CHRIS SINCLAIR RAKES IN OMAHA HI/LO 8 OR BETTER WIN
By Debbie Burkhead
The Omaha High-Low 8-or-Better event drew 148 players and 137 of them took the one rebuy that was offered to create a prize pool of $28,503.
Final table play began at 9:25 with 15 seconds remaining in the $2,000-$4,000 limit. The next limit went to $3,000-$6,000 with $1,500-$3,000 blinds and 30 minute rounds.
There were $211,000 in chips in play and the chip leader was Jason Lee with $38,000, in second was Peter Piccirillo with $37,000, third was held by Gary Kizziah with $28,000, in fourth was Michael Yoshihara with $24,000, Steve Sorvari was in fifth with $22,000, Chris Sinclair was in sixth with $20,000, Bob Phillips was in seventh with $17,500, Marie Gabert was in eighth with $16,500 and trailing in ninth was Jeff Erickson with $8,500.
On the twelfth hand at the final table Jeff Erickson was eliminated by Chris Sinclair. Jeff had flopped a nut flush draw and a gut shot straight draw. Chris flopped a set of kings and Jeff didn’t make the flush or the straight. Jeff finished in ninth place and collected $761.
At 9:55 the limit increased to $4,000-$8,000 with $2,000-$4,000 blinds.
On the seventh hand of the new limit Steve Sorvari played his last hand of Omaha for the day. Steve called, Jason raised, the blinds both folded and Steve called all-in with his remaining chips. Steve showed J-K-A-2 and Jason showed A-A-4-3. The flop came 2-2-Q giving Steