It was an epic heads up battle between Alex Liu and Mehmet Siginc for the PLO title tonight. They battled for nearly three hours after it took three hours to get from nine players to two.
Both players were dialed into the game, and both are very solid PLO players, so, with deep stacks, it was destined to be a long one. They chopped the prizes early in heads up to leave about $1,000 on the table to play for, but that didn't make them any more spewy.
In the end, it came down to a bit of a cooler where both players flopped top pair with a ten kicker and got it in. It looked to be heading for a chop, but Siginc spiked a three to give him two pair and the win.
This was Siginc's 6th live win, and the score will push him very close to $200k in lifetime earnings on Hendon Mob.
The PLO Big Bounty is over after an epic heads-up match that took nearly as long as the rest of the final table. Mehmet Siginc raised to 240k and Liu called to the flop.
That's where it all kicked off when Liu checked, Siginc made it 240k to go, and Liu shoved over top. Siginc went into the tank for quite a while before he finally called it down with a bit more.
Alex Liu:
Mehmet Siginc:
The board ran out and Siginc took it down with two pair. Liu picked up $8k after they cut a deal earlier in the night where each player secured $8k with the rest on the table to play for.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Alex Liu | 0 | 0 |
After limps preflop, both players checked the flop. Alex Liu checked the turn, then called when Mehmet Siginc bet 50k. Both players checked again when the deuce paired on the river, and Liu announced "deuce" before Siginc showed eight-jack for a straight.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Mehmet Siginc | 1,700,000 | 150,000 | |
Alex Liu | 700,000 | 150,000 |
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Mehmet Siginc | 1,550,000 | 978,000 | |
Alex Liu | 850,000 | 193,000 |
Mehmet Siginc opened to 80k and Alex Liu called to see a flop of . Liu checked, then potted to 400k after Siginc made it 80k to go.
"Must have the ace of spades," Siginc said as he folded. The stacks are still very similar to when they started heads up.
Here's a look at the two players battling heads-up for the PLO Big Bounty trophy.
After limps preflop, both players checked the flop. Alex Liu led out for 50k on the turn and got the call, then fired 65k on the river. Siginc called again, but mucked when Liu showed ace-jack-ten-seven for the rivered king-high straight.
The final two players are pretty even right now, so they decided to chop up most of the remaining money. They both agreed to pocket $8k guaranteed and play for the remaining $1,085 and the trophy.
Sheraz Nasir just hit the cage for 3rd place after his trip aces on the flop couldn't hold against a running straight for Mehmet Siginc. Siginc raised to 50k preflop and it was a family pot with both Nasir and Alex Liu calling from the blinds.
The flop checked around, and Nasir led for 60k on the turn. Liu got out of the way but Siginc called to see on the river. Nasir shoved and Siginc called it off fairly quickly, showing down a six-nine for the rivered straight after Nasir announced "Ace". Nasir didn't have a boat and hit the cage for $4,495.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Sheraz Nasir | 0 | 0 |
Joon "Huge Hammer" Park just hit the rail in 4th place after sending his stack to Alex Liu. Park opened under the gun to 60k from a short stack, leaving himself a bit more than 100k behind. Sheraz Nasir called before Alex Liu raised it up from the big blnd to 200k with a stack of whites.
Park tanked for a bit but eventually overshoved for a bit more. Nasir backed away, but Liu snapped it off and was in good with king-king-jack-seven against queen-queen-ten-ten for Park. Park couldn't find any outs and he was off to the cage for $2,997.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Joon Park | 0 | 0 |
Brad Young ended his run in 5th just now in a bit of a brutal spot. Alex Liu limped his button, and Young and Mehmet Siginc came along from the blinds. The all-heart flop as and it checked to Liu who fired out 15k.
Only Young called to the turn where he checked again, then hit the tank hard when Liu bet 35k. Young eventually came over the top for his whole stack and Liu snapped him off.
Unsurprisingly from the action, it was hearts over hearts with Liu on the ace-king nuts and Young on jack-six. With the fourth heart on the board it was a near-impossible spot for Young, but he had to settle for 5th tonight.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Alex Liu | 1,043,000 | 463,000 | |
Sheraz Nasir | 609,000 | 21,000 | |
Mehmet Siginc | 572,000 | 148,000 | |
Joon Park | 195,000 | 25,000 | |
Brad Young | 0 | 0 |
#,##0","3":1},"9":0,"12":0}">Jason Kremeniuk was very short with just 43k behind, and it went in from the cutoff. Sheraz Nasir called the button before Brad Young shoved the big blind for a little bit more. Nasir called with both players covered, looking for a double knockout.
#,##0","3":1},"9":0,"12":0}">Young had the best of it with king-king-jack-five vs for Kremeniuk and for Nasir. The kings held with trip fours on the board for a boat giving young the triple up and sending Kremeniuk to the cage for 6th place money. Kremeniuk didn't get any bounties of his own today, but he was able to hold onto the bounty gifted to him by Joon Park a few hands previously for an extra $200 to his payout.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Sheraz Nasir | 630,000 | 50,000 | |
Brad Young | 150,000 | 30,000 | |
Jason Kremeniuk | 0 | 0 |
Alex Liu opened to 40k from the hijack and Mehmet Siginc flatted the button. Jason Kremeniuk, who had a significant chunk of his stack already in for the big blind and ante, added the extra to call, leaving himself just a few red chips behind.
