DWAN BACK TO HIS BEST TO LEADS LAST EIGHT AS PLO COMES TO MADRID

Tom Dwan leads his old adversaries in the PLO

While most of the attention in the Casino Gran Via tournament room was focused on the Main Event this afternoon, there was also the not-insignificant matter of a PLO event getting started.

No one denies that Triton players tend to favour no limit hold’em and short deck, but the four-card game also holds a good degree of fascination for many high stakes players. This tournament, with a €25,000 buy-in, attracted 34 entries, including 10 re-entries, which meant €850,000 in the prize pool.

The schedule was to play to the final table tonight, and that’s exactly what happened — although the eight players remaining are not yet guaranteed to cash. They will return tomorrow knowing that two will depart before the bubble is burst. After that, it’s a €60K payday minimum.

The field was lean but very tough. At one stage, Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey and Paul Phua sat in a line, with Patrik Antonius at the other end of the same table. With Tom Dwan also in the field, there were echoes of those old nosebleed PLO games online, where Dwan and Ivey and Antonius and a few others used to flay each other for regular six-figure pots.

Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey and Paul Phua: Three greats in a row

There was no room on the final day for Ivey. He bust in 10th to Dwan — and that was the pot that put Dwan on top of the counts at the halfway stage. The Triton Poker Ambassador was last seen in the tournament room late last night, playing a Triton staff sit n go. No word on how he made out in that one, but he was back to his best at the “real” tables today, and bagged 3.24 million, more than 1 million more than his closest rival.

Never count out Antonius, of course, nor Jeremy Ausmus, who make up the top four. Jeff Gross, from the live stream commentary team, is also still battling.

Here’s how they line up at the close of play. The payout schedule is below. Join us tomorrow as they play to a winner.

Tom Dwan, USA – 3,240,000
Jeremy Ausmus, USA – 1,980,000
Patrik Antonius, Finland – 1,795,000
Filip Lovric, Sweden – 960,000
Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – 660,000
Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – 595,000
Paul Phua, Malaysia – 550,000
Jeff Gross – 390,000

Triton Madrid – Event 11
€25,000 Pot Limit Omaha


Dates: May 22-23, 2022
Entries: 34 (inc. 9 re-entries)
Prize pool: €850,000

1 – €290,000
2 – €199,000
3 – €127,000
4 – €97,500
5 – €76,500
6 – €60,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive