Event #30: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed

Viatcheslav Ortynskiy is the newest member of poker’s gold bracelet club.

The 36-year-old poker pro from Krasnoyarsk, Russia won the $3,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha tournament, which was played over three days and nights and just concluded at the Rio in Las Vegas.

Ortynskiy collected $344,327 in prize money, making this the biggest win of his career.  He nearly doubled his cash winnings at the series, which prior to this victory included eight other cashes.  Ortynskiy is primarily an online poker player.  However, he also travels regularly to play in major poker tournaments, mostly on the European Poker Tour.

“It’s amazing,” Ortynskiy said afterward, struggling to find words to express his emotions.  Cheered on by several other Russians, the final table was a festive experience with lots of cheering and chanting from the gallery.

Ortynskiy won his victory by coming out on top at a final table which included a mixture of pros and amateurs, perhaps no one as dangerous as former gold bracelet winner Randy Ohel, a previous bracelet winner who ended up finishing third. 

Once George Wolff was eliminated in fifth place, that put Ortynskiy squarely in command.  He never lost the chip lead beyond that point, and ended up seemingly toying with the competition, things seemed so easy as the cards fell almost perfectly into place.

The last 30 minutes of the tournament were a dream come true for Ortynskiy, who seemed to win every pot of consequence.  The ultimate moment of triumph came when the Russian scooped the final pot of the tournament against Rafael Lebron, who finished as the runner up.  He received $212,327 as a consolation prize.

The latest WSOP champion is married and a father of three.  He graduated from a university ten years ago and has spent the last few years mostly playing poker.  His WSOP resume now includes nine cashes and four final table appearances – now including a 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th.

With this victory, Ortynskiy became the tenth Russian player in history to win a WSOP gold bracelet (and 12th overall, as two players have two wins each).

This tourney attracted 580 entrants which created a prize pool totaling $1,583,400.  The top 87 finishers collected prize money.

Aside from the winner, here’s a brief synopsis of the other top finishers who made the final table:

Second Place:  Rafael Lebron, from Puyallup, WA finished as the runner up.  He cashed from only the second time at the series, both occurring this year.  Lebron collected $212,779 in prize money.

Third Place:  Randy Ohel, from Las Vegas, finished in third place.  This was his 24^th time to cash in a series event and moved him close to $1 million in WSOP earnings.  Ohel won a gold bracelet in 2012 in the Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split event.  He’s also posted three top-ten finishes this year – including a 3^rd, 4^th, and 8^th.  Ohel earned $141,187 in prize money for yet another deep run.

Fourth Place:  Matthew Humphrey, from Avon, IN finished in fourth place.  This was his tenth time to cash at the series.  Humphrey also holds two WSOP Circuit gold rings.  He added $95,623 to his poker bankroll for this fine effort.

Fifth Place:  George Wolff, a 25-year-old student from Portland, OR has now cashed seven times at the WSOP, including an in-the-money finish in last year’s Main Event Championship.  Wolff tore into the prize pool and ripped out $66,134 as his share of the prey.

Sixth Place:  Joshua Gibson, from Fort Meyers, FL posted his deepest run ever in a WSOP event, after three previous cashes.  He earned $46,727.