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Lamb wins PLO title at WSOP, takes lead in Player of the Year race27 June 2011Ben Lamb won the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha championship at the World Series of Poker on Monday, claiming $814,436 in prize money and his first WSOP bracelet. Lamb defeated 360 of the world’s best Pot-Limit Omaha players en route to a stunning victory and a whirlwind of emotional satisfaction that will most certainly go down as one of this year’s most memorable WSOP highlights. Lamb, who finished second in the $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha held earlier this year, moved ahead of Phil Hellmuth for to take the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race. No doubt, the victory meant a great deal to Lamb, who has experienced more than his share of high-stakes success intermingled with the inevitable disappointments as a tournament player. Many of Lamb’s friends, some of them former gold bracelet winners themselves, cheered his victory from the rail. Lamb had been teased a fair amount by his friends for not having won his own gold bracelet, despite nearly a million dollars in WSOP earnings. Now, Lamb gets the last laugh. “Some of my friends would tell me that I’m a great player,” Lamb joked afterward. “But then, they would point to their own wrist and say, ‘Oh wait – I’ve won my gold bracelet. Where’s yours?” Now, Lamb has the ultimate comeback line. “After winning this, now I can say back to them – I’ve got a $10,000 buy-in World Championship gold bracelet. Where’s yours?” Lamb is a 26-year-old professional poker player originally from Tulsa, Okla., now living in Las Vegas. He is originally from Tulsa, OK. Lamb has been playing poker professionally for about five years. He’s known in poker’s inner circles as a top pot-limit Omaha cash-game player – both live and online. He had not played many tournaments up to this point, but now has as impressive a record play as anyone in the game. Which brings the old adage to mind about the lamb lying amongst the wolves. When it comes to Pot-Limit Omaha, it was the wolves that got slaughtered today. The Lamb had a feast. The runner up was Sami Kelopuro, from Helsinki, Finland. He earned $503,173 in prize money. John Shipley from Solihull, U.K., was third for $369,575, and Christopher King of Los Angeles was fourth for $273,575. Former bracelet winners Dario Alioto from Palermo, Italy, and John Kabbaj of Bushy, U.K., finished fifth and sixth, respectively, for $204,113 and $153,517. Cory Wood from Murfreesboro, Tenn., was seventh for $116,359, former bracelet winner Joshua Tieman from Chicago was eighth, and Hans Winzeler from Miami was ninth. The top 36 finishers collected prize money. The former gold bracelet winners who cashed in this tournament (aside from the final table players) were: Alex Kravchenko (17th), Abe Mosseri (20th), Sam Stein (24th), Max Pescatori (27th), and Davidi Kitai (31st). Tournament summary provided by Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, reprinted by permission. |