The flop came and it checked to Siginc who fired 40k. Kremeniuk folded to leave himself quite short while Liy called to the turn. He checked again and Siginc sized up to 120k and after a bit of tank time, Liu found the muck.
After the hand, Joon Park tossed a bounty chip over to Kremeniuk with a cheerful "For good luck." Kremeniuk was hesitant to take it, but Park said he could give it back if he won one and he eventually accepted the gift.
Mehmet Siginc is leading right now, but Sheraz Nasir and Alex Liu are nipping at his heels. I'll get full, exact counts at the upcoming break in just over 30 minutes.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Mehmet Siginc | 720,000 | 70,000 | |
Sheraz Nasir | 580,000 | 478,000 | |
Alex Liu | 580,000 | 20,000 | |
Joon Park | 220,000 | 180,000 | |
Brad Young | 120,000 | 0 | |
Jason Kremeniuk | 100,000 | 124,000 |
Immediately after sending Rezel to the cage, Alex Liu found another great spot to double through Mehmet Siginc when Liu's aces held.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Mehmet Siginc | 650,000 | 273,000 | |
Alex Liu | 600,000 | 200,000 |
They are down to six after Lance Rezel raised to 30k from a short stack in the cutoff, and big blind Alex Liu potted behind to 96k. That was almost enough to put Rezel all in, and he did it himself with the small raise.
Liu called it off with against . Both players were double-suited, but the suits didn't play as the board ran out . There was a bit of confusion from Rezel as he saw that he hit a wheel with his ace-four, but didn't realize Liu had the six-high straight with his four-three.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Alex Liu | 400,000 | 295,000 | |
Lance Rezel | 0 | 0 |
Joon Park raised to 20k and got a call from big blind Sheraz Nasir. Both players checked the flop and Nasir led for 20k on the turn. Park called to the river and Nasir checked, then called a bet of 60k.
"Aces," announced Park, but Nasir rolled over for the flopped trips and turned boat to take it down.
Joon Park limped in early, then called after Lance Rezel raised it to 25k and Sheraz Nasir made the call. The three-way flop came all diamonds and action checked to Nasir who fired 25k. Park clicked it back to 50k, forcing both Rezel and Nasir to the muck.
They are now in the money after a confrontation between Mehmet Siginc and Rafael Wood. Siginc opened and got a call from Lance Rezel before Rafael Wood shoved the small blind. Siginc reshoved before Rezel got out of the way to set up a confrontation between aces. Siginc had nines to go with them while Wood was on jack-five for kickers, but Siginc flopped a set of nines and turned a boat with to send wood to the rail.
Shortly after Wood was the bubble player, Varan Sidhu got his money in to end up in 8th place for the first cashout tonight, though I missed the action while writing about the bubble.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Varan Sidhu | 0 | 0 | |
Rafael Wood | 0 | 0 |
Lance Rezel limped from the small blind and Jason Kremeniuk checked the big to see a flop of . Rezel check-called a bet of 12k, but on the turn he check-folded to a bet of 25k from Kremeniuk.
I picked up the action with the flop of already dealt. Mehmet Siginc, in the big blind, check-called for 20k from cutoff Varan Sidhu. Both players checked the turn, and Siginc led for 60k on the river. Sidhu was in the tank for almost a minute before his cards hit the muck to send the pot to Siginc.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Lance Rezel | 640,000 | 0 | |
Joon Park | 400,000 | 0 | |
Mehmet Siginc | 377,000 | 0 | |
Varan Sidhu | 260,000 | 0 | |
Jason Kremeniuk | 224,000 | 0 | |
Rafael Wood | 125,000 | 0 | |
Brad Young | 120,000 | 0 | |
Alex Liu | 105,000 | 0 | |
Sheraz Nasir | 102,000 | 0 |
They are down to the final nine players now in the PLO, with one elimination still to go until they are in the money. There is a break coming in 5 minutes and I'll grab another full round of counts then.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Terry Chin | 0 | 0 | |
Douglas Plantz | 0 | 0 |
The field is just 3 off the money now with 11 players left in action. Ron Lauzon and Kevin Schell, who was runner-up in the Mix last night, were the most recent exits from the field.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Kevin Schell | 0 | 0 | |
Ron Lauzon | 0 | 0 |
It was a crazy hand that saw Leo Zhang hit the rail just now in 14th place. Zhang potted to 12k early from a short stack, and Varan Sidhu reraised all in for a bit more than Zhang had behind.
