Sergio Martinez Gonzalez limped the small blind and called a raise to 600,000 by Ka Kwan Lau in the big blind. On a Q♣7♥2♠ flop, Martinez Gonzalez check-called for 700,000 and they checked down the 9♠ turn as well as the 3♣ river.
Martinez Gonzalez showed his A♠Q♠8♥6♣ and won the pot.
Lau recovered most of the losses by raising the next two hands, earning the blinds and big blind ante.
Roger Teska raised it up to 600,000 on the button and folded when Quan Zhou potted from the big blind.
Andjelko Andrejevic raised the pot from under the gun and won the blinds and big blind ante.
Sergio Martinez Gonzalez raised to 700,000 in the cutoff and Ka Kwan Lau called on the button. The entire board of 7♥5♦3♥6♦8♣ was checked down and Martinez Gonzalez revealed the A♥10♠9♦9♥ for the nuts.
Mads Amot opened to 700,000 from the button and Quan Zhou made the call to see the 3♠5♥K♦ flop.
Zhou then checked to Amot who tanked for a bit before announcing pot for 1,800,000. Zhou then quickly moved all in and Amot made the call to put him at risk.
Quan Zhou: K♠K♣J♠9♥
Mads Amot: A♥A♣6♥4♥
Zhou was a huge favorite to double up here with top set of kings, but as luck would have it, the board ran out 4♣2♥ to give Amot a six-high straight on the river and Zhou was eliminated in sixth place.
The remaining five players have bagged up with 11:49 minutes left in Level 27 and will return the following day at 4 p.m. local time to the Thunderdome to determine a champion. Cards-up coverage will commence at 5 p.m. local time on the PokerGO streaming platform.
Sergio Martinez Gonzalez (left) and Ka Kwan Lau (right)
It took fewer than seven hours of four-card live poker action at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to determine the five finalists on Day 3 of Event #57: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller. The tournament set a new record during the 2023 World Series of Poker as it created the largest prize pool for a PLO live poker event in the history of the WSOP and the final five contenders out of a 449 entry-strong field will compete for the lion's share of the $10,551,500 prize pool.
Spanish-born, Hong Kong-based poker pro Ka Kwan Lau leads the way with a stack of 28,200,000 and seeks a maiden WSOP gold bracelet. Known under his online moniker "kaju85", he is widely considered one of the best PLO tournament players and came narrowly close to victory two years ago. In the very same $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, Lau finished runner-up to Shaun Deeb for a career-best score of $773,708. He cashed for more than $2.6 million in live poker events, and that also includes 20th place in the 2016 WSOP Main Event for $269,430 as well.
Second in chips is Madrid-based Sergio Martinez Gonzalez with a stack of 17,475,000 and Norway's Mads Amot (11,850,000) completes the European trifecta atop the leaderboard. The line-up for the final day also includes Roger Teska (6,400,000) and Andjelko Andrejevic (3,425,000) with each of them vying for their first ever WSOP gold bracelet.
Seat Assignments for the Final Day
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Mads Amot
Norway
11,850,000
59
2
Sergio Martinez Gonzalez
Spain
17,475,000
87
3
Ka Kwan Lau
Hong Kong
28,200,000
141
4
Andjelko Andrejevic
United States
3,425,000
17
5
Roger Teska
United States
6,400,000
32
Only 31 hopefuls returned for the penultimate day at 1:00 p.m. local time after the money bubble had burst in the final stages of the previous night. It took fewer than one hour to reach the final three tables as a frantic opening set the stage for an exhilarating day of four-card poker action. The WSOP bracelet winners Brandon Schaefer, Joao Vieira, and Yuri Dzivielevski were among the early casualties and they were followed by Andriy Lyubovetskiy, Daniel Zack, Joni Jouhkimainen, Ben Lamb and Chad Eveslage on the final three tables.
Lau started his rise toward the top of the leaderboard early on by knocking out Vieira, Jouhkimainen, and Lamb. He then won consecutive big pots against Bradley Anderson to become the uncontested chip leader. The field was seemingly stuck on 15 players remaining for an extended period before the fireworks caused shockwaves on the leaderboard.
Within less than half an hour, the unofficial final table was suddenly reached. Joseph Liberta, Michael Russo, Dash Dudley and Anderson all received $101,549 for their efforts. The rapid all-in showdowns also saw the stack of start-of-the-day chip leader Chance Kornuthreduced to fumes against Martinez Gonzalez.
Isaac Haxton was then eliminated by Jeremy Ausmus and the largest pot of the tournament until then unfolded between Dylan Weisman and Martinez Gonzalez, ending Weisman's roller coaster ride throughout the day in dramatic fashion on the unofficial final table bubble.
Kornuth lasted all but one hand when the field combined to one table, and Ausmus followed suit shortly after when his middle set ran into the top set of the seemingly unstoppable Lau. Day 1 chip leader Firas Kashat and Quan Zhou became the final two casualties of the night to conclude the action.
Another deep run for Chance Kornuth during the 2023 WSOP
The five finalists will return to their seats on the main feature stage of the Horseshoe Event Center to determine a winner. Action resumes at 4:00 p.m. local time on June 28 with 11:49 minutes left in Level 27, which features blinds of 100,000-200,000 and a big blind ante of 200,000. Cards-up coverage and commentary will go live as of 5 p.m. local time on the PokerGO streaming platform, and all PokerNews updates will be published according to the delay in order to not spoil the outcome.
