Another of the short stacks, Germany's Gerhard Schleicher, exited in sixth. Schleicher fell when he called off his last chips on the turn of a hand against Luis Calvo that was also bet before and after the flop. Calvo bet 400,000 on the turn with the board showing , and Schleicher called with for two pair. Calvo, though, had for the flush, and Schleicher couldn't connect for the full house on the river.
Altshuller soon followed Schleicher to the payout window, earning fifth here. Altshuller's last chips went in against Rudolph Sawa after a flop. Sawa led with his , but Altshuller had a handful of outs with his . However, the turn and river missed both players, giving Sawa the knockout.
San Francisco's Hicks saw his luck turn south as four-way play progressed. Both Calvo and Sawa doubled up at his expense, and then Hicks was forced in for the last of his own short stack, with Sawa delivering the final blow. In that hand, Hicks held while Sawa had . A flop put Sawa in greater control, and the turn and river trimmed the field to three. A still-exuberant Hicks shouted, “A hundred thousand dollars!” as he went to collect his winnings.
The knockout capped a big run for Sawa, giving him roughly half the chips in play as three-handed action began. The picture changed, however, when an all-in collision between Reilly and Calvo occurred that sent Reilly to the rail and gave Calvo a narrow lead, which he then expanded.
In the big hand, almost all the chips went into the pot in a post-flop raising war that left Reilly all in and Calvo having him barely covered. That flop was ; Reilly moved in with , and Calvo called with . Calvo's jacks led and Reilly missed his flush, straight and low draws when the turn and river brought the and .
That set the stage for the final hand between Calvo and Sawa, which occurred only moments later. Ninety-five players made the money.
Event #49 drew 630 total entrants, creating a prize pool of $1,701,000.
Other Notables:
Among the many well-known players who cashed in Event #49 were Chino Rheem (15th), Jeff Madsen (16th), Roberto Romanello (18th), Christian Harder (22nd), Sam Soverel (27th), David Paredes (38th), Matt O'Donnell (42nd), Juha Helppi (50th), Jim Collopy (53rd), Felipe Ramos (57th), Kyle Montgomery (59th), and Anthony Zinno (63rd).
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Final-Table Payouts (earned POY points in parentheses):
1st: Luis Calvo, $362,185 (187.6)
2nd: Rudolph Sawa, $223,812 (159.8)
3rd: Mark Reilly, $149,258 (139.6)