Event #69: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship

Sean Troha of North Olmstead, Ohio has completed an incredible final table comeback to defeat Shiva Dudani and claim his first WSOP gold bracelet and the $1,246,770 first prize in Event #69: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship. It was the very first WSOP gold bracelet for Troha and certainly made it count with a seven-figure payday.

The biggest $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship in the history of the World Series of Poker attracted a record attendance of 683 unique entries and the biggest slice of the $6,368,975 prize pool was awarded on the final day, which brought back five contestants. Troha was the second-shortest stack upon return and still had 42 big blinds at his disposal, yet the action was fast-paced from the get-go.

At two points on the final table today, Troha needed to hit a two-outer to survive, and did so both times against eventual runner-up Dudani en route to his inconceivable victory.

With prior career WSOP earnings of $270,226, this is far and away Troha's biggest career tournament score.

When asked if he can put into words what the victory feels like, he was somewhat lost for words initially. "Probably not, I am usually not a man of many words at the table. I have been coming out here for a lot of years and haven't won any [bracelet], hopefully this makes up for all of that," Troha said shortly after his victory.

Also featured among the final five were Norway's Joachim Haraldstad, Tom Hu and Michael Duek. All of them were eliminated by the red-hot running Dudani, who started the final day as the chip leader but was ultimately unable to close it out after a one-sided heads-up duel with Troha. He had to settle for a consolation prize of $770,556, which was still the far biggest cash in his live poker career.

Final Table Results Event #69: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

Troha participated in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for the third time and also entered the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship but only had one cash during the 2022 WSOP in its new home at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas in Event #58: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better to his name.

"You have no control over this kind of thing, I am just super lucky and super blessed to be here. I have been working very hard on my game and this is the pay-off," Troha added in the winner interview.

He came into the day as the second-shortest stack with plenty of big blinds to his name and didn't seem too fazed about the relentless aggression of Dudani, who was seemingly running over the table.

"I thought a lot of the things could have happened and I wasn't sure what I was gonna do but I just kinda felt the moment and won a lot of hands early on, that freed me up a bit and made things easier. I also had a great run of cards," Troha added.

The domination by Dudani helped Troha "a little bit" and he described his heads-up opponent as very aggressive for a while". As the lead of Dudani grew, the eliminations came very quickly and the final table was soon down to the final three players with Dudani holding three quarters of the chips in play.

He was responsible for the knockout of Joachim Haraldstad and Tom Hu within fewer than 20 minutes. Dudani first came from behind with inferior two pair to eliminate the Norwegian and then caught Hu with a move when he turned a full house.

However, the tides changed soon after that with one massive chip leader and two short stacks trying to fight their way back in. While Michael Duek remained passive, it was Troha who tried to pounce on the chip leader and he scored a first double up with double-suited ace-king against the double-suited kings of Dudani thanks to a two-outer on the river.

"A lot of the hands played itself, we were down to three very soon," Troha remarked when asked upon the two crucial double-ups. The second lucky punch against Dudani in which he gained the lead saw more than half of his stack in before the flop in a spot where the "all-in on the flop was almost always going to happen".

This time, he was in trouble with just the top pair against the middle set of Dudani but he turned a set of kings to prevail once more. After that, the momentum during three-handed play certainly changed and it was now Troha who dominated the action with his lead.

Dudani earned some chips back by knocking out Duek in third place and entered the heads-up duel with a minor chip disadvantage. But from there on, Troha had the best of it on multiple occasions and it took just one hour to determine a champion from there on out.

The latest gold bracelet winner will certainly give the 2022 WSOP $10,000 Main Event a shot, perhaps even as soon as Day 1d, despite not having played a lot of Hold'em hands in his poker career. Pot-Limit Omaha has been the main game of Troha for the past seven years and he will now celebrate the victory with his fiends before returning to the 2022 WSOP at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas for a new and different challenge in the days to come.

While this concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event, the several other tournaments are still to come with nearly two dozen WSOP gold bracelets still up for grabs. All of the exclusive updates and results can be found in the 2022 WSOP live reporting hub.

After another string of small pots headed back and forth between the players, in one pot where Sean Troha won at showdown after action was checked through each street, Troha looked over his shoulder at his rail and prompted them to applaud, which they happily did.

Though there may be a small lull in the action over the last few hands, more fireworks are sure to be coming soon.

Sean Troha	31,750,000	-750,000
Shiva Dudani	9,250,000	750,000

Shiva Dudani limped in and then called a raise to 750,000 by Sean Troha to see a flop of     on which Troha bet 500,000 and Dudani called. The   followed on the turn and Troha now checked, Dudani bet 400,000 and took it down.

Troha raised to 625,000 on the next button for Dudani to defend. The     flop brought a check-call worth 400,000 by Dudani with it and he also checked the   turn. Once Dudani checked the   river, Troha bet 1,650,000 and claimed the pot uncontested.