Zhang put in the call and both players were playing pocket queens, with Zhang also holding four-deuce to pocket tens for Sidhu. The board ran out to a king-high straight for Sidhu, leaving Zhang with just his queens. After the hand, tablemate Ron Lauzon mentioned he folded the other two tens, meaning that all the queens and all the tens were dealt out in the hand.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Leo Zhang | 0 | 0 |
They are down to 14 remaining now after Stefan Maloney lost his short stack for 15th place.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Stefan Maloney | 0 | 0 |
They are down to 15 left, 7 off the money now after the exits of Chris Arvanitis and Michael Malm. There are just over 10 minutes left in Level 13.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Michael Malm | 0 | 0 | |
Chris Arvanitis | 0 | 0 |
The final 18 players returned from the break about 5 minutes ago and in the meantime the field dropped to 17 as Brady "Hangin' Around" O'hara wasn't able to hang around as long as usual this time, ending his run in 18th. The remaining 17 stacks are in the Chip Counts tab with highlights included here.
Player | Chips | Progress | |
---|---|---|---|
Lance Rezel | 465,000 | 0 | |
Kevin Schell | 260,000 | 0 | |
Terry Chin | 248,500 | 0 | |
Mehmet Siginc | 212,500 | 0 | |
Douglas Plantz | 170,000 | 0 |
Level 12 has just begun with 22 players left with stacks. They'll take another break following this level and I'll try to get full counts for the remaining players at that point.
The PLO Big Bounty field is down to 27 players left and tournament staff are breaking down to the final three tables of play for the night. While the pace of this one is fairly quick at the moment, I expect it to slow down significantly as they approach the bubble and still expect this to be a pretty late finish this evening.
I've just had a wander around the room for a quick look at the 33 stacks left alive and it looks like Terry Chin might be the leader right now. He's playing close to 200k at the moment but Douglas Plantz isn't too far behind with about 160k. Rafael Wood and Ron Lauzon are both on about 140k while the runner-up from last night's Mix, Kevin Schell, is sitting with just shy of 100k. Winner Tony Hoang was spotted in the field earlier today, but I didn't see him in a seat when I did my last rounds.
Among the other players out there still alive are Colten Yamagishi, Dylan Descheneaux, Garry Sandhu, Alex Liu, Maddy Sharma, Sheraz Nasir, Brady "Hangin' Around" Ohara, and Joon Park.
The full prizes are now updated under the payouts tab with the field now down to 34 players left.
Place | Prize |
1 | $10,192 |
2 | $6,893 |
3 | $4,495 |
4 | $2,997 |
5 | $1,978 |
6 | $1,438 |
7 | $1,108 |
8 | $869 |
The field is down to 36 entries at the start of Level 10 and they are now on four full tables. The field is confirmed at 81 for total prizes of $46,170 split between $16,200 in bounties and $29,970 in prizes.
The full payouts will be updated shortly under the payouts tab, but the winner tonight is set to pocket more than $10k.
The players are back from dinner now and the final tally on the board is 81 entries for total prizes of $46,170. $16.2k of that is in the bounty pool with $29,970 for the top 8 players later in the day. I'll confirm these numbers when the prizes are posted and I'll try to get a look at some stacks shortly to see which players are playing big stacks.
The PLO Big Bounty game is about to return from dinner in a bit more than 10 minutes and entries will be closed when they sit down for Level 9. The field is still at 80 entries with 39 players left in the action. There may still be a few more entries before the desk shuts down, but it looks like 8 players will be getting a piece of the prizes later tonight.
The total prize pool is up to $45,600 now with 80 entries on the board. There are just over 10 minutes to play in Level 8 which puts the end of entries in less than 45 minutes. There is $16,000 in the bounty pool leaving $29,600 for prizes later in the evening.
They are up to 77 entries with about 10 minutes to play in Level 7 for total prizes of $43,890. $15,400 of that is bounty cash, with $28,490 locked away in the prize pool for later tonight.
Entries are now open for a bit more than an hour from now.
There are about 5 minutes left in Level 6 with the field at 73 now and total prizes of $41,610. Just a note about the prizes today ... the backend here only lets me put in a single prize pool, so the number listed is the total prizes with bounties and prize pool added together. When I post about the prizes I'll try to indicate how much of the total is bounties. Right now, bounties account for $14,600 of the $41k in prizes.
I was late to the game today after a very long day on Wednesday. The PLO Big Bounty is in Level 6 now with 70 entries on the board. That puts the prizes now at $39,900 in total, with $14k of that reserved for bounty payouts and the rest for prizes.
Event: | #6 - $670 PLO Big BOunty ($400 + 200 + $70) |
Date: | July 25, 1 pm |
Blinds: | 30 Minutes |
Start Stack: | 30,000 |
Late Entry: | 8 Levels (~5:45 pm) |
Wednesday marked the warn-up game for four-card lovers as they got the chance to play half and half hold'em and PLO. Thursday is all about the Omaha lovers however as the PLO Big Bounty runs at 1 pm. Players get 30k to start the day and will play 30-minute levels until a winner is decided.
Players will be able to buy in or rebuy for 8 levels of poker with entries closing at the start of Level 9. With a dinner break following Level 8, that should put the last chance to enter at about 5:45 pm.
Wednesday was a very late day for me, so I don't expect to be on the floor for the start of this one today, but I should be in the room by the first break or so and pick up the coverage from there.