Sampo Ryynanen Leads the Final 11 in PSC Monte Carlo PLO High Roller
A field of 60 runners has been reduced to 11 after 14 levels of play in the PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® €10,300 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller. Finnish player Sampo Ryynanen has the chip lead after turning his 50,000 starting stack into 590,000 by day's end.
Ryynanen won a massive pot during Level 14 (2,500/5,000) that propelled him from the middle of the pack into the chip lead. As he told us after the players bagged, he got it in preflop with aces three ways. Veselin Karakitukov also held aces, while chip leader George Wolff had a double-suited queen-high rundown.
However, Ryynanen's other two cards happened to be ten-four, and that made all the difference in the world when he hit two pair on a board with mostly low cards, busting the unlucky Karakitukov and doubling through Wolff, who likely had the best equity in the pot.
Imad Derwiche (512,000) and Sylvain Loosli (502,000) also bagged north of 10 starting stacks. Derwiche made the final table of the €25K High Roller here each of the last two years for over €1 million in winnings, and now he's looking to add a big PLO score to those successes.
The tournament offered players one reentry option and plenty took advantage, as the early stages of the event proved to be fairly action-packed. Fedor Holz, Ole Schemion, Isaac Haxton and PokerStars Team Pro Felipe Ramos were among those swinging and missing at least once.
Notables Mike Watson, Anthony Zinno and Ami Barer all made it through, although they're among the shorter stacks.
The restart will be at noon local time on Tuesday, with the players battling for €174,600 in first-place prize money. Here's a look at how the field will be sitting when play resumes:
| Seat | Table 1 (Stack) | Table 2 (Stack) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sampo Ryynanen (590,000) | Anthony Zinno (142,000) |
| 2 | Sylvain Loosli (502,000) | Imad Derwiche (512,000) |
| 3 | -- | -- |
| 4 | Dominykas Karmazinas (247,000) | Ami Barer (73,000) |
| 5 | George Wolff (78,000) | Bogdan Capitan (278,000) |
| 6 | -- | -- |
| 7 | Mike Watson (193,000) | Konstantinos Bouloutsos (244,000) |
| 8 | -- | Minh Phuc Nguyen (142,000) |
