Lamb is the first WSOP millionaire of 2011

Every year for the past ten years, someone has walked away from the World Series of Poker with two bracelets.  So far, it is looking like 2011 might be the year to buck that trend, but we now have a guy who has gotten closer than anyone to picking up two pieces of poker hardware: Ben Lamb.

It was a disappointing close call earlier this WSOP when Lamb came up just short, finishing second to Sam Stein in the $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha event.  However, while he may have missed out on the bracelet there, Lamb is probably just fine with how things worked out, considering he just defeated a tough field of 361 players in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship event and is now leading the WSOP Player of the Year race.

Lamb spent the third and fourth days of the tournament at the top of the counts and there was never a moment where he didn’t seem completely in control of his own destiny.  Even though he seemed very self-assured, he still thought he was up against some very tough competition, much tougher than the field he got through on the way to his first final table.

“I feel like a lot of good No Limit Hold’em tournament players can afford a $3,000 buy-in and their backers will let them play a $3,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha event,” Lamb explained after his big win. When it comes to the $10,000 event, a lot of the backers are like, ‘No, you can’t play’ and a lot of the guys who put up their own money are going to be like, ‘No, I’ll just skip it.’ They’d rather play a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em.”

For Lamb, who considers Pot Limit Omaha to be his best game, this event was always one that he planned on taking time out of his cash game schedule to take part in.  Now that he is in the running for WSOP Player of the Year, he is considering playing a couple of more in addition to a big one already on his schedule: the $50,000 Poker Players Championship.

The final table for the Championship event was packed with talent, including three former WSOP bracelet winners, as well as two guys with PLO tables under their belt this summer.  Hans Winzeler already had one PLO final table to his credit this WSOP prior to the $10,000 Championship. He would not be able to improve upon his runner-up finish to Jason Mercier though. Instead, he was the first to exit the final table after a blind vs. blind confrontation saw him get it all-in preflop holding A926 to Christopher King’s QQ6T. The Q97 flop left Winzeler with little room to improve. The turn and river were no help and Winzeler exited in ninth place.

Just a couple orbits later, one of the three WSOP bracelet holders at the table, Josh Tieman, joined Winzeler on the rail. Tieman and Cory Woods got it all-in on a KQ7 flop. Tieman check-raised all-in holding A9T8 for the nut flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. John Shipley called with KK74 for top set. The A on the turn didn’t do much for Tieman, and with the 6 on the river he was out in eighth.

With seven players remaining, there was a tight race for the chip lead, but Wood was way behind the rest of the field. Holding just under 300,000 chips compared to the 1.3 million of his next closest competitor, John Kabbaj, Woods took a stand with suited Broadway cards to Dario Alioto’s Q-Q-9-8. Wood flopped a flush draw, but failed to improve and exited in seventh. Kabbaj followed in sixth place when he got his last 700,000 or so all-in with AKT8. Lamb had the superior AAQQ and his pocket pairs held up as the board ran out 95245 to send Kabbaj packing in sixth.

That pot helped to push Lamb firmly into the chip lead as Day 3 of play started winding to a close. The event hit the hard stop and play ended for the night shortly after WSOP bracelet winner Alioto busted in fifth place, guaranteeing yet another first-time champion. This time it was Sami Kelopuro who picked up aces, getting it all-in on a K85 flop with AA34 to Alioto’s A876. Alioto held a pair and a straight draw, but failed to improve and exited in fifth place as the day drew to a close.

When play ended on Day 3, momentum was working in Lamb’s favor. When play resumed on Day 4, it was still in Lamb’s favor. His chip-leading stack just got bigger when he eliminated King early in Day 4 action. King moved all-in preflop for his remaining 1.1 million with AAKQ and Lamb called with KK84. Lamb was behind until the flop fell T63, giving him a flush. When the turn brought the 5, King was drawing dead and out in fourth place, while Lamb surged past the five million-chip mark.

Third place honors went to Shipley.  Kelopuro doubled through Shipley to leave Shipley low on chips and it wasn’t long before Shipley got it all-in against Kelopuro, except this time his tournament life was on the line.  Shipley’s A8K5 couldn’t beat Kelopuro’s KJQ8, as Kelopuro flopped top pair and a straight draw on a QT5 board.  Kelopuro’s bgi draw only improved with the 2 on the turn, and, with the 7 on the river, Shipley was out.

For the second time this WSOP, Lamb was heads-up for a Pot Limit Omaha bracelet.  This time around things worked out a little better for him.  He came into heads-up play with a nice chip lead and never relinquished it.  After around 30 minuts of sparring with Kelopuro,the match abruptly came to a halt when the two got it all-in on an A93Q board.  Lamb held 2456 for a big combo draw, while Kelopuro turned over AQK7 for top two pair.  The river 5 completed Lamb’s straight, and the second time proved to be the charm for Lamb, who now holds the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year Race.

While the money, which now totals more than seven figures for Lamb this WSOP, is great, the chance to improve upon his runner-up finish was really important to the poker pro.

“I mean, truthfully, I kind of played the same game for most of the time,” Lamb said in regards to whether or not he changed things up the second time around.  ”When I got heads-up against Sam [Stein], the last hand I really wasn’t happy with my play. I wanted to make sure I made no mistakes heads-up [this time]. I really feel like I played well. I did get lucky I guess, but I got a little unlucky that he had the hand he had to call. I played as best I could, and focused as hard as I could.”

Here are the final table results from the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship:

1st: Ben Lamb – $814,436
2nd: Sami Kelopuro – $503.173
3rd: John Shipley – $396,575
4th: Christopher King – $273,575
5th: Dario Alioto – $204,113
6th: John Kabbaj – $153,517
7th: Cory Wood – $116,359
8th: Josh Tieman – $88,873
9th: Hans Winzeler – $68,410

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