If you're not accustomed to the $5,000 PLO/Six Handed event at the World Series of Poker, that's because this is the first year it has graced the schedule. Last year there was a $5,000 buy-in PLO event, but it was played nine handed, not six.
That event, which drew 460 players and created a prize pool of $2,162,000, saw Chance Kornuth emerge victorious to take home the $508,090 first-place prize. PLO is a popular game, so we'll have to wait and see if today's field can come close to last year's counterpart.
We stopped by Rino Mathis' table as the dealer had just finished the initial deal, but there was a slight hitch that was picked up on by the opponent in the five-seat.
"Wait - we got dealt five cards?" the player asked.
"Sorry," the dealer replied with a smile as he took the cards back. "We're playing Big-O now!"
Chad Brown called from under the gun before the player on the button raised to 200; Jason Mercier called from the small blind and Eric Froehlich folded from the big blind before Brown called to make it three-handed to the flop of .
Mericer and Brown then checked to the button who led out for 400. Mercier called and Brown folded, then Mercier check-called the button's bet after the turn of the , but quickly mucked his hand when the button tabled after he rivered a full house with the .
Mericer has taken one of his two available add-ons and is now on 11,000 in chips (16,000 including the lammers).
We came in on a turn of when the cutoff put out a bet of 2,500 and was left with not very much behind. Lex then re-raised pot/put the cutoff player all in and the player quickly folded. Both strategies (saving your re-buy chips or using them all at once) seem to have their advantages, and Lex just showed us why he likes the big stack and bought in for the full 15,000 from the beginning. He is now up to around 20,000
Over on table 43, the action folded to Alexander Kostritsyn who raised to 175 from the cutoff; Erik Cajelais called from the big blind, the both players checked the flop of before Cajelais check-called Kostritsyn's bet of 300 on the turn of the .
Both players then checked the river of the . "Two pair," said Cajelais, tabling . Kostritsyn had the bigger two pair with and raked in the pot.
Frank Kassela raised under the gun to 275 and received calls from the player in the cutoff and in the big blind. It was three-handed to the flop, which inspired Kassela to bet 600 after the big blind had checked. The cutoff got out of the way, the big blind made the call, and the hit the turn.
The big blind check-called a 2,000 from Kassela, leading to the on the river. Once again the big blind checked, Kassela moved all in for 1,075, and the big blind called. "Full house," Kassela said as he flipped . The big blind took his time before tossing his cards in the muck.
Kassela's double couldn't have come at a better time considering he has used his two rebuy chips. That means he is sitting on a stack of 8,200 with no rebuy options available.
You can never wipe the smile off Brian Powell's face and it seems that his pleasant demeanor is quickly winning him friends on table 12, as they're laughing and joking with each pot that they play.
Still, that doesn't mean that Powell is no slouch, having just picked up a pot against an opponent. On a flop that read , a player in early position led out to Powell who called from the button before check-calling Powell's bet of 650 on the turn of the .
The opponent then checked again on the river of the and Powell led out for 1,650. This time, the opponent folded, but when Powell put his hand into the muck, they fell sideways and hit the table, flipping two of the cards -- -- face-up.
The players all had a bit of a chuckle after that. We're not quite sure as to what the joke was, but we're certain that the atmosphere was made a little lighter after the acid-tongued Daniel Makowsky was busted by Dwan from their table earlier in the day.
With the 5,000 rebuy chips in play, we were expecting to have plenty of action today, and Michael Binger and Barry Greenstein just provided us with some. There was 1,000 in the pot on a flop of . Binger bet out 950, forcing a folded from Steve Gross. Greenstein counted out a raise to 2,550, and Binger instantly moved all in. Greenstein called, and they flipped their cards over.
Binger:
Greenstein:
Binger's two pair had outflopped Greenstein's overpair of queens, but Greenstein picked up a flush draw on the turn. However, the river came the , and Binger doubled up to about 10,000 with both of his add-ons left.
![[user135779]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
.
, but quickly mucked his hand when the button tabled 
after he rivered a full house with the 
.
when the cutoff put out a bet of 2,500 and was left with not very much behind. Lex then re-raised pot/put the cutoff player all in and the player quickly folded. Both strategies (saving your re-buy chips or using them all at once) seem to have their advantages, and Lex just showed us why he likes the big stack and bought in for the full 15,000 from the beginning. He is now up to around 20,000
before Cajelais check-called Kostritsyn's bet of 300 on the turn of the 
.
. "Two pair," said Cajelais, tabling 
and raked in the pot.
on the river. Once again the big blind checked, Kassela moved all in for 1,075, and the big blind called. "Full house," Kassela said as he flipped 
, a player in early position led out to Powell who called from the button before check-calling Powell's bet of 650 on the turn of the 
.
-- face-up.
, and Binger doubled up to about 10,000 with both of his add-ons left.
