WSOP 2010 Event 55 - Daniel Alaei Wins $10K PL Omaha

Event #55 at the 2010 WSOP was the $10,000 PL Omaha World Championship.  346 players turned to battle for the last PLO bracelet of this WSOP and $780,599 in prize money.

Day 1 saw the field shrink from 346 to just 171 and those players returned to battle to the money in the event.  The money bubble was reached by the end of Day 2 with 36 players paid.  However, most of the poker world was watching 2 players, Phil Hellmuth and Tom "durrrr" Dwan.

Dwan led the field going into Day 3 action, and Hellmuth was still healthy in chip and looking for his 12th gold bracelet.  Play for the Tournament of Champions had to be delayed due to Hellmuth's deep run.  Things turned out a bit anti-climatic for Dwan and Hellmuth as Dwan busted in 17th place and Hellmuth in 15.

That didn't stop the final tabe from being a strong affair.  Miguel Proulx made the final table and was looking to win his 2nd bracelet at this WSOP.  He took down the $2,500 PLO Event earlier in the series.  Daniel Alaei was also at this final table and looking for his 3rd career WSOP bracelet.  Alexander Kravchenko also made the final table and was still looking for his second bracelet.

The final table was not reached until late on Day 3, and players voted to return for a Day 4 final table.  Miguel Proulx was the chip leader heading into final table play.  Here are how the final nine players started:

Seat 1:  Ludovic Lacay                       2,279,000

Seat 2:  Daniel Alaei                           1,800,000

Seat 3:  Miguel Proulx                        2,440,000

Seat 4:  Matthew Wheat                     745,000

Seat 5:  Ville Mattilla                          490,000

Seat 6:  Trevor Uyesugi                      435,000

Seat 7:  Alexander Kravchenko          330,000

Seat 8:  Stephen Pierson                     570,000

Seat 9:  Dmitry Stelmak                      1,285,000

Heads-up play in this event was between Miguel Proulx and Daniel Alaei.  Alaei held a 7.5 Million to 2.7 Million chip lead at the start of heads-up play.  It did not take long for Proulx to get his chips in.  Both players saw a flop of 10s-9h-5c and Alaei bet 250,000.  Proulx called and the turn fell the 2c.  Alaei bet pot and Proulx moved all-in.  Alaei made the call with 7s-6c-5s-5h for trip fives and Proulx showed Ac-Kh-10h-2h for tens-up.  A ten on the river would give Proulx a double up.  However, the river fell the Jh and Daniel Alaei wins his third career WSOP bracelet.

This is Alaei's second Omaha bracelet.  He won the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low World Championship last year.  For this bracelet win, Alaei took home $780,599.  Congratulations.

Below are the final table payouts: