Event 13 (Day 2)
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 22: Blinds 15,000/30,000
Total Entries: 44
Stuart Gelwarg (New York, NY)
Inaugural Pot Limit Big Omaha Champion
After finishing 9th in the Super Stack Elevator event yesterday, Stuart Gelwarg jumped into this Big Omaha event and continued playing all night until bagging up his chips at about 2am. He had made his second final table of the day and was guaranteed his second cash in back-to-back tournaments.
Stuart held the chip lead the latter half of Day 1 and carried that chip lead into Day 2. He had more than twice as many chips as any other player.
As play went on, Stuart watched his chip lead dwindle and eventually surrendered that lead to Gary Kosakowski with three players remaining. Once Gary took out third place finisher and Borgata regular Tim D’Alessandro, he had a massive lead over Stuart at the start of heads-up play.
The heads-up match was very brief. Stuart caught a double-up, then doubled again to reclaim the chip lead when his flopped set rivered a boat to crack Gary’s flopped nut-straight. He collected the last of Gary’s chips on the next hand, cementing his victory.
Stuart claimed $6,829 for his victory in this first-ever Pot Limit Big Omaha tournament.
Final Results
- Stuart Gelwarg – $6,829
- Gary Kosakowski – $4,268
- Tim D’Alessandro – $2,561
- Joseph ‘Joy’ Reichenbacher – $1,878
- Kearns Julien – $1,536
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 22: Blinds 15,000/30,000
Total Entries: 44
Gary Kosakowski (Newark, NJ)
Stuart Gelwarg opened for 90,000 and Gary Kosakowski called from the button. On the flop of {th}{9h}{5c} Gary put his last 115,000 in and Gary made a crying call.
Stuart: {qh}{ts}{7s}{7h}{4h}
Gary: {8s}{6d}{5d}{4d}{2d}
Stuart was ahead with a pair of Tens and flush draw. Gary had a pair of 5s and straight draw. When the board completed with the {jc} and the {ac} Gary secured his double-up to 410,000, leaving Gary with 470,000.
A few hands later, all the chips went in on a flop of A 7 6 with two hearts. Gary had bottom set with pocket 6s and a low flush draw, which was no good against Gary’s flush draw, since he was holding the {th}{9h}{8h} and had flopped the straight.
The last two cards came 8 7 and Gary made a full house on the river to double-up again. He then had a big chip lead.
Gary got his last 105,000 in on the next hand and Stuart called.
Gary: {qs}{8s}{6h}{4h}{2d}
Stuart: {as}{kh}{kd}{5d}{4d}
Board: {4c}{3c}{2h}{6d}{7c}
Gary made a straight to claim the final pot and the win! Gary finished in 2nd place, earning $4,268.
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 22: Blinds 15,000/30,000
Total Entries: 44
Players Remaining: 2
Average Stack: 440,000
Tim D’Alessandro (West Chester, PA)
Just after the blinds went up, Tim D’Alessandro potted from the button, committing all but 25,000 of his chips to the pot. Gary Kosakowski 3-bet from the big blind to get all Tim’s chips in the middle, and the hands were tabled:
Gary: {as}{kd}{7c}{4s}{4c}
Tim: {Kh}{kc}{js}{9s}{6h}
Board: {ah}{8d}{3d}{jd}{8s}
Gary paired his Ace on the flop, cracking Tim’s pocket Kings. Tim picked up no draws and was looking for the case King, but no such luck. Gary took the pot and Tim took 3rd place ($2,561).
Gary started heads-up play holding 675,000 to Stuart Gelwarg’s 205,000.
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 21 (10,000/20,000)
Total Entries: 44
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 293,00
We’ve reached another break in Event 13 and while the leaderboard has more or less looked the same since Day 2 began close to four hours ago, we now have a new chip leader heading into Level 21.
That player is Gary Kosakowski, who is behind close to 370,000, with former leader Stuart Gelwarg right him. Tim D’Allesandro is still the low man on the totem pole but with the blinds getting high, one big pot could completely change the landscape of this final table.
A complete update of the remaining chip counts is provided below:
- Stuart Gelwarg – 310,000
- Gary Kosakowski – 365,000
- Tim D’Alessandro – 175,000
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 20 (8,000/16,000)
Total Entries: 44
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 293,00
Joseph ‘Joy’ Reichenbacher saw his pocket aces go down to a flopped flush and after that, the short stack couldn’t spin it up. Eventually, he bowed out in 4th place for a nearly $2,000 score.
After Tim D’Alessandro doubled up, he was still the shortest stack at the final table but after getting another double, that low standing sat with Joseph ‘Joy’ Reichenbacher. That’s because D’Alessandro crippled Reichenbacher with {As}{Kh}{Kc}{10d}{9h}, besting Reichenbacher’s {Ac}{Ad}{Qs}{Js}{5s}.
Despite his pre flop advantage, D’Alessandro was more or less a lock after the {Jh}{7h}{2h} flop, as he smashed a flush. The {8s} fell on the turn, leaving Reichenbacher drawing dead and after the {2d} completed the board, D’Alessandro’s stack was cut down.
He had just over 150,000 and when the chips were counted, Reichenbacher had close to 40,000 remaining. Those chips got in a few hands later and he was able to double but he couldn’t get a second to get back into contention. In the end, D’Alessandro scored the knockout, with his {As}{Ks}{10h}{7c}{7d} besting the short stack’s {Ad}{Qh}{Jc}{8h}{3s} on the {9s}{8c}{5s}{10s}{2h} runout.
