News
BRANDON SHACK-HARRIS TOPS RECORD PLO EVENT
May 30 2014 09:06 PM EST
The name Brandon Shack-Harris may not be a name you recognize, but if the rail for his bracelet win in the $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha event is any indication, he runs with an elite group of poker players. The Chicago, Illinois native who sharpened his poker chops in the cash games at Horseshoe Hammond had the likes of Chance Kornuth, Scott Seiver, and even Vanessa Selbst checking in on his progress at the final table today.
“My strategy was to play my best, and get lucky when it mattered, and have chips when I got unlucky, and that’s exactly what happened,” Shack-Harris said afterward. “I was really surprised at the quality of players who played in this event, so to win it is great.”
Instead of being outspoken, Shack-Harris let his play speak for himself, plowing through the competition to amass a huge stack heading into heads-up action against Morgan Popham. While it took a little while for heads-up to reach a conclusion after one double up for the short-stacked Popham, Shack-Harris nonetheless pulled out the win a little over an hour after his friend Selbst picked up her third career bracelet win.
Shack-Harris not only hoped for a big series, he even anticipated it. In uncharacteristic style, he even made a bold prediction. “I felt really good coming into the series,” Shack-Harris said. “I even started a threat at the 2+2 Forums about how I was going to win a gold bracelet this year and told everyone that they would regret not picking me for their fantasy teams.”
This was the first-ever $1,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha tournament at the WSOP and the turnout was a record-setting one, as 1,128 players participated, making it the largest non-No Limit Hold’em field in WSOP history. With so many players, the tournament posted a healthy prize pool of $1,015,200 with the top 117 players each earning a payday.
The headliner going into the final table was two-time bracelet winner Steve Billirakis, who began the day with the chip lead, but he was not the only player at this final table with prior WSOP results. Shack-Harris, Iori Yogo (3rd), and Loren Klein (8th) were all making return appearances to the WSOP final table felt and ninth place finisher Nick Guagenti has a long list of Circuit accomplishments.
There were a number of big names who cashed in the tournament. Some of the recognizable names in the money included Huck Seed (110th), bracelet winner Mitch Schock (51st), Phil Laak (39th), Leif Force (28th), Jason Somerville (18th), and Greg Merson, who just outperformed his 15th place showing in the National Championship with a 14th place finish.
Here are the final table results from the $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha event:
1st: Brandon Shack-Harris - $205,634
2nd: Morgan Popham - $127,245
3rd: Iori Yogo - $79,611
4th: Steve Billirakis - $57,785
5th: Matthew Ryan - $42,658
6th: Robert Paddock - $31,978
7th: Patrick Arena - $24,324
8th: Loren Klein - $18,750
9th: Nick Guagenti - $14,469
