Event #7: $400 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed

Event #7
Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed
Buy-In: $400
Total Entries: 174
Prizepool: $57,420

Matt Silva has won the Rio Las Vegas WSOP Circuit Pot-Limit Omaha event. He defeated a 174-player field to earn $15,504 and his second career WSOP Circuit ring. Both of Silva's WSOP wins have come in PLO. Just over two months ago Silva won his first career WSOP Circuit gold ring at the IP Biloxi stop.

"I played for five years and it took a long time to get one, so [the first ring] felt really good, but to get one two months after is really cool" said Silva.

Despite winning both of his rings in Pot-Limit Omaha, Silva does not consider himself to be great at the game. He attributes the success to his experience and said that after playing for five years you start to learn things about all of the games.

"It just takes time to get better at poker," said Silva.

Silva's second ring didn't come easy. He had to overcome a big chip lead not once, but twice over heads up opponent Mark Liedtke. The heads up battle lasted a grueling two and a half hours long before Silva was able to claim victory.

This marked Silva's third cash of the series and puts him in the lead for the Rio Casino Championship with seven events remaining. If he can hold onto the lead he will earn a seat to the $1 million guaranteed 2019 Global Casino Championship. Even know Silva's lead in the Casino Championship is small, he won't have to sweat too hard. Silva now has 197.5 points on the 2018/2019 Circuit season and is in a strong position to finish in the top 50 point earners on the season, which would also net him a seat to the 2019 GCC.

The Charlotte based poker pro said that he will finish out the series here to try to win the Casino Championship. He said he'll be back at the Rio this summer to play in some of the World Series of Poker summer series, including testing his luck in a few Pot-Limit Omaha events.

Final table results:

1st: Matt Silva - $15,504 + Circuit gold ring
2nd: Mark Liedtke - $9,578
3rd: Marc Durand - $6,833
4th: Hung Tran - $4,961
5th: Donald Garrett - $3,667
6th: Stephen Burns - $2,760
7th: Christopher Astudillo - $2,114
8th: Adam Owen - $1,649

Complete results can be found above under the "Results" tab.

Matt Silva and Mark Liedtke are heads up for the Pot-Limit Omaha Circuit ring. The winner will earn $15,504, 50 Casino Championship points and a WSOP Circuit ring, while the runner-up finisher will have to settle for $9,578 and 37.5 points.

Liedtke already has 12.5 point this series from two previous cashes. A win for him would bring his series total to 62.5 points and he would only be 2.5 points behind Neil McFayden, who is the current leader with one win and two final table finishes through the first half of series.

Silva is looking for his second ring of the reason. He won his first at the IP Biloxi stop just over two months ago. That victory was also in Pot-Limit Omaha.

Here is how the counts stand as the two players head on break:

Seat 1: Matt Silva - 960,000 (24 bb)
Seat 2: Mark Liedtke - 1,650,000 (41 bb)

- Players will return from break to the start of Level 26: 20,000/40,000

Day 1 of the Rio Las Vegas Pot-Limit Omaha event is over with just nine players remaining. The tournament started the day with 174 players and reached the unofficial final table of nine players on the final hand of the night. The surviving players will return for the start of the unofficial final table Wednesday at 2 p.m. All players remaining are guaranteed a minimum payout of $1,308. The tournament's champion will earn $15,504 and a WSOP Circuit ring.

Here is a look at the chip counts heading into Day 2:

Seat 1: Christopher Astudillo - 49,000 (6 bb)
Seat 2: Hung Tran - 199,000 (24 bb)
Seat 3: Adam Owen - 223,000 (27 bb)
Seat 4: Stephen Burns - 761,000 (95 bb)
Seat 5: Marc Durand - 321,000 (40 bb)
Seat 6: Scott Cooper - 40,000 (5 bb)
Seat 7: Dan Garret - 168,000 (21 bb)
Seat 8: Matt Silva - 419,000 (52 bb)
Seat 9: Mark Liedtke - 433,000 (54 bb)

- Day 2 will start at the beginning of Level 19: 4,000/8,000

Updated results can be found above under the "Results" tab.

The pot-limit Omaha event begins at 4:00 p.m.

• Players start with 15,000 in tournament chips
• Unlimited re-entry
• Registration remains open until the start of Level 1
• Levels 1-21 are 30 minutes, and Levels 23+ are 45 minutes
• There is a 30-minute extended break after Level 12
  
• Day 1 will last 18 levels
  
• Day 2 will resume at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday.