Thursday, June 5, 2008 10:27 PM Local Time
833 started this $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Event, making it the largest Omaha Hi-Lo field in World Series of Poker history. Thang Luu outlasted 832 other competitors to bring home his first World Series of Poker bracelet.
This was Luu’s fourth WSOP final table. In 2005, Luu finished third in the Employee’s Event. Last year, he finished runner up to Frankie O’Dell in the $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo event. He used an aggressive strategy to amass chips near the bubble and continued to use that aggressive style to build a stack that eventually overpowered all challengers.
Congratulations to Thang Luu, champion of the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo event.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 10:19 PM Local Time
Congratulations to Thang Luu who emerged late on Day 2 with his aggressive play in the bubble to storm to an overnight chip lead heading into today's final table. He maintained his aggressive style all the way through the final table to emerge victorious in a tough heads up battle with Spencer Lawrence.
Luu collect his first WSOP bracelet and takes home $243,356 in prize money!
Thursday, June 5, 2008 10:15 PM Local Time
Thang Luu raised it up preflop and Spencer Lawrence made the call.
The flop came
and Lawrence checked to Luu who made the continuation bet. Lawrence announced a raise, and Luu quickly reraised. In a series of raises Lawrence found the rest of his chips in the middle with his tournament life on the line.
Lawrence:
Luu:
The turn brought the
and river
to give Luu a full house, kings full of sevens, to take down the pot and WSOP bracelet!
Spencer Lawrence finishes in second place after a great tournament and superb final table effort to collect $156,343 in prize money.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 10:05 PM Local Time
Spencer Lawrence limped in from the small blind and Thang Luu popped it up from the big blind. Lawrence made the call.
The flop came
and Luu fired out a bet. Lawrence made the call.
The turn landed the
and Luu quickly fired out another bet. Lawrence again made the call.
The river was the
and before it was revealed Luu had already fired another 120,000 into the middle in the dark. Lawrence went into the tank and at times seemed more interested in arranging his chips into stacks of 60,000 than focussing on the hand in question.
Then out of nowhere Lawrence announced a raise to 240,000. Luu thought briefly before reraising once again. Lawrence again went into deep thought, counting out his chips and crossing his hands behind his head. He eventually made the call as Luu tabled
for the nut flush.
Lawrence is now down to under 600,000 in chips as the bracelet looks to be slipping away from his grasp.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:57 PM Local Time
It was two bets before the flop. One a flop of
, Lawrence bet and Luu called. On the turn of
, Luu bet out and Lawrence raised. Luu called. On the turn of the
, Luu bet out and after thinking a minute or so, Lawrence folded.
After this pot, Lawrence is down to 750,000 in chips. Luu sits with 1,750,000 in chips.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:49 PM Local Time
Play has recommenced after the break, with the green 25,000 denomination chips now in play for the first time to make life easier for the players as the blinds have now jumped to 30,000/60,000.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:44 PM Local Time
Remarkably at the break only 10,000 in chips separates our two players. Lawrence holds a slight lead with 1.255 million against Luu's 1.245 million!
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:40 PM Local Time
The players are now taking a 20-minute break.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:39 PM Local Time
Spencer Lawrence raised it up from the button preflop and Thang Luu defended his blind. They saw a flop of
and both players checked.
The turn was the
and Luu checked over to Lawrence, who fired out 100,000. Luu made the call.
The river delivered the
and Luu checked again. Lawrence thought for several minutes and eventually resigned to check it also. He said, "Ace-queen," as he flipped A-Q-6-5. It was good enough to collect the pot as he gets this contest back on an even keel.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:30 PM Local Time
It appears that Spencer Lawrence has decided to take a different approach towards this heads-up battle. When we begun heads-up play, Lawrence was playing a lot of pots loose and aggresively. He was doing a lot of raising and bluffing at pots. After taking some early hits, he has seemed to tightened up his strategy a lot and as a result he has pulled back to even in chips with Luu. This promises to be a long heads-up battle. Stay tuned to see the conclusion.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:24 PM Local Time
Thang Luu raised it up from the button and Spencer Lawrence made the call. They took a flop of
and Lawrence checked the action to Luu who made a continuation bet. Lawrence then announced a check-raise, which Luu quickly called.
