A breakthrough victory is the best way to describe Florian Langmann’s bracelet winning performance in the $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better event. Langmann has been coming to the WSOP for several years now and has had a steady stream of cashes. He has cashed in at least one event between 2008 and 2012, but had been unable to breakthrough to a final table. Coming into this event Langmann’s top WSOP finish was a 24th place finish in a $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event in 2010. This time, Langmann walks home with a bracelet and the top prize of $297,500. Langmann defeated Zachary Freeman heads-up for the bracelet. Freeman was also making his first ever WSOP final table appearance.
"I had a pretty big chip lead early on and then I felt like I was going to win it for sure." said Langmann about the final table.
The final day of play started with 20 players and Langmann sitting in seventh. The action started out fast, seeing multiple eliminations each level, and, by the time the final table was reached, Langmann was the chip leader. Play really slowed down with nine players remaining, but Langmann hung in there and was able to ride his big lead all the way to the finish.
The 31-year-old from Hamburg, Germany has had a lot of success playing poker in Europe and Australia, earning himself some nice paydays, but has never been able to find the same luck here at the WSOP. This win could be the spark that Langmann needs to really go on nice heater here in Las Vegas. Langmann sticks mostly to the PLO events, but says he does plan to the play the Main Event. According to Langmann, he is no expert at PLO8 and mostly sticks to PLO high, but decided to take a shot at this tournament anyway.
"Most people who played this tournament are Limit Omaha 8 players, it's better to know how to play Pot Limit." said Langmann about the tournament.
Langmann adds another bracelet to Germany's 2014 total which now sits at five. Germany has the second most bracelets of 2014 in a big part due to George Danzer who is the current leader in the Player of the Year race and has already earned two bracelets this summer. Dominik Nitsche also has two bracelets this year, one of which came at the National Championship in May. Langmann will do his best to repeat his German country mates and try to earn a second bracelet for himself but he will have to do quickly as the 2014 series only has a few more events left.
This was the second of two Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better events that the WSOP hosted this year. The game continues to grow and always attracts a good mix of professionals and amateurs. The first PLO8 event of the year was won by Tyler Patterson who was able to defeat a tough final table that included the likes of Scott Clements, Jeff Madsen and Tom Schneider. It was Patterson's first bracelet and he took home more than a quarter million dollars for his victory.
The $3,000 buy-in PLO 8 or Better event played at the Rio in Las Vegas generated a $1,294,020 prize pool. The top 50 finishers made the money. Some of the notables who cashed include Tony Cousineau (52nd), Player of the Year leader George Danzer (44th), Andy Bloch (25th), Fabrice Soulier (15th), and Ted Lawson who just missed out on the final table, finishing in 11th.
Here are the final table results from the $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better Event:
1st: Florian Langmann - $297,6502nd: Zachary Freeman - $184,2163rd: Dylan Wilkerson - $122,4274th: Doug Baughman - $90,8535th: TJ Eisenman - $68,1816th: Antony Lellouche - $51,6707th: Woody Deck - $39,5068th: Jonathan Depa - $30,448
9th: Shiva Dudani - $23,641