Yet another event of the 46th Annual WSOP was marked as completed. California-based player Daniel Alaei emerged victorious over the field of the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship to capture his fifth-ever bracelet and the amount of $391,097 of the entire prize pool.
The $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship is known to be the Omaha event with the largest buy-in fee. This year, it attracted a total of 157 entries who created a prize pool $1,475,800. Of all the players who took part in the event, only the top 18 finishers were paid, with the payouts starting from $20,941.
Being only 30 years old makes Alaei the second-youngest player to ever collect as many as five gold bracelets. Only Allen Cunningham was younger than him when he won his fifth piece of WSOP jewelry.
It could be said that Alaei had quite a tough competition at the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. For instance, of all top 18 finishers, 9 were former bracelet winners, including Erik Seidel, Mike Wattel, Scott Clements, Ken Aldridge, and Alaei himself.
The California-based player had to face Kyle Maiso from Scottsdale, Arizona in a final heads-up play. It started with Maiso holding six times more chips than his opponent. However, Alaei managed to slowly but steadily catch up and eventually take the lead.
The last hand in play occurred with Maiso holding [Kh][6h][8c][Kd] against his opponent’s [Qc][8d][10h][10d]. The board ran out [10c][Js][7h][2h][6c] and the name of the champion became clear. As for Maiso, he had to settle for $241,691 and a runner-up finish.
Alaei, on the other hand, collected his 31st WSOP cash. So far, the player has won a little more than $4 million from various WSOP events. Furthermore, he has seven final table appearances and finished 1st in five of those to capture the piece of WSOP jewelry known to be among the most coveted poker awards in the world.
Apart from his participation in WSOP events, Alaei could also be spotted at WPT and various other tournaments. His live career earnings currently amount to $6,858,345.
And here is the official order of finish at the 2015 WSOP $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship or Event #21. Jeffrey Vaughn from Encino, California took 3rd place to scoop $175,088 of the prize pool.
Scott Clements, known to be one of the best Omaha High-Low Split players in the world, finished 4th and received his 39th WSOP cash of $129,235. The Washington-based poker pro won 2 WSOP bracelets in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
Ken Aldridge from North Carolina captured $97,122 for his 5th place. Aldridge won a gold bracelet back in 2009.
Anthony Zinno, who won two WPT Main Events earlier this year, finished 6th for $74,262. Last night, the Boston resident scooped his first-ever WSOP cash.
Mike Wattel, yet another bracelet winner at the final table, took 7th place to receive the amount of $57,748. The player now has almost $2 million in career WSOP cash.
German Tobias Hausen took 8th place for $45,661, his best WSOP cash so far. Former gold bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus from Las Vegas, Nevada rounded up the final table. He captured the amount of $36,668 for his 9th place. Up to now, the player has collected more than $3.5 million from various WSOP events.
