Keith Lehr Wins Poker Masters Event #3: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha

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Sep 10, 2018 4 min read

The only Omaha tournament of the 2018 Poker Masters gathered 37 entries in Event #3: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha at the PokerGO Studio outside of the Aria Resort and Casino. When the dust settled, it was Keith Lehr taking down the event for an impressive $333,000, as well as 300 points towards the Purple Jacket race.

Lehr is best known for his outstanding play in both Omaha cash games and tournaments. He has almost $3 million in live earnings and a WSOP bracelet, coming in of course, Omaha. The Los Angeles native captured his first cash of this year's Poker Masters and already sits tied for second on the jacket race.

This event had the deepest final table thus far, all with at least 50 big blinds and the Day 2 chipleader Jonathan Depa holding over 100 bigs. The deep stacks led to some rather slow play to start the final table, the first elimination coming five levels into the day. Once the first one dropped, all the action started to open up and the tournament would come to an end just two hours later.

The biggest story of the final table was Brandon Adams, who found himself at his third consecutive final table in as many events. He came into this tournament second in chips and already in the lead of the 2018 Purple Jacket race, no matter what he would be adding to his lead, distancing himself from his competition and improving his chances of wearing that jacket.

Poker Masters Event #3 Final Table Results:

Final Table Action

The beginning of Day 2 had a lot of limping and passive play, due to the stack sizes being so deep and the bottom four players being so relatively close in chips. One player who was not playing passive was Adams, who has shown over the last few tournaments that he has no problem with putting a bluff in with absolute air, continuing that play today.

It was not until after the fifth round of blinds that Day 2 would have its first exit in Dan Shak, who fell at the hands of Depa. Shak opened up from under the gun for most of his stack and Depa would put in more than enough to force Shak all in. Shak made the call and was in bad shape against Depa's pair of kings. The flop came down, giving Shak only two outs and when the board had finished running out, he missed both and was eliminated by Depa's cowboys over ladies.

The person to make a leap to the payout desk next was the same person bringing all the buzz to this final table — Adams. He would find himself on the short stack after losing a big hand to Depa and put the rest of his chips in against Ben Yu on a ten-high flop, holding a ten and a flush draw to Yu's overpair. The New Orleans native had a lot of outs against Yu's overpair but failed to hit any of them and was eliminated in fifth place.

After two levels of four-handed play, it was Yu and Isaac Haxton who found themselves in an ICM battle and Haxton would wind up losing the battle when he moved all in on a queen-high flop with top pair. He was up against Depa's straight draw. The turn and river gave Depa two pair though to eliminate Haxton in fourth place.

Just minutes after Haxton hit the rail, Yu was sent to the exit. Lehr called a bet from Yu before the flop and check-called an all-in shove from Yu who had flopped straight. Yu picked up a few more outs on the turn but failed to connect on the river as Lehr sent him to the payout desk in third place.

The heads-up battle took several hands before a massive pot unfolded where Depa turned a one-outer for a set of sixes, though the six on the turn also gave Lehr two pair and a flush draw. All the chips went in the middle and Lehr managed to land a diamond on the river for the flush, leaving Depa with just one blind. Depa managed to do the unthinkable, surviving three all-ins and getting his stack back over the million mark.

In the final hand of the night, Depa limped from the button and Lehr checked right behind. After the flop came down, there were three raises between the two and Depa found himself all in once more. Lehr was behind Depa's two pair, but would all but seal the deal on the turn when he made a higher two-pair. Lehr faded the river, sending Depa home in second for a respectable $222,000 payday.

2018 Poker Masters Purple Jacket Rankings:

• Tags Ben Yu Brandon Adams Dan Shak Isaac Haxton Jonathan Depa Keith Lehr
• Related Players Isaac HaxtonDan ShakBrandon AdamsBen YuKeith LehrJonathan Depa