Event #57: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha

The second winner of a Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller Event of the 2023 World Series of Poker has been crowned at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. Out of a staggering field of 449 entries in Event #57: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, PLO specialist Ka Kwan Lau defeated Sergio Martinez Gonzalez heads up as both Spanish-speaking four-card aficionados earned the biggest slice of the $10,551,500 prize pool.

It was the biggest prize pool for a Pot-Limit Omaha live poker event in the history of the WSOP and Lau sealed the victory two years after he came up one spot shy of earning his maiden WSOP gold bracelet in the very same tournament. Known under his online moniker of "kaju85", he is one of the most-feared players in PLO tournaments on the live and online poker circuit. He was born in Spain and has a Hong Kong passport as well, but quickly became an integral part of the close-knit Spanish poker community ever since entering the live poker scene back in 2010.

Lau resides in Andorra and that's where he will be heading a few days from now because the birth of his second daughter is imminent. The four-card specialist will even skip the upcoming $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, as well as the remainder of the 2023 WSOP, to be home with his family. His return to Europe will be sweetened with the top prize of $2,294,756 and his first bracelet, while Martinez Gonzalez receives a consolation prize of $1,418,270.

Andjelko Andrejevic came into the final day as the shortest stack but laddered to third place ahead of Roger Teska and Mads Amot. All five of the finalists were competing for their maiden WSOP victory in the Horseshoe Event Center and Lau has further cemented his status as one of the best among the four-card aficionados.

Final Table Result Event #57: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller

Winner's Reaction

"I feel great. It feels like I have been missing something and now it is complete ... I am very happy with that. I came here two years ago to win the bracelet. I can't really say yet how happy I am not," an overwhelmed Lau said after the frenetic celebrations with his Spanish rail were done and the winner shots had been taken care of.

Lau is arguably one of the most accomplished PLO tournament players and his strategy for success seems rather simple.

"My secret is to grind a lot. I love poker and push hard," he said with a big grin on his face.

He also competes in No-Limit Hold'em tournaments once in a while as well and has had a deep run in the 2016 WSOP Main Event where he collected $269,430 for his 20th-place finish. However, the four-card variant has very much been his bread and butter for more than a decade now.

"My game in No-Limit is very poor. I just play a couple of tournaments. When I have no games or nothing better to do, I play probably one tournament of No-Limit Hold'em," the Spaniard admitted.

With two times as many cards, he is a force to be reckoned and the number of entries in each of the PLO events has been growing by a lot during the 2023 WSOP, very much to the delight of the Spaniard.

"PLO is getting more and more popular. The number [in this event] speaks for itself. I didn't come the last year, but people told me that it is almost double the field and that is a lot. Also in the 10k, the field was up a lot. I think the game is getting more popular."

Another high-stakes event in his preferred four-card variant is just around the corner with Event #71: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, which gets underway on June 30, 2023, but other PLO specialists may be relieved that Lau won't be among the participants.

"I will miss the tournament. I am waiting for my second daughter and she is going to come in a week or ten days. I think it is a great moment to come back home and be with my wife and my daughter. It is okay for this year, I will just relax and see how my daughter grows, but next year it is very probable that I will come here again with them."

Action of the Final Day

The final day recommenced with five players remaining and Lau in the driver's seat, while fellow Spanish-speaking Martinez Gonzalez was in distinct second place. Lau suffered a minor setback when Andrejevic extracted value with a full house, but he more than made up for it soon after.

In a large clash with the third-biggest stack Amot, Lau flopped an open-ended straight and flush draw against the middle set of the Norwegian. The turn was a blank, but the river brought another spade without pairing the board to vault Lau into a commanding lead.

Next to go was one of the two short stacks when Teska put his hopes on the top two pair and a gutshot. However, he was drawing very thin against the flopped wheel of Martinez Gonzalez and bricked the river to reduce the field to the final three after fewer than 90 minutes of play.

Andrejevic kept his short stack afloat with a double against Martinez Gonzalez but still had a mountain to climb for a shot at the title. The big lead of Lau was then decimated to just a handful of big blinds when Martinez Gonzalez earned value from a superior full house, which had the potential to shift the momentum.

The Serbian stuck around for a while but never pulled away from the bottom of the leaderboard by some margin. He eventually made a stand with double-suited queens against the pocket aces of Martinez Gonzalez in a preflop contest. Both players flopped a set and Andrejevic didn't catch the miracle one-outer to bow out in third place for nearly $1 million in prize money.

