Aaron Pahlawani Conquers Record-Breaking €5K PLO Field
After a 15-hour day, Aaron Pahlawani came out victorious in the €5,200 PLO Opener, held as part of the PLO Grand Slam hosted by Diamon Poker Series at Arena Casino Tirana. Pahlawini bested 210 players, the largest-ever field for an Omaha tournament at this price point on European soil, and walked away with €176,100 after a heads-up deal with Pavel Izotov.
When the deal was struck, Izotov had the largest stack and took home €194,400, the biggest share of the €1,000,000 prize pool. However, he lost the final flip for the trophy and had to watch as Pahlawani was crowned the official victor.
The six-figure score is Pahlawani's best-ever live cash by far, increasing his total live earnings nearly tenfold. Omaha specialist Izotov also walked away with the most money he had ever earned in a live tournament, doubling his total earnings. Meanwhile, Youness Barakat was the final person to earn six figures, getting paid €103,000 for his bronze medal, a new high score as well.
€5,200 PLO Grand Slam Opener Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Pahlawani | Austria | €176,100* |
| 2 | Pavel Izotov | Belarus | €194,400* |
| 3 | Youness Barakat | Italy | €103,000 |
| 4 | Florian Kraft | Germany | €84,000 |
| 5 | Burak Simsek | Germany | €67,000 |
| 6 | Stanislau Melhui | Mexico | €51,500 |
| 7 | Giorgos Tsoupras | Greece | €37,500 |
| 8 | Hristo Bogdanov | Bulgaria | €27,000 |
*Denotes heads-up deal
Early Day 2 Action
The late registration was still open until the start of the final day. Twenty-four players made use of the opportunity, among whom Barakat and Florian Kraft, who both made it to the final table. Alex Livingston and Chris Dowling also took last-minute shots but ended up on the rail not long after.
Hok Lee, Max Kruse, Ka Kwan Lau, and Simeon Naydenov all bit the dust well before the money. Eventually, start-of-day chip leader Tom-Aksel Bedell ended up in 28th place as the bubble boy after an unfortunate day, guaranteeing the rest of the field at least €10,000.
The min-cash was reserved for the likes of Cesar Garcia, Maksim Shuts, and Gergo Nagy, while Andrew Leathem (21st - €11,000), Francisco Perez (14th - €15,000), and Sergio Martinez Gonzalez (12th - €16,500) managed to pick up some pay jumps.
Emanuel Singer fell in tenth to an anonymous player who goes by "Dima" to set up the unofficial final table, from which "Dima" quickly departed after running his top set into the nut flush, leaving eight players for the official final table.
Final Table
The pace had been lightning-fast throughout the day but came to a screeching halt when eight remained. It took two hours for the next elimination. In that time, Izotov worked his way from a middling stack to one of the top contenders and eventually took the lead when he hit his wrap against Hristo Bogdanov to bust him in eighth. Not much later, Izotov took care of Day 1b chip leader Giorgos Tsoupras in seventh, increasing his stack even more.
After another hour, Stanislau Melhui unsuccessfully jammed his queens into the kings of Kraft. Pahlawani, who started the final table as chip leader, cracked Burak Simsek's aces mere moments later to send him to the rail in fifth. Four-handed play lasted for a similar time, seeing Barakat double up several times. Ultimately, Kraft bowed out in fourth, and Barakat quickly followed in third, with the former falling to Pahlawani and the latter to Izotov.
Pahlawani and Izotov quickly agreed to chop the remaining prize pool. The tournament director gave them a level and a half to complete their heads up for the trophy, but their time ran out after a mostly uneventful battle. The pair played one final flip for the honor of winning the very first Diamond Poker Series event. Pahlawani was the luckiest in that endeavor, crowning him the champion and awarding him with the trophy.
