If you’ve ever wondered what finding a giant pile of money on the other end of a bout of deja vu is like, Ludovic “ludovi333” Geilich might have an answer for you. The last time he found himself heads-up for a -COOP title, he was playing 6-max pot-limit Omaha. He ended up on the runner-up side of that marathon SCOOP battle against eventual winner alien slayer, but he did take down what was, at the time, his biggest score. Today he found himself heads-up for a WCOOP championship, once again in a 6-max PLO tournament. And once again, he won the biggest tournament cash of his career – this time sweetened with a WCOOP title.
Event #70, this year’s $21,000 6-Max High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha tournament, kicked off yesterday at 1 p.m. ET and drew an elite field of 64 players. Of those, 29 opted for the optional re-entry, including Team PokerStars Pro’s Jason Mercier. His second bullet took him to 57th place, but six players managed to make theirs work long enough to make it to the end of Day 1.
Ludovic Geilich led the field as the second day of play began, holding over 228,000 chips with blinds at 1,600/3,200. After three hours of play the final table lineup was set with Event #66 champ Sean “Nolez7” Winter’s elimination in seventh. The man behind Geilich on the leaderboard at the start of the day had managed to overtake him by two big blinds, but he had a cushion to work with against the kind of diverse and heavy-hitting lineup you’d have expected to see just from looking at the game and buy-in.
Seat 1: Dani “supernova9” Stern (191,500 in chips)
Seat 2: Connor “blanconegro” Drinan (242,620 in chips)
Seat 3: MITS 304 (139,552 in chips)
Seat 4: Fabrizio “SixthSenSe19” Gonzalez (517,301 in chips)
Seat 5: Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen (272,885 in chips)
Seat 6: Ludovic “ludovi333” Geilich (496,142 in chips)
Leading the way was Fabrizio “SixthSenSe19” Gonzalez. Already a Triple COOP winner before he won the WCOOP Triple Draw 2-7 Championship last week, he was enjoying his 21st cash and fourth final table of this series, sitting atop both the chip counts and the WCOOP Player Of The Series leaderboard.
Geilich, a past SCOOP runner-up and Super Tuesday champion, sat second in chips and to the left of Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen, the 2016 WSOP PLO High Roller bracelet and EPT5 Copenhagen champion.
Kyllonen was third in chips, just ahead of Connor “blanconegro” Drinan, the EPT13 Barcelona High Roller and WCOOP 2016 Event #5 champion who sits directly behind Gonzalez on the WCOOP leaderboard with four final tables and 15 cashes.
Just behind Drinan in chips was Dani “supernova9” Stern, making his second cash and second final table of this series after appearing at the Event #36 final along with Fabrizio Gonzalez.
And sitting in sixth was MITS 304 from Cyprus, the winner of Event #61, the Razz Championship. MITS 304 had been one of the first players to bust, falling in 91st place on Day 1, but turned that second buy-in into a final-table berth.
At 23 minutes, MITS 304 would have the shortest stay of the group. The hand started with Dani Stern opening for 26,400 on the button and MITS 304 the only caller, coming along from the small blind to see the K♦ 3â™ 9♦ flop. MITS 304 led with a pot-sized 79,200-chip bet, then called all-in for 139,376 when Stern raised. MITS 304 had J♣ 9â™ 8♦ 7♦ for a pair of nines with a variety of draws, but his outs for the diamond flush ended up being blockers against Stern’s nut flush draw with A♦ Q♦ Q♣ 4♣ . Neither player made a hand on the 4â™ turn or 5â™ river, though, so Stern’s queens took the 357K-chip pot and MITS 304 exited in sixth.
Eight hands later the blinds were up to 6,000/12,000 when Stern claimed responsibility for the second knockout of the table as well. Sitting in the small blind this time with K♣ J♦ 10♦ 8♦ , he opened the action for 36,000 chips and got a call from Connor Drinan in the big blind. Drinan’s K♥ Jâ™ 10♥ 3♦ made top pair with the second-nut flush draw on the 6♥ 8♥ 10♣ flop, so he raised all-in for 120,442 when Stern led with a pot-sized 72,000-chip bet. Stern called with two pair, tens and eights, then dodged a heart on the 7♦ turn before making a full house on the 8â™ river. Drinan had two pair, tens and eights, and left the tournament in fifth.
That pot boosted Stern’s stack to more than 520,000, good for second place behind ludovi333’s 548,000, but he endured a cold snap after that. A few flop and turn bets made before eventually folding hands under duress saw his stack drop to just over 234,000 as the final table’s first hour ended and the break came along.