Sean Troha	32,500,000	-725,000
Shiva Dudani	8,500,000	725,000

Sean Troha raised to 625,000 on the button and was called by Shiva Dudani in the big blind. On a flop of    , Dudani check-called for 450,000 and then did so again on the   turn when Troha bet 1,000,000. Both opted to check the   river and Dudani tabled the      for a full house to win the pot.

Dudani then raised the button and Troha called. This time, it was Dudani who fired three barrels for 400,000 on the     flop, 900,000 on the   turn and 1,400,000 on the   river.

Once Troha called the final bet, Dudani said "good call" without showing his cards just yet. Troha rolled over the      for a flush and Dudani nodded, then added "makes sense" in table chat.

Sean Troha	30,300,000	400,000
Shiva Dudani	10,700,000	-400,000

Sean Troha has won the first two hands in heads-up play to further increase his lead against Shiva Dudani and the second hand included three barrels.

Troha made it 625,000 to go on the button for Dudani to call and the flop brought     on which Dudani check-called a continuation bet worth 700,000. After the   turn, Dudani checked once more and Troha bet 1,400,000 in order to pick up a call.

Last but not least, the   fell on the river and Dudani checked again. Troha now bet the pot for 5,900,000 and Dudani folded after more than two minutes of consideration.

Sean Troha	27,300,000	3,800,000
Shiva Dudani	13,700,000	-3,800,000

Shiva Dudani limped the button and Michael Duek did so from the small blind as Sean Troha checked in the big blind. The     flop brought a pot-sized bet worth 1,000,000 by Duek and he won the pot.

One hand later, Duek raised the pot to 875,000 on the button and won the blinds as well as big blind ante.

He was in the big blind next and called when Troha raised the pot to 875,000 from the button. The flop came     and Duek check-folded to a bet.

Troha and Dudani checked a limped blind battle on the     flop and Troha bet the   turn to find no resistance.

Sean Troha	23,700,000	1,300,000
Shiva Dudani	14,200,000	-1,600,000
Michael Duek	3,100,000	300,000

Sean Troha limp-called a pot-sized raise by Shiva Dudani in a battle of the blinds and check-folded the     flop when facing a bet worth 700,000.

One hand later, Troha raised to 500,000 on the button and Dudani three-bet the pot to 1,750,000 in the small blind. It folded back to Troha who repotted to 5,500,000 and that sent Dudani into a brief tank as he studied the remaining stack of his previous foe.

Dudani then called and checked the     flop before calling the shove by Troha for 4,500,000.

"Aces?" Dudani inquired as he rolled over his      for a set of tens. Troha, however, was caught with a move as he tabled the      only.

His rail shouted for a king and sure enough that's what came on the   turn. Dudani now needed the case ten or a jack to avoid another major setback but Troha held up on the blank   river to double into the lead.

Sean Troha	20,500,000	9,750,000
Shiva Dudani	15,900,000	-9,650,000
Michael Duek	4,600,000	-100,000

Shiva Dudani won 2,200,000 chips from Sean Troha on the final hand before break, boosting his chip lead a bit as he and his two opponents head out on their first 15-minute break of the day.

Shiva Dudani	25,550,000	2,800,000
Sean Troha	10,750,000	-2,300,000
Michael Duek	4,700,000	-600,000

After Shiva Dudani raised his small blind limp to 600,000, Sean Troha limp-potted to 1,700,000. Dudani then bet the pot, and Troha called off for 5,225,000 total.

Sean Troha:     
Shiva Dudani:     

Troha was in rough shape unless black cards or an ace came.

The     flop brought minimal help, and the   turn left Troha drawing solely to the ace of hearts or the ace of spades, as the ace of diamonds would give Dudani a winning flush.

The dealer then burned and dramatically dragged the   across the board and laid it on the river as Troha's rail erupted in celebration, as their man has now rebuilt his stack to over ten million chips.

Shiva Dudani	24,800,000	-5,475,000
Sean Troha	10,450,000	4,725,000
Michael Duek	5,800,000	800,000

Sean Troha's comeback bid is continuing with a couple more small pots going his way.

After Shiva Dudani raised on the button to 600,000, Troha defended his big blind.

After the duo checked the     flop, Troha led out for 700,000 on the   turn and Dudani folded.

On the next hand, Michael Duek limped the button, Troha called in the small blind, and Dudani checked the big blind.

The     flop was checked through, but on the   turn, again it was Troha leading, with a bet of 600,000.

Both opponents folded and troha notched another small pot as his slow rebuild continues.

Shiva Dudani	26,675,000	-925,000
Sean Troha	8,900,000	1,300,000
Michael Duek	5,425,000	-375,000