Yorky Pud

Ben Lamb is almost certainly the best poker player you have never heard of, but ensure you commit his name to memory as I am positive that the bracelet he won earlier today will certainly not be the last he places on his wrist.

Lamb is a 26-year old poker pro who currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is here that he is a regular in the highest stakes cash games where he is widely regarded as one of the best Pot Limit Omaha players in the world. Most of those who face Lamb at the felt on a daily basis are World Series of Poker bracelet winners themselves but now he not only has one of his own, his was earned in a $10,000 World Championship tournament, Event #42 to be exact, the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship.

Despite being a cash game pro Lamb has some impressive tournament results to his name, most notably his 14th place finish at the 2009 WSOP Main Event that netted him a cool $633,022. More recently he finished as runner-up to Sam Stein in the $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha event for a score of $259,918, which when added to the $814,436 he won in this event breaks the record for the most money earned in Pot Limit Omaha tournaments in a year.

There were 361 entrants taking part in this event, which made it the biggest Omaha tournament prizepool on record. Just under half of the field, 156, managed to survive the first day of play and these were whittled down to just 38 during Day 2. Play was paused late on Day 2, just two players before the money bubble, much to the annoyance of the players but the new “hard-stop” rule which pauses the action after players have completed ten levels of play for the day is being enforced by the floorstaff.

When the players returned for the third day of play they did not have to wait long until the 38th then 37th finishers were announced. The unfortunate bubble boy was Jyri Merivirta and his demise meant the 36 remaining players would all walk away with no less than $20,699. The first player to head to the cashier's cage to pick up their money was British veteran Surindar Sunar and he followed throughout the course of the day by the likes of Ludovic Lacey, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Max Pescatori and the recent bracelet winner Stein (mentioned above.)

The final table was reached quite late into proceedings of Day 3 but what a final table it was. Keeping Lamb company were the likes of Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro, Josh Tieman, Dario Alioto and the familiar site of two British players in the shape of John Shipley and the WSOP bracelet holding John Kabbaj. First to bust out of the final table was Hans Winzeler, a man who finished in second place to Jason Mercier in Event #35 and he was followed tot he rail by first Tieman and then the short-stacked Cory Wood.

Kabbaj was looking strong but winning his second WSOP bracelet will have to wait as he finished in sixth place, coming off worst after a clash with Lamb. From middle position Lamb made it 185,000 to play and when the action folded to Kabbaj he re-potted and before anyone had time to react he was all in and Lamb had called the 700,000 bet. Kabbaj turned over Ac-Kh-Ts-8d, which was up against Ad-As-Qc-Qd. It is rare to be a substantial favourite preflop in PLO but Kabbaj found himself to a 23/77 underdog in the hand, which worsened to a 9% chance with the arrival of a 9h-5s-2c flop. The 4c turn locked up the hand for Lamb and Kabbaj was eliminated in sixth place, worth $153,517.

Not long after Kabbaj's exit the table lost an other player, this time it was Alioto who lost all of his chips. The name Alioto should ring a bell as he won the £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event at the inaugural WSOPE back in 2007. Like Kabbaj he will have to wait for another event to try and win his second piece of poker jewellery. With Alioto out of the picture and the ten level rule looming over their heads, the players left the table and the action was paused for what would turn out to be the final time in this particular event.

Twenty minutes after the restart, Christopher King felt the wrath of Lamb to bust out in fourth place. King got him money in good with Ah-As-Ks-Qs against Kc-Kd-8d-4w but Lamb flopped the diamond flush to leave King drawing extremely thinly and was in fact drawing completely dead by the turn. This was King's first-ever WSOP cash and it was for a cool $273,575. Shortly after Britain's hopes of a fourth bracelet of the series were shattered as Shipley found himself all in with Ac-Kd-8c-5s against the Ks-Qh-Js-8d of Kelpuro and when the board ran out Qs-5h-Td-2s-7c it was game over for the Brit who picked up almost $370,000 for his efforts in this tournament and boosted British player's winnings at this year's WSOP past the $6,100,000 mark.

Shipley's exit left Kelopuro and Lamb to battle it out for the title and the huge first place prize of $814,436. Lamb held a 6,650,000 to 4,180,000 advantage and it proved to be too much for the Finn to overcome as Lamb applied constant pressure to put his opponent on the ropes. The final hand went down around 20 minutes after Shipley had busted in third place and saw Kelopuro make it 240,000 to play, Lamb made the call. The flop came down As-9h-3d and Lamb check-called a 275,000 bet. The Qs landed on the turn and again Lamb checked but this time when he faced a larger bet of 675,000 he raised the pot and then quickly called when Kelopuro moved all in.

Kelopuro: Ac-Qc-Kd-7d (for top two pair)
Lamb: 6s-5h-4s-2d (for a whole myriad of draws)

The dealer burned a card and dealt the river, 5d, which completed Lamb's straight and sent Kelopuro to the rail without a bracelet but with $503,173 reasons to be happy with his performance over the four days of play.

Lamb's victory pushes him past the $2,300,000 barrier in live tournament winnings and also catapults him to the top of the Player of the Year standings, knocking none other than Phil Hellmuth off his perch. Congratulations to Ben Lamb!

Final table payouts

1st: Ben Lamb: $814,436
2nd: Sami Kelopuro: $503,173
3rd: John Shipley: $369,575
4th: Christopher King: $273,575
5th: Dario Alioto: $203,113
6th: John Kabbaj: $153,517
7th: Cory Wood: $116,359
8th: Josh Tieman: $88,873
9th: Hans Winzeler: $68,410