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Stern ended up all-in for just over 240,000 from the big blind six minutes after returning from that break. He called after re-raising Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen’s button raise and then having Kyllonen make it three bets to go. Stern’s A♣ Q♦ 5♦ 5♣ had 34 percent equity against Kyllonen’s A♦ K♥ K♣ 4♣ before the flop but was drawing to two outs for a chop by the time the board read 9♥ Q♥ Jâ™ 10â™ . The 5♥ river meant Kyllonen’s Broadway straight was the winner, giving him the 489,000+ chips in the pot and eliminating Stern in fourth.
It really was anybody’s game now with the table three-handed, this much experience at the table, and PLO the game at hand. Fabrizio Gonzalez had the shortest stack at just over 317,000, and it got shorter after he lost a pot to Ludovic Geilich without showdown. Then he got in as a slim favorite against Jens Kyllonen, paired the flop, and made a straight on the river to stay alive.
Another coin-flip double came when A♦ Q♦ J♦ 8♣ flopped a wrap draw that came home to top Geilich’s K♣ K♦ 6♥ 5â™ , but the big one came three hands later when Gonzalez was the one holding kings in the hole. First he got all-in with Kâ™ K♣ J♦ 7♣ only to find Geilich holding A♥ A♦ 8♦ 2â™ . Then he caught top set but had to outrun Geilich’s flush draw when the flop came 5â™ Q♦ K♦ , which he managed when the turn and river came 8♣ –9♣ to give him a stack of more than 514,000.
That unlikely win sent Gonzalez on a tear where he won eight of 12 pots, including one for 289,000 in the small blind with Q♣ Q♥ 7♥ 7♠. Gonzalez limped and called a raise from Kyllonen in the big blind, then check-called flop and turn bets before checking the river of the 2♥ A♦ 6♥ 2♣ 10♥ board and showing down a flush as Kyllonen mucked.
While it wasn’t a particularly big one, that loss was enough to drop Kyllonen behind Geilich into third place. They collided seven hands later in the blinds, with Geilich in position. He raised after Kyllonen limped in and Kyllonen called to see the 7â™ A♣ 5♥ flop. The action then went bet-raise-jam-call and Kyllonen’s pair of fives and massive straight draw with 8♣ 6♣ 5♦ 4♣ was the favorite against Geilich’s A♦ Kâ™ Q♣ 7♣ for two pair, aces and sevens. The J♦ turn made Geilich a slim 52.5-percent favorite, and somehow the 2â™ emerged on the river to lock up the pot for his vulnerable made hand. Kyllonen ended up with a bare pair of fives and left in third.
With Kyllonen gone, Geilich kicked into high gear and ended up taking down 14 of the next 18 pots. They were all small and only one went past the flop, but it was enough to move him ahead of Gonzalez in chips. After five minutes of break time and five minutes of poker, that small edge in chips would become the difference for him.
Geilich raised to 60,000 on the final hand from the small blind after Gonzalez limped in on the button. Gonzalez called with position to take the 7♣ 4♥ 10♥ flop, then raised to just over 355,000, or half his stack, after Geilich opened for just over 78,000. The rest of Gonzalez’s stack went in after Gelich jammed, and he showed J♥ Jâ™ 10♦ 4â™ for a pair of jacks. Gelich turned over A♥ 6♥ 6â™ 5â™ for a pair of sixes with an open-ended straight draw, a slight favorite at 56 percent that became a made hand when the 3♦ hit the turn. Any ten or four on the river would have kept Gonzalez alive with a full house, but the 8♦ hit instead, giving Geilich the pot and the tournament.
At just over $462,000, this prize tops even Ludovic “ludovi333” Geilich’s best live cash, a fourth-place finish at the EPT10 London Main Event. Congratulations to him on earning it – and a WCOOP title – against a top-flight field of pot-limit Omaha players!
WCOOP 2016: Event #70, $21,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (6-Max, High-Roller)
Entrants: 93 (64 entries, 29 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,906,500
Places paid: 9
1. Ludovic “ludovi333” Geilich (United Kingdom) $462,182.17
2. Fabrizio “SixthSenSe19” Gonzalez (Uruguay) $355,730.97
3. Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen (Finland) $273,797.80
4. Dani “supernova9” Stern (Canada) $210,735.93
5. Connor “blanconegro” Drinan (Mexico) $162,198.53
6. MITS 304 (Cyprus) $124,840.47
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Jason Kirk is a Freelance Contributor to PokerStars Blog.
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