The turn brought the
and again Lawrence bet out and Luu called.
The river landed the
and Lawrence bet for a third time. Luu went into the tank, clearly not happy with the river, before eventually sliding a stack of pinks into the middle to make the call.
Lawrence calmly said "nuts" as he revealed
for the wheel low and a six-high straight for the high. Luu mucked his cards and Lawrence recovers some chips, moving close to 1 million in chips. Luu still holds the lead with about 1.5 million.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:20 PM Local Time
Thang Luu bet out into a 600,000 chip pot on a board of
. After a minute or so, Lawrence called.
Luu showed
for a pair of aces and Lawrence mucked the hand.
After this hand Lawrence has about 500,000 left.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:14 PM Local Time
Luu: 1,700,000
Lawrence: 800,000
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:13 PM Local Time
This is proving to be a fascinating heads-up battle. Both players have played an aggressive game, with Thang Luu relentless in his approach. Luu rarely ever folds his blind and is prepared to gamble it up with any cards to try and connect with a flop.
Lawrence had to battle harder to accumulate his stack, but since he got hold of his chips he has not given them up easily. His game is tight and solid and will be difficult to crack!
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:08 PM Local Time
Thang Luu strikes the first major blow of the heads-up battle on a board of
. After Spencer Lawrence had bet the turn, Luu was the aggressor on the river, firing a 100,000 chip bet into Lawrence after he had checked.
Lawrence went into the tank for a long, long time. He eventually sighed and gave up his hand.
"I think you were on a bluff," he queried but Luu, who has been quite jovial at the final table today, gave him nothing. It's game on!
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:03 PM Local Time
Heads-up play has now started between Spencer Lawrence and Thang Luu. Here are how the chips stand currently:
Spencer Lawrence: 1,300,000
Thang Luu: 1,200,000
The bracelet is on the table. This is what we have all been waiting for folks. Stay tuned to see the exciting conclusion to today's event.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:01 PM Local Time
George Guzman went all in preflop against Spencer Lawrence. He stated, "Number 19." Guzman has been all in at least 18 times already today and either chopped or doubled up.
Guzman:
Lawrence:
Board:
The
on the turn gave Lawrence a full house and ended Guzman's run in today's main event.
Guzman said after the hand, "19 wasn't a good one."
Thursday, June 5, 2008 8:55 PM Local Time
With the blinds so high, James Pritchard had to make a stand and he decided to push the last of this chips into the middle from the small blind with
. Thang Luu made the call from the big blind and tabled
.
The board ran out
and Luu's pair of kings hold to collect the pot and send James Pritchard home after a great tournament in fourth place for $78,456 in prize money.
Thursday, June 5, 2008 8:47 PM Local Time
Thang Luu raised it up and George Guzman announced "This is it!" as he three-bet from the button. It was folded to Luu, who called.
The flop came
and Luu bet before Guzman pushed the last of his chips into the middle. Luu called showing
but was in trouble as Guzman showed a monster with his
.
The turn landed the
and river brought the
to make Guzman a straight flush for the high and they chop the low with the wheel.
There was some confusion as the dealer pushed the entire put towards Guzman but Luu quickly jumped out of his chair and grabbed the cards before they were mucked to clarify that he indeed collected a quarter of the pot!
Thursday, June 5, 2008 8:44 PM Local Time
Just before the hand, we overhead TJ Cloutier tell one of James Pritchard's sweaters that, "He needs to pick a hand he likes and put his chips in."
Apparantly he found his hand. The betting was capped preflop between James Pritchard and Spencer Lawrence. The last bet was enough to put Pritchard all in.
Pritchard:
Lawrence:
Board:
Pritchard's three eights are enough to double him up to around 400,000 in chips.
Cloutier exclaims, "And he wins the hand!"