Tyler Smith, a player who has finally appeared on the poker tournament scene after a two-year hiatus, won last night the 2017 WSOP $565 Pot-Limit Omaha event for his first-ever gold bracelet and $224,344.
Smith had the difficult task to remain the last man standing out of a field of 3,186 entries. The $565 PLO tournament was informally referred to as the “PLOssus” among participants. Similarly to its Colossus No-Limit Hold’em counterpart, it featured a low buy-in fee, several starting flights, and the opportunity for players to re-enter it.
With a field of close to 3,200 entries the $565 PLO became the largest Pot-Limit Omaha tournament to have ever taken place within the Series, beating last year’s record by more than 700 entries.
It was a tough field but not tough enough to prevent Smith from scooping the gold in the end. In a post-victory interview, the player revealed that he may have been away from the tournament poker scene over the past several years, but he has not been away from the felt as a whole.
Smith has been playing cash games back in Mississippi, opting almost exclusively for Omaha action. The player said that he has almost completely stopped playing No-Limit Hold’em. And his experience explains his confidence and composure throughout the WSOP $565 PLO.
The player came into the final day as one of the short stacks. There were only nine remaining contenders at the time cards were thrown in the air for one last day of Pot-Limit Omaha battling. Smith kept quiet for a while until there were only six left. From that point on, he stormed the final table, eliminating fellow players and accumulating a massive chip stack.
Getting deeper into action only increased the player’s confidence. Smith was responsible for the final four eliminations at the table. He sent Marek Ohnisko in 5th place, Scott Davies in 4th place, and Igor Sharaskin in 3rd place to eventually set the two-handed duel between him and Jason Stockfish.
However, it was not a very long match as Smith managed to disarm his final opponent within a single hand. The moment of triumph emerged when Smith bet 600,000 and Stockfish shoved after a moment or two of thought. Smith called, turning over [Ac][Qd][8s][7s] against his opponent’s [As][10s][8d][5h]. The [Jh][6h][4h][Js][2s] were tabled to end the tournament. Smith won the final pot, the first-place prize, and the precious gold bracelet. Although Stockfish missed out on the piece of jewelry, he did not leave empty-handed, collecting $138,655 in prize money.
Asked about his plans from now on, Smith told interviewers that the victory would not change his routine of focusing on cash game action in favor of tournament poker. Here it is also important to note that the player does not rely on the game as a primary source of income and rather plays it for fun.
