Event #30: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha

On the final day of Event #30: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha, Ryan Bambrick started out in the lead with 13 players remaining. He lost the lead to Sampo Ryynanen early on, but took it back right around the time it started to matter. In the final stage, he dominated the play to eventually walk away with $217,123 and the gold bracelet.

"I was just trying to play my best game the whole time," Bambrick said right after posing for the winner photos. "I was really focused on trying to win. I wasn't really concerned about the pay jumps. I just wanted to win a bracelet, to be honest with you."

Bambrick, who's been playing online poker for over 15 years, has been a day trader for the last seven years. But poker has always been something he did, the last couple of years on the side. Last January, he found a new site and has been crushing there ever since. He cashed out his bankroll, told his boss he would be back after the summer, and went out to Vegas for six weeks of tournaments.

"I told my work I just wanted to play poker for now, and wanted to see how the World Series would go. I might pick it back up after the World Series," Bambrick said about his job as a day trader. "I'm not sure what I'm gonna do."

With play getting underway at noon, 12 seats were occupied. Just chipleader Bambrick was missing; he got in about half an hour later. And not just that, he had been an hour late on Day 2 of the event as well. "It's a long walk to the room and I like to sleep in sometimes. I had a hard time falling asleep last night; I finally fell a sleep at like 5 or 6 in the morning and slept in. I got here half an hour late but whatever," Bambrick said with a big grin on his face.

When Bambrick sat down, players like Victor Ramdin (aces cracked) and Lexy Gavin had already departed. Within the first level, the tournament was down to a final table of ten, and the official final table of nine was formed not much later when defending champ George Xu exited in 10th place.

Pushpinder Singh was the first player from the official final table to bust. He got it in with top pair and top kicker but ran into Ryynanen who had the same top pair and top kicker but had a flush draw and backdoor Broadway draw to go along with it. Ryynanen made runner-runner straight and Singh said his goodbyes.

Several players were short stacked by the time they had made it to the final table. Randy White was one of them and departed soon after Singh. He got it in with jacks versus kings and was drawing dead by the time the turn hit the felt as his opponent flopped top set.

Not even 15 minutes later, White was joined on the rail by Danny Woolard. His pair was no good anymore after the turn as his opponent turned two pair and rivered a full house.

Sampo Ryynanen, the lone European, took control of the table at this point. The rest of the table couldn't do much against his raises and three-bets and Jody Fayant became just one of his many victims. Fayant, severely short, found a real hand with single-suited queens and fours but ran into the kings of Ryynanen. No queen, four, or other help for Fayant, and that was it for the Canadian; out in sixth place.

Four minutes later, Jared Ingles hit the rail. His single-suited jack-ten with eights was no match to McDermott's double-suited ace-king-seven-six.

Sampo Ryynanen pulled away from the field, but it wouldn't last. Phil Riley fell first, losing rainbow aces with queen-deuce to jack-ten-nine-eight as McDermott turned trip nines.

After that, start-of-day chipleader Ryan Bambrick doubled through Ryyanen in a massive hand that saw him hit a set of sixes on the turn while his opponent had a pair, flush draw, and open-ended. The river bricked and Bambrick took over the lead in the match.

"That was a big hand — the crucial hand. It was a beautiful card for me on the turn and a nice river for sure," Bambrick said afterward about the hand that helped him regain the lead.

Tim McDermott was the shortest and lost the remainder of his chips in a small pot to Bambrick where the latter had flopped trips. McDermott was out and could dream about the Mirage again. He just missed out on the heads-up battle.

Bambrick started the heads-up with a sizable lead over Ryynanen and would extend the gap in one of the first hands of heads-up play. He made a flush in a big pot and saw Ryyvanen. Bambrick grew his stack to 5.2 million with just 6 million in play.

It was all Bambrick in the final stage of the tournament. He might have missed the first couple of hands of the day, and some hands getting back from dinner break a bit later than the rest, but it didn't hurt him one bit as he conquered the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha; taking down the event in dominating fashion. In the last hand of the tournament, he got it in with an overpair to Ryyvanen's middle pair. The dealer wasted no time dealing blanks on the turn and river and the two shook hands as it was all over.

