Benjamin Zamani, a German-born poker pro now residing in Florida, added on Sunday another gold bracelet to his previously won piece, after topping a massive field of 905 entries in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better. His victory in Event #4 on the 2017 WSOP schedule secured him not only with a shiny piece of jewelry but also with a first-place payout of $238,620.
As mentioned above, Zamani is no stranger to the WSOP and the exciting opportunities it offers to both professionals and poker enthusiasts. The player boasts one more title from a previous edition of the festival. In 2015, he won a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em tournament for his first gold piece and $460,640.
This year, the player demonstrated that he is equally proficient in poker games different from No-Limit Hold’em. The $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo tournament was played over three days. As already revealed, the event attracted great interest among those who are to make Las Vegas their home for the next month or so, generating a field of 905 participants and a prize pool of $1,221,750.
The tournament’s final day saw 29 players return to the tables of Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, the venue that has hosted the WSOP festival for the past several years. The survivors were led by Christopher Logue with 498,000. As for Zamani, he was holding one of the top chip stacks at the time.
The eventual winner maintained a good position over the course of play up through and throughout the final table. Yet, his true reign began when the heads-up match was set. Zamani faced Jared Hemingway, a player from Greenville, Texas with quite some experience in the Series but with no previous titles.
Two-handed duel began with Zamani holding five times more chips than his opponent. The massive advantage worked well in the eventual winner’s favor as it took him a few hands to finish off Hemingway. Zamani robbed his opponent off most of his chips within a single hand’s span, leaving him with just 20,000. The very next hand turned out to be the final one for the evening and the tournament as a whole.
Forced all-in, Hemingway turned over [4d][6h][Kd][9d] against Zamani’s [7c][4c][10c][5s]. The board ran out [10d][Js][3d][2c][7s] to secure Zamani with the title and the gold. Hemingway received not a bad payout of $147,428.
Of his opponent, Zamani said that he was “aggressive enough to be dangerous”. In his brief post-victory interview, the player also praised his good run during three-handed play, which gained him enough momentum to finish things off in a rapid manner.
