Lau Leads Final Five in Event #57: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller
It took fewer than seven hours of four-card live poker action at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to determine the five finalists on Day 3 of Event #57: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller. The tournament set a new record during the 2023 World Series of Poker as it created the largest prize pool for a PLO live poker event in the history of the WSOP and the final five contenders out of a 449 entry-strong field will compete for the lion's share of the $10,551,500 prize pool.
Spanish-born, Hong Kong-based poker pro Ka Kwan Lau leads the way with a stack of 28,200,000 and seeks a maiden WSOP gold bracelet. Known under his online moniker "kaju85", he is widely considered one of the best PLO tournament players and came narrowly close to victory two years ago. In the very same $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, Lau finished runner-up to Shaun Deeb for a career-best score of $773,708. He cashed for more than $2.6 million in live poker events, and that also includes 20th place in the 2016 WSOP Main Event for $269,430 as well.
Second in chips is Madrid-based Sergio Martinez Gonzalez with a stack of 17,475,000 and Norway's Mads Amot (11,850,000) completes the European trifecta atop the leaderboard. The line-up for the final day also includes Roger Teska (6,400,000) and Andjelko Andrejevic (3,425,000) with each of them vying for their first ever WSOP gold bracelet.
Seat Assignments for the Final Day
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mads Amot | Norway | 11,850,000 | 59 |
| 2 | Sergio Martinez Gonzalez | Spain | 17,475,000 | 87 |
| 3 | Ka Kwan Lau | Hong Kong | 28,200,000 | 141 |
| 4 | Andjelko Andrejevic | United States | 3,425,000 | 17 |
| 5 | Roger Teska | United States | 6,400,000 | 32 |
Only 31 hopefuls returned for the penultimate day at 1:00 p.m. local time after the money bubble had burst in the final stages of the previous night. It took fewer than one hour to reach the final three tables as a frantic opening set the stage for an exhilarating day of four-card poker action. The WSOP bracelet winners Brandon Schaefer, Joao Vieira, and Yuri Dzivielevski were among the early casualties and they were followed by Andriy Lyubovetskiy, Daniel Zack, Joni Jouhkimainen, Ben Lamb and Chad Eveslage on the final three tables.
Lau started his rise toward the top of the leaderboard early on by knocking out Vieira, Jouhkimainen, and Lamb. He then won consecutive big pots against Bradley Anderson to become the uncontested chip leader. The field was seemingly stuck on 15 players remaining for an extended period before the fireworks caused shockwaves on the leaderboard.
Within less than half an hour, the unofficial final table was suddenly reached. Joseph Liberta, Michael Russo, Dash Dudley and Anderson all received $101,549 for their efforts. The rapid all-in showdowns also saw the stack of start-of-the-day chip leader Chance Kornuth reduced to fumes against Martinez Gonzalez.
Isaac Haxton was then eliminated by Jeremy Ausmus and the largest pot of the tournament until then unfolded between Dylan Weisman and Martinez Gonzalez, ending Weisman's roller coaster ride throughout the day in dramatic fashion on the unofficial final table bubble.
https://twitter.com/Dweisman13/status/1673894749412147202
Kornuth lasted all but one hand when the field combined to one table, and Ausmus followed suit shortly after when his middle set ran into the top set of the seemingly unstoppable Lau. Day 1 chip leader Firas Kashat and Quan Zhou became the final two casualties of the night to conclude the action.
The five finalists will return to their seats on the main feature stage of the Horseshoe Event Center to determine a winner. Action resumes at 4:00 p.m. local time on June 28 with 11:49 minutes left in Level 27, which features blinds of 100,000-200,000 and a big blind ante of 200,000. Cards-up coverage and commentary will go live as of 5 p.m. local time on the PokerGO streaming platform, and all PokerNews updates will be published according to the delay in order to not spoil the outcome.
Final Table Results and Remaining Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,294,756 | ||
| 2 | $1,418,270 | ||
| 3 | $989,464 | ||
| 4 | $701,522 | ||
| 5 | $505,588 | ||
| 6 | Quan Zhou | China | $370,498 |
| 7 | Firas Kashat | United States | $276,141 |
| 8 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | $209,392 |