Wing Po Liu Flies High To Win Second Bracelet for $209,942
PLO – PLO 8 – Big O - PLTD: 80,000/160,000, 160,000 Ante
No-Limit Hold’em: 80,000/160,000, 240,000 Ante
Event #77: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet saw only 19 players come into the day from an initial field of 468. These final survivors were left to play for the lion’s share of the $1,041,300, with all eyes on the first-place prize of $209,942 and the prestigious Big Bet Mix bracelet. After twelve hours of play, the field of 19 was shrunk to just one.
Coming into the day as the chip leader, Hong Kong’s Wing Po Liu took home his second WSOP bracelet after beating Hye Park heads up. “While it was exciting in Europe,” Liu said about his other bracelet being won overseas, “in Vegas it is really special. The field is bigger and this is my first mixed game final table.”
Liu’s experience in tournaments comes primarily from an NLH and PLO background, only two of the seven games that were in the mix in this tournament. A relative newcomer to the other games, that did not stop Liu from holding a dominant lead over the field for the vast majority of the final day. “I am not very familiar with the other games, but I just use my own way to think about the games. More exploitative and less theory-based strategies.”
With this win, Liu crosses the $1 million lifetime earnings and brings Hong Kong their first bracelet of the WSOP. “It’s already July in the series and our Hong Kong team was not doing very well. They all came out to support me on the rail, and now I won a bracelet, so they are just as excited about this.” Liu left the tournament room with an excited rail that included the likes of Edward Yam and Anson Tsang, each one of them proud of their friend for taking home his second bracelet.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wing Po Liu | Hong Kong | $209,942 |
| 2 | Hye Park | United States | $136,574 |
| 3 | Xixiang Luo | China | $90,920 |
| 4 | Kane Kalas | United States | $61,977 |
| 5 | Andres Korn | Argentina | $43,283 |
| 6 | Alex Foxen | United States | $30,988 |
| 7 | Allan Le | United States | $22,758 |
Day 3 Action
The day started with two eliminations simultaneously as Craig Hartman took out Toby Boas (19th - $8,660) and Damjan Radanov (18th - $8,660) at the same time to bring the field down to three tables.
WSOP bracelet winner Lawrence Brandt (17th - $10,575) was the first to be dispatched after the redraw after bricking his nine draw against Andres Korn’s made jack in 2-7 Single Draw. After that it was the always colorful Kyle Miholich (16th - $10,575) who found himself all in with kings in Five Card Draw against Nitesh Rawtani who held jacks. Rawtani drew to make queens up to best Miholich and eliminate “Teddy KGB” from the tournament.
Nothing seemed to be going right for two-time WSOP bracelet winner Chris Klodnicki (15th - $10,575), who lost a couple of sizable pots to Hartman, including his final pot where his nine-seven was bested by a wheel in Pot-Limit 2-7 Triple Draw. Hartman’s good fortune continued as he eliminated Irishman Andy Black (14th - $10,575) in two hands the very same round. He made a seven-six to leave Black with just a couple of chips, then made an eight-seven against Black the following hand to best his pair of fours. Black exited the tournament while Hartman took a commanding lead over the final players.
David Lin (13th - $10,575) capped off another deep run in a WSOP event as his final chips got in with a ten-draw in 2-7 Single Draw up against Kane Kalas’ eight-seven. After that, Gary Booth (12th - $10,575) lost most of his chips to Andres Korn in 2-7 Single Draw as his wheel draw did not improve against Korn’s made jack. Senovio Ramirez III (11th - $13,285) was next to go when in Five Card Draw, his pocket kings failed to draw out on Kalas’ aces up. Before the final ten players went on a break, Denis Strebkov (10th-$13,285) got into a tournament-defining pot with Wing Po Liu in PLO. Strebkov had turned a king-high straight to go with his set of eights against Liu’s queen-high straight and two pair. It seemed as if the Russian bracelet winner would take down the pot, but the river paired the queen on the board, and Liu took down a pot that would give him the chip lead for the rest of the tournament.
Hartman’s table change did him absolutely no favors as he lost massive pots to both Alex Foxen and Korn, going from chipleader to the shortest stack in the tournament. His fortunes did not change as he got his last chips in with pocket aces and a flush draw on a king-high board against Foxen’s full wrap. The river completed the wrap for Foxen and Hartman collected $17,156 for his ninth-place finish.
Rawtani saw a big pot in 2-7 Single draw go over to Allan Le to leave him as one of the short stacks in the tournament. Rawtani then lost the rest of his chips in Pot-Limit 2-7 Triple Draw as he found himself with an eight-draw against Liu’s wheel. Rawtani finished just shy of making his second final table in a couple of weeks and collected $17,156 for his eighth-place finish.
Final Table Action
It did not take long for chips to begin flying as Big O saw multiple all ins within the first hour of play, each resulting in a chop. It wasn’t until No-Limit Hold’em that the first elimination occurred as Le four-bet all in with pocket deuces, only for Liu to call him with ace-king to see an ace-high runout. Liu clearly separated himself and the rest of the field with this pot and the WSOP bracelet winner exited the tournament in seventh place, which was good for $22,758.
Liu didn't waste much time in eliminating the next player as WSOP bracelet winner and ChipLeaderCoaching ambassador found himself next on the chopping block when he was all in during the 2-7 Single Draw round. Foxen stood pat with his eight-seven, only for Liu to make a seven-six, which eliminated Foxen in sixth place for $30,988.
The beginning of five-handed play saw Liu with a huge lead over the final four, but as play progressed that lead shrank as Korn, Kalas, Hye Park, and Xixiang Luo crept up the counts towards him. After two hours, his lead had shrunk considerably as Korn moved up to a closer second place.
Korn’s run ended as he doubled up Park in Five Card Draw when his pocket queens did not hold up against Park drawing out a pair of kings. He lost the rest of his chips in Pot-Limit 2-7 Triple Draw when he moved all in with a one-card eight-draw against Liu drawing two. Liu made seven-six on the end and Korn couldn’t beat it, leaving the Argentinian to finish the tournament in fifth place for $43,283.
Kalas departed the next hand in fourth place. Like Korn, Kalas got in his last chips, drawing one against Liu, who was drawing two. Kalas stood pat with his nine-eight after the second draw, and Liu ended up making seven-six. Kalas collected $61,977 for his finish and Liu took a massive lead into three-handed play.
Park took a sizable bite out of Liu at the beginning of the three-handed play, but Liu recouped those losses at the expense of Luo. Both players ended up getting their chips in on a queen-high board, and the river saw Liu’s pair of threes and an eight-five low was good for the scoop. Luo collected $90,920 for his third-place finish, just a couple of weeks after his first WSOP bracelet win.
Liu started heads-up play with a 2:1 lead, and that lead quickly grew to 3:1 as Park grew shorter. In a fitting twist, the final hand for Liu was in PLO, the same game where he won his first bracelet, as he flopped three tens and turned four of a kind in a pot with Park. Park had a tens full of jacks and decided to call for his tournament life on the final bet, leaving Liu with the bracelet and the title while Park collected $136,574 for his efforts.
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