Heads-up play between Lau and Martinez Gonzalez started with an incredible average of 84 big blinds, as the final two contenders were separated by just two big blinds with a pay jump of more than $800k and the WSOP gold bracelet on the line. It would only take fewer than two hours to determine a winner, however, and it was Lau who came out on top.

Martinez Gonzalez started pulling away in the first half of the heads-up duel and was just one card away from victory. His nut flush draw, however, missed and Lau doubled into a narrow lead with the nut straight. It was a pivotal turning point as Lau regained his composure after having been frustrated previously and he raked in several big pots in quick succession to jump into a commanding lead.

Ultimately, they got it in preflop with naked aces for Martinez Gonzalez against a double-suited broadway rundown of Lau and the latter rivered a straight to finish the job he missed out on two years ago in Las Vegas.

That concludes the PokerNews live reporting from this event, but several other tournaments are currently taking place in which a WSOP gold bracelet is up for grabs.

Ka Kwan Lau opened to 1,500,000 with      and Sergio Martinez Gonzalez called with      to see a flop of    .

Action checked through to the turn   and Martinez Gonzalez checked to Lau who bet 1,200,000 with his big two-pair and Martinez Gonzalez made the fold to award him the pot.

Ka Kwan Lau	54,350,000	100,000
Sergio Martinez Gonzalez	13,000,000	-100,000

Sergio Martinez Gonzalez raised the pot to 1,500,000 with the      and Ka Kwan Lau defended the      out of the big blind, which led them to the     flop. Both checked to the   turn on which Lau bet 2,500,000 and Martinez Gonzalez called.

That led them to the   river and Lau fired another bet worth 4,500,000 into a pot of 8,500,000. Martinez Gonzalez reluctantly called and lost another big chunk of his stack to fall further behind.

Ka Kwan Lau	43,750,000	14,000,000
Sergio Martinez Gonzalez	23,600,000	-14,000,000

Ka Kwan Lau opened to 1,200,000 with      and Sergio Martinez Gonzalez made the call with     .

The flop came out     and Martinez Gonzalez checked to Lau who continued for 1,800,000 with his inferior pair of eights and received a quick fold from Martinez Gonzalez to win him the pot.

Ka Kwan Lau	34,750,000	800,000
Sergio Martinez Gonzalez	32,600,000	-800,000

Sergio Martinez Gonzalez raised the pot with the      and was called by Ka Kwan Lau in the big blind with the     . That led them to the     flop on which both players checked.

On the   turn, Lau bet the pot for 2,800,000 with his naked gutshot and inferior pair. Martinez Gonzalez called and they checked the   river as they checked it down. Lau showed visible frustration when he was shown the bad news.

Sergio Martinez Gonzalez	50,975,000	-2,200,000
Ka Kwan Lau	13,675,000	-500,000

Both players limped in to see a flop of     which was also checked through to the   turn.

Ka Kwan Lau bet 800,000 with      for two pair and Sergio Martinez Gonzalez made the call with      with his one pair, gutter, and flush draw.

The river came the   to give Martinez Gonzalez a flush and Lau checked it over to him. Martinez Gonzalez then bet 900,000 and Lau went into the tank.

After some time, Lau decided to make the proper laydown and Martinez Gonzalez was pushed the pot to strengthen his chip lead.

Sergio Martinez Gonzalez	48,575,000	800,000
Ka Kwan Lau	18,775,000	-800,000

Both players limped to see a flop of     which also checked through to the turn  . Ka Kwan Lau checked once more with his monster      for a flopped set with nut flush draw while Sergio Martinez Gonzalez bet the minimum of 400,000 holding     .

Lau then check-raised to 1,800,000 and Martinez Gonzalez hastily folded his hand to award Lau the pot.

Sergio Martinez Gonzalez	36,975,000	200,000
Ka Kwan Lau	30,375,000	-200,000

Martinez just limped in with      and Ka Kwan Lau checked his option with      and the duo went to ao flop of    .

Martinez checked and Lau checked back to see the   on the turn, which saw another check from Martinez and a bet of 700,000 from Lau with his straight draw.

Martinez Gonzalez made the call with his two-pair and they went to a river   which gave Lau the nut straight to take the lead.

Martinez Gonzalez checked once more and Lau fired out 1,800,000 and Martinez went into the tank.

After using one of his time banks, he decided to make the call but was then shown the bad news by Lau who was pushed the large pot to solidify his chip lead.

Ka Kwan Lau	32,975,000	4,650,000
Sergio Martinez Gonzalez	25,325,000	-2,500,000