The top WSOP players were celebrating their skills and rewards this week. Pat Poels, a software developer turned pro player frpom Arizona beat a field of 699 to take the Omaha Hi-Low Eight or Better event, and playing in only his third land-based poker tournament, nightclub owner Issac Galazan won the 6-handed No Limit Hold’em event, both at the Rio Pavilion Convention Centre.
Poels earned $270,100, a record first prize for a land-based Omaha High-Low tournament, and the coveted gold bracelet. Galazan, a.k.a. “The General” and “Issac G,” outlasted a field of 548 players to collect the first place prize of $315,125 and the gold bracelet.
Poels (37) quit his software development job in April to play poker full time.
The final winners in the $1500 Limit Omaha High-Low Eight-or-Better Final Table were:
1 Pat Poels Mesa, Arizona $270,100
2 John Lukas Las Vegas, Nevada $139,870
3 Jeff Duvall London, England $77,170
4 Bahram Kianfar Palm Desert, California $67,525
5 Dan Heimiller Plymouth, Michigan $57,875
6 Jim Meehan Minneapolis, Minnesota $48,230
7 Darrell Dicken Waterloo, Iowa $38,585
8 Boris Shats Los Angeles, California $28,940
9 Minh Nguyen Lake Elsinore, California $19,290
10 Pascal Perrault Paris, France $10,610
In the No Limit Hold’em event, Galazan staged a major upset in defeating highly experienced UK player Harry Demetriou in a heads up game that lasted only 12 hands.
Final able results for this event were:
1 Issac Galazan Bangkok, Thailand $315,125
2 Harry Demetriou London, England $163,850
3 Tommy Grimes Houston, Texas $85,705
4 David Singer Marmaroneck, New York $75,625
5 Antonio Esfandiari San Francisco, California $63,020
6 David Barnes London, England $50,415