Omar Eljach opened to 250,000 from under the gun and Roland Israelashvili called from the small blind. Martino Cito also defended from the big blind.
The flop came Q♦7♣5♣. Israelashvili moved all in for 190,000, folding out Cito while Eljach made the call to put Israelashvili at risk.
Roland Israelashvili: A♦Q♥9♦4♥.
Omar Eljach: A♠J♣10♥4♣
The rest of the board ran out K♦8♦ giving Israelashvili an ace-high flush to survive elimination for the fifth time today since being left with one quarter of a big blind earlier.
Martino Cito raised to 350,000 from the hijack and was three-bet to 1,000,000 by by Ihar Pliashko on the button. Diana Volcovschi then shoved for 1,200,000 total from the big blind. Cito called all in for his last 525,000 and Pliashko called as well to put both players at risk.
Omar Eljach opened to 250,000 from under the gun and Ihar Pliashko called all in for less from the cutoff, committing his last 100,000 to put himself at risk. Roland Israelashvili also called from the big blind.
Both remaining players checked the J♠8♥3♠ flop leading to the 7♥ turn. Israelashvili checked, Eljach bet 150,000 and Israelashvili got out of the way.
Ihar Pliashko: K♥J♦J♣10♦
Omar Eljach: 10♣9♣7♠3♣
Pliashko's set of jacks were in bad shape against Eljach's turned straight. Eljach remained ahead on the 4♣ river to score yet another knockout, ending Pliashko's deep run in fifth place.
Action folded around to the blinds, where Omar Eljach raised to 360,000 from the small blind. Michael Rodrigues committed his last 545,000 into the middle from the big blind and Eljach called to put Rodrigues at risk.
Michael Rodrigues: J♦10♥10♦7♥
Omar Eljach: Q♥8♥8♦6♦
The board ran out 5♥Q♦9♠6♥A♥ — leaving Eljach with a superior flush and eliminating Rodrigues in 4th place.
Roland Israelashvili opened to 360,000 from under the gun and Diana Volcovschi defended from the big blind.
The flop came A♠K♠2♠. Volcovschi checked, Israelashvili moved all in for his last 360,000 and Volcovschi snap-called.
Roland Israelashvili: K♣10♠9♣7♦
Diana Volcovschi: A♦Q♠4♣3♠
Israelashvili was drawing very thin with a pair of kings versus Volcovschi who had flopped the nut-flush. The rest of the board ran out 4♥J♣ and Israelashvili was finally eliminated after escaping from the jaws of defeat on six previous occasions at the final table.
Omar Eljach has overcome a 719-entry field and defeated Diana Volcovschi heads-up in Event #2: €550 Pot Limit Omaha 8-Max at the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe. Eljach earns his second WSOP bracelet, along with the €65,900 first-place prize here at King's Resort in Rozvadov.
The victory comes fresh off of a breakout year in 2022, in which Eljach won the WSOPE Main Event — padding an already impressive poker resume that includes over €2,000,000 in live-tournament earnings.
Eljach entered the final table with more than twice that of his next closest opponent and put on a clinic in big-stack play by continually applying pressure to his opponents in the face of significant pay jumps. En route to his victory, Eljach claimed six final-table eliminations and at no point gave up the chip lead.
Winner's Reaction
"I'm very happy to get my second [bracelet]. I was actually more excited for the bracelet than the laddering of the money, which has not been the case before," Eljach said.
Eljach remained confident throughout the final table and explained how he was able to apply a lot of pressure to the medium stacks using his big stack.
"I knew I could apply a lot of pressure because there were a lot of short stacks. The stacks that were half my size couldn't really move as long as the short stacks were there. It was a good spot for me to be able to steamroll the table."
Eljach said he will be gunning for another bracelet during this year's series, particularly in the upcoming PLO events.
"It's my favorite game. I definitely consider myself more of a PLO player."
Event #2: €550 Pot Limit Omaha 8-Max Final Table Results
Place
Winner
Country
Prize (in EUR)
1
Omar Eljach
Sweden
€65,900
2
Diana Volcovschi
Portugal
€40,700
3
Roland Israelashvili
United States
€29,100
4
Michael Rodrigues
Portugal
€21,000
5
Ihar Pliashko
Belarus
€15,500
6
Martino Cito
Italy
€11,500
7
Patrik Jaros
Czechia
€8,700
8
Anson Tsang
Hong Kong
€6,700
Final Table Action
Day 3 began with an unofficial final table of nine looking to claim WSOPE glory. The action started relatively slow, with the first elimination of the day occurring after Michal Mrakesfound himself short and losing the rest of his chips to Eljach's straight after getting all-in preflop.
Anson Tsang came into the final day second in chips but was unable to build any momentum and lost the majority of his stack after getting his aces cracked by Eljach, who claimed the rest of Tsang's chips a few hands later.
After an extended period of action that saw Roland Israelashvili survive facing elimination six times, Patrik Jaros, Martino Cito, and Ihar Pliashko all fell in seventh, sixth, and fifth place respectively in rapid succession with Eljach claiming two more eliminations.
Michael Rodrigues remained relatively quiet throughout the table, but escalating blinds forced him to take a stand in a blind versus blind confrontation against Eljach that unsurprisingly went Eljach's way.
Israelashvili, who was down to just 15,000 chips at one point, finally saw his good fortune come to an end after running into the nut flush of Volcovschi.
Volcovschi entered the final table as the short stack but managed to navigate all the way to heads-up play, which ended nearly as soon as it began. On just the second hand of heads-up, Volcovschi found herself committing the rest of her chips against Eljach in a cooler wherein both players flopped a flush. With that, Eljach secured his victory in a convincing manner.
That's a wrap for PokerNews coverage of Event #2: €550 Pot Limit Omaha 8-Max. Be sure to check out our live reporting hub for continuing coverage of the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe right here at the King's Resort in Rozvadov.