After a quick sweep of this side of the Pavilion room at the start of play we've already spotted a few familiar faces. Dan Heimiller is here, as are Kathy Liebert, Robert Mizrachi, Jeff Madsen, Chris Bell. Brett Richey, and John Racener. And Tom "durrrr" Dwan has just taken his seat, positioned a couple to the left of Bill Chen.
Cards are in the air and the first hands of Event No. 51 are being dealt. Immediately players at nearby tables indicated to dealers their wish to go ahead and use their two "add-on" chips and top off to the full 4,500 to begin.
To clarify, players start with 1,500 chips plus two add-ons, both worth 1,500 each. They can use those add-ons at any point during the first four one-hour levels, at which point they'll be required to cash them in for chips.
It's not hold'em. Not no-limit, either. It ain't Omaha/8. Nor is it PLO.
Welcome to Event No. 51, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better event that is guaranteed to bring lots of action, and perhaps a wild variety of skill and preparation, given the relative uniqueness of PLO/8.
A game largely confined to the online realm, PLO/8 was added to the WSOP schedule for the first time in 2007. It's a game that attracts specialists, many of whom believe they can find an edge against less experienced players coming to it from PLO high or fixed limit O/8. Too great a reliance on high cards (as the PLO players sometimes demonstrate) or only playing low cards (as will happen with some from the O/8 crowd) can get players in trouble, an edge the more agile PLO/8 players hope to exploit. The relative value of draws and made hands is different here than in other Omaha games, too, creating more challenges for the less experienced.
It's also a game in which the frustration factor may be a touch higher than in other games. As Lou Krieger and Mark Tenner write of PLO/8 in Mastering Omaha/8 Poker, "this is a game in which even solid players often tilt the hand following a tough beat, or after a hand where they miss a big draw with a lot of money committed to the pot."
Expect fireworks, then, with lots of wild hands and hotly-contested pots as players today line up with hopes of repeating the success of Steve Jelenik, who last year bested a field of 847 in this event to earn a cool $245,871 return on his $1,500 investment.
Play is scheduled to start at noon Vegas time. See you back here then when the action begins!
Event #51: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better