Joseph ‘Joy’ Reichenbacher will make just under $2,000 for his Event 13 run and we are now three-handed for the title.
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 19 (6,000/12,000)
Total Entries: 44
Players Remaining: 4
Average Stack: 220,00
Tim D’Alessandro has been short stacked for a while but after more or less tripling up, he’s still in contention for the Event 13 title.
Since the elimination of Kearns Julian, we’ve seen Tim D’Alessandro fade elimination a few times and the short stack is still alive heading towards the end of Level 19. D’Alessandro just put the majority of his stack in pre flop and he held after getting the rest of his stack in to double through chip leader Stuart Gelwarg.
Action was picked up with D’Alessandro potting from the big blind and after Gelwarg called on the button, Gary Kosakowski called as well. That gave D’Alessandro a chance to triple up and after the {Ah}{Kd}{Jh} flop, he put his final 5,000 in the middle to officially put himself all-in.
Gelwarg tanked for a bit and then put in a pot-sized raise. That raise then put Kosawkowski’s stack at risk, if he were to call, and even though he held the nut straight, he didn’t want to commit himself just yet. He flashed “queen-ten” and then folded, only to see that he would have been chopping at best with Gelwarg’s {Qc}{Jd}{10d}{8d}{7s}.
While the big stack had the straight, D’Alessandro had plenty of outs with {Kh}{Ks}{Js}{4s}{3h} and those outs got there by the river. The {6d} fell on the turn and the {Ac} completed the board, giving D’Alessandro a full house and the double.
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 18 (5,000/10,000)
Total Entries: 44
Players Remaining: 4
Average Stack: 220,00
Pot Limit games bring with them some big swings and unfortunately for Kearns Julien, he just found that out the hard way to bust in 5th place. The New Yorker peaked at the end of Level 17 but just a few minutes into the next period, he was bounced as the first player eliminated on Day 2, falling to chip leader Stuart Gelwarg.
The early action in the hand was missed but the chips got in on the river, with the board reading {7s}{5h}{2d}{9s}{8d}. Gelwarg tabled {8h}{7d}{6c}{4c}{4s}, good for a turned straight, meaning Julien’s {Ad}{As}{9c}{4d}{2s} was no good.
He’ll earn just over $1,500 for his final table run and heading towards the midway point of Level 18, Stuart Gelwarg is still holding the chip lead, with close to 530,000.
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 18 (5,000/10,000)
Total Entries: 44
Players Remaining: 5
Average Stack: 176,00
We’ve played through two levels at this Event 13 ‘Big Omaha High’ final table but we’ve let to lose a player, as five still remain. Stuart Gelwarg still leads, with close to 350,000 and Kearns Julien sits second, while the remaining three players are all hovering around the same short stacks.
A complete update of the remaining stacks is provided below and the BPO blog will continue to bring you all the action from this main event final table:
- Joseph ‘Joy’ Reichenbacher – 115,000
- Stuart Gelwarg – 365,000
- Kearns Julien – 220,000
- Gary Kosakowski – 95,000
- Tim D’Alessandro – 120,000
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 17 (4,000/8,000)
Total Entries: 44
Players Remaining: 5
Average Stack: 176,00
Kearns Julien came into Day 2 right below the chip average and even though he stumbled coming out of the gates, he’s now near 225,000. That’s good for the second biggest stack, behind still chip leader Stuart Gelwarg.
Over the last level, two of the shorter stacks at this Event 13 final table bottomed out below the 100,000 chip mark but very quickly have clawed their way back up to workable stacks. Kearns Julien was the first, as he ran into chip leader Stuart Gelwarg at the end of Level 16.
He then won a few smaller pots to move back up and Julien will now enter the next break with just over 220,000. The other short stack that ran into some early trouble was Joseph ‘Joy’ Reichenbacher, with the Pittsburgh native getting down to just a handful of big blinds heading into Level 17.
Towards the end of that period, he scored a much needed double against Tim D’Alessandro, with the short stack getting it in with {8h}{7d}{7h}{5d}{5s} on {9d}{5c}{3c}. D’Alessandro held {Ac}{Qd}{Qs}{9c}{2h} and he needed to hit on the turn or river to score the knockout.
He couldn’t though, as the {9h} gave Reichenbacher a full house and D’Alessandro, who still had some outs, was not helped by the {Ks} on the river. When the dust settled, Reichenbacher was still below six-figures, meaning he’ll still be the shortest stack as this field heads on their first Day 2 break.
The $100,000 GTD ‘Saturday Series’ is about to move into Level 3 but the main focus of the BPO blog is starting up on the other side of the room, as both 12 PM restarts are now officially underway. Event 12 ‘$1,000 Six Max’ returns with 17 players remaining and Event 13 ‘Big Omaha High’ comes back with five remaining players.
Both of these events are set to play down to a winner today, with Event 13 just a few spots from the winner’s circle. The BPO blog will bring you all the action from both of these main events and a reminder of the payouts of both events is provided below:
Event 12: $1,000 Six Max NLH, $200,000 Guaranteed
Level 17 (2,500/5,000/500)
Total Entries: 304
Players Remaining: 17
1. $72,250
2. $44,232
3. $33,616
4. $27,276
5. $21,084
6. $15,186
7. $11,058
8. $7,372
9. $4,423
10-12. $3,539
13-17. $2,801
Event 13 – ‘Big Omaha High’
Level 16 (3,000/6,000)
Total Entries: 44
Players Remaining: 5
Average Stack: 176,00
1. $6,829
2. $4,268
3. $2,561
4. $1,878
5. $1,526