John Esposito Leads Final Seven in $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
The third day of Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better has now reached the final seven players and all remaining players will be bagging up and moving on to the final day of the tournament. It is well-known John Esposito who will be the chipleader headed into the final day.
Esposito began Day 3 fourth in chips and wasted no time spinning up a stack. By the start of the second break, he had already over doubled the stack of which he started the day and was on the verge of eclipsing the one million mark. He played solid, making minimal mistakes and will be starting the final day with a monstrous 2,330,000 in chips.
The Chicago, Illinois native has over 1.2 million in WSOP cashes and is the owner of a bracelet that he won in a $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event in 1999. Esposito is a fan favorite who has all weapons in his arsenal needed to acquire bracelet number two and will be desperate to capture not only his second WSOP bracelet but the $228,228 top prize. Players are already guaranteed to win at least $27,530, but seventh-place will be no-one's target when play resumes.
Right on Esposito's tail is Jason Berilgen with 2,145,000. The always dangerous Ben Yu will be starting the day on the shorter side with 290,000 but will be one to watch if he can accumulate chips early.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Counts | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derek McMaster | United States | 1,775,000 | 18 |
| 2 | Joseph Aronesty | United States | 855,000 | 9 |
| 3 | Jason Berilgen | United States | 2,145,000 | 21 |
| 4 | John Esposito | United States | 2,330,000 | 23 |
| 5 | Ben Yu | United States | 290,000 | 3 |
| 6 | David Halpern | United States | 1,270,000 | 13 |
| 7 | Tom McCormick | United States | 85,000 | 1 |
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Payout |
|---|---|
| 1 | $228,228 |
| 2 | $141,007 |
| 3 | $98,807 |
| 4 | $70,231 |
| 5 | $50,646 |
| 6 | $37,063 |
| 7 | $27,530 |
Action of the Day:
Day 3 saw 46 return of the original 853 entry slips sold and many familiar faces were still in contention, some of which made it. Others like three-time bracelet winner John Monnette, bracelet winner Andrew Barber, and well-known Bradley Butcher all were not as fortunate, taking early exits in the day during the first level.
The field fell drastically and on level 25 the final 18 took their seat at the final two tables of the tournament. Mike Matusow was the second to take an exit after being involved in a large three-way pot where he didn't even bother to table his cards at the end, taking an exit in 17th place.
On level 27 the tournament lost the start of the day chipleader Rick Fuller after a horrible round of hands. Fuller moved his last chips in against Jason Berilgen and both flopped two pair, but Berilgen's higher two pair took down the pot and Fuller took an exit in tenth place.
The final table of nine was now set and it was not long before a player headed to the payout desk in Patrick Leonard, who lost against Joseph Aronesty's flopped full house. About an hour after Leonard took an exit in ninth, Shannon Shorr would be eliminated to the likes of David Halpern who was holding aces.
Many notables started the third day of the event in the hopes of a final birth but unfortunately came up short and that list includes the likes of Patrick Leonard (9th - $15,897), Mike Matusow (17th - $7,846), Andrey Zaichenko (20th - $6,405), Sampo Ryynanen ($26th - $6,405), Jeff Madsen (28th - $5,316), and Andrew Barber (42nd - $4,487).
A restart time of 12 p.m. has been set and players will be returning to 25,000/50,000 blinds with 50,000/100,000 limits. There will be a 15-minute break after every two levels of play, a dinner break is not currently in the schedule but may be added. The remaining seven will play until a champion is crowned, taking home that $228,228 top prize, as well as the priceless gold WSOP bracelet.
The final day of this event will be airing on CBS All Access and PokerGO as this event is simulcast on both platforms with equal access for the subscribers of those platforms at 1 PM local time.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be bringing all you all of the updates throughout the final day of the event, so stay tuned as all of the action unfolds.