"I had played with [Ryyvanen] a lot on Day 2 so I got to know his style pretty well, which definitely helped. He played really well. He was a really tough opponent, but the cards went my way," Bambrick said afterward.

Bambrick enjoyed playing in the spotlight with the people at home able to watch his every move. "It was a lot of fun, that's the best way I can describe it. I enjoyed every bit of it. It wasn't too daunting. It was exciting more than anything. I had a lot of people watching the stream. My phone was blowing up the whole time."

Tim McDermott raised to 210,000 from the button and Ryan Bambrick called in the big blind.

The flop came     and Bambrick checked. McDermott jammed for 370,000 and Bambrick quickly called to put him at risk.

Tim McDermott:     
Ryan Bambrick:     

McDermott found himself trailing Bambrick's flopped nut boat and needed a lot of help from the deck to survive. The   turn and   river changed nothing, so Bambrick took the pot to end McDermott's deep run in this event.

Ryan Bambrick	4,300,000	1,100,000
Sampo Ryynanen	1,700,000	-100,000
Tim McDermott	0	-1,000,000

Ryan Bambrick and Sampo Ryynanen saw a flop of     and they both checked.

The turn brought the   and Ryynanen bet 200,000. Bambrick called.

The   hit the river and Ryynanen checked. Bambrick bet 600,000, Ryynanen folded, and Bambrick took the pot.

Ryan Bambrick	4,100,000	300,000
Tim McDermott	1,100,000	175,000
Sampo Ryynanen	865,000	-335,000

Tim McDermott raised to 150,000 from the button and Ryan Bambrick called from the big blind.

The flop came     and Bambrick checked. McDermott bet 80,000 and Bambrick check-raised to 350,000. McDermott tossed his hand into the muck and Bambrick took the pot.

Ryan Bambrick	3,800,000	200,000
Sampo Ryynanen	1,200,000	200,000
Tim McDermott	925,000	-475,000

Sampo Rynnanen raised to 125,000 from the button and Ryan Bambrick called from the small blind.

The flop fell     and both players checked.

The turn brought the  , Bambrick bet 125,000, and Ryynanen called.

The   hit the river and Bambrick bet again, 375,000 this time. Ryynanen called and the announcer stated that Bambrick showed sixes full of sevens to take the pot.

Ryan Bambrick	3,400,000	1,000,000
Tim McDermott	1,400,000	-100,000
Sampo Ryynanen	1,200,000	-900,000

Action folded to the blinds and Tim McDermott raised to 150,000 from the small. Riley reraised the pot to 450,000, McDermott four-bet, and Riley called to put himself at risk.

Tim McDermott:     
Phil Riley:     

Riley had the lead with his aces and McDermott needed to improve in order to win the pot. The board ran out       to give McDermott trip nines, so he took the pot to end Riley's run in this event.

Tim McDermott	1,700,000	500,000
Phil Riley	0	-580,000

Ryan Bambrick called from the cutoff, Phil Riley completed his small blind, and Sampo Ryynanen checked his option.

The flop came     and action checked through.

The   hit the turn and Riley bet 80,000. Ryynanen and Bambrick both called.

The river brought the   and Riley checked. Ryynanen bet 265,000, Bambrick folded, and Riley called. The announcer stated that Ryynanen tabled tens full to win the pot.

Sampo Ryynanen	3,400,000	500,000
Ryan Bambrick	1,200,000	-100,000
Tim McDermott	1,200,000	0
Phil Riley	240,000	-395,000

Phil Riley and Tim McDermott are seated and play is back underway. Sampo Ryynanen and Ryan Bambrick have not returned yet and are blinded off right now.

Update: Sampo Ryynanen and Ryan Bambrick have both taken their seats and only missed two hands.

The four remaining players are taking a one-hour dinner break. Cards will be back in the air at approximately 7:50 p.m. local time.

Sampo Ryynanen	3,400,000	-200,000
Ryan Bambrick	1,200,000	200,000
Tim McDermott	965,000	0
Phil Riley	475,000	-160,000