#12: $800 Pot Limit Omaha Championship
Day 1 Completed
#12: $800 Pot Limit Omaha Championship
Day 1 Completed
Ian "potamophobia" Matakis battled his way through 669 entries to win his first World Series of Poker Circuit Ring in Event #12: $800 Pot Limit Omaha Championship. The guarantee for this event was set at $250,000, but they more than doubled that with the 335 unique entries and 334 rebuys putting $508,440 into the prize pool.
While this is Matakis' first win, he's no stranger to online poker glory. He has more than $1 million in online cashes, with almost $900,000 of that from the GGPoker network. This score looks to be his second-biggest online score after a $330,467 2nd place finish in High Rollers Super MILLION$ $10K, $20M GTD [2-day event] in June of 2020.
Matakis has also racked up almost $500,000 in wins on the live circuit, with more than $90,000 in wins from WSOP events over 11 cashes live and online. His biggest live cash was just slightly bigger than today's win at $100,417 for 2nd place in $600 No Limit Hold'em - EpicStack (Event #67) at the DeepStack Championship Poker Series, Las Vegas in 2019.
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ian "potamophobia" Matakis | United States | $87,386 |
2 | Majki365 | Slovakia | $63,182 |
3 | Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich | United Kingdom | $45,682 |
4 | Pwndidi | Austria | $33,029 |
5 | Natashenka | Russia | $23,880 |
6 | Tim "BeardOilGuy" Rutherford | Canada | $17,266 |
7 | Daniakak! | Slovenia | $12,484 |
8 | yirtilco | Turkey | $6,182 |
9 | Gaurav "Haversham" Sood | India | $3,974 |
Action on Event #12: $800 Pot Limit Omaha Championship got underway at 2 p.m. eastern time, and it didn't take long to break the $250,000 guarantee. By the time late registration ended three hours into the game, they'd more than doubled the guarantee with $508,440 in the prize pool.
There were 335 unique entries in the event, and 334 rebuys to make that prize pool, but only 171 stacks were still in play when registration closed. It took about an hour to make it into the money, and among the players who came close but fell short was GGPoker OmahaSquad member Sasha "Poker Sasha" Liu. She had a stack that yo-yoed throughout the pre-money play, going from short stack to top five and back to short stack again several times. In the end, she busted just short of the money.
Bracelet winner Nick Maimone played a big stack into the money, and looked like he might make a deep run, but ultimately fell in 46th place for $2,281. Robert Le Roux made it a little farther, ending his day in 19th for $4,320.
When they made it to the final table, Matakis was actually second in chips. He was joined by Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich on a shorter stack, as well as chip leader "Pwndidi".
"Daniakak!" and Tim "BeardOilGuy" Rutherford quickly left the scene, and short stack to start the final table, "Natashenka" wasn't far behind them. They played four-handed for around an hour before the chip leader to start the final table, "Pwndidi", ran queens into the two pair of Matakis to end their run in 4th.
They battled three-handed for a few more minutes before Geilich lost to the set of deuces for "Majki365" to set up heads-up play. They started heads-up nearly even in chips, but Matakis quickly took the lead, ending it a few hands in when he rivered Broadway to take it down.
"Majki365" had the deal sign out for the entire final table, but got no other takers. They managed to make it heads up without the deal though, finally falling to the relentless Ian "potamophobia" Matakis after they got it in on the turn with top pair and a straight draw, but lost to the rivered Broadway by big stack Ian "potamophobia" Matakis. "Majki365" won $63,182 for 2nd.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "potamophobia" Matakis |
16,725,000
4,074,030
|
4,074,030 |
|
||
Majki365 | Busted |
Immediately after the elimination of Geilich, Ian "potamophobia" Matakis won a series of pots to take a significant lead in the heads up.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "potamophobia" Matakis |
12,650,970
4,190,000
|
4,190,000 |
|
||
Majki365 |
4,074,030
-4,190,000
|
-4,190,000 |
Level: 37
Blinds: 100,000/200,000
Ante: 25,000
"Majki365" raised the button, then called when Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich potted from the big blind. Geilich shoved his remaining 466,038 on the flop and got called.
Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich:
"Majki365":
Board:
"Majki365" flopped trip deuces and Geilich couldn't catch up.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "potamophobia" Matakis |
8,460,970
-906,000
|
-906,000 |
|
||
Majki365 |
8,264,030
2,692,038
|
2,692,038 |
Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich | Busted |
Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich limped from the small blind, and went to the flop with big blind "Majki365". They both checked to the turn where Geilich fired 248,675. "Majki365" called and called again for 648,675 on the river.
"Majki365":
Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich:
Board:
"Majki365" rivered the flush and left Geilich short.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "potamophobia" Matakis |
9,366,970
423,675
|
423,675 |
|
||
Majki365 |
5,571,992
2,312,350
|
2,312,350 |
Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich |
1,786,038
-2,736,025
|
-2,736,025 |
Level: 36
Blinds: 80,000/160,000
Ante: 20,000
"Majki365" got their chips in with and had to run it down against the for Ian "potamophobia" Matakis. The queens spiked a set on the turn and gave "Majki365" the double.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "potamophobia" Matakis |
8,943,295
-1,306,071
|
-1,306,071 |
|
||
Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich |
4,522,063
227,500
|
227,500 |
Majki365 |
3,259,642
1,078,571
|
1,078,571 |
They limped into the flop, and both players checked to the turn. Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich check-called for 249,375, and check-called again after "Majki365" bet 415,625 on the river.
"Majki365":
Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich:
Board:
Geilich had a pair, as well as straight and flush draws on the turn, and spiked the flush on the river for a small pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "potamophobia" Matakis |
10,249,366
-659,625
|
-659,625 |
|
||
Ludovic "Gr4vyB04t" Geilich |
4,294,563
1,490,000
|
1,490,000 |
Majki365 |
2,181,071
-830,375
|
-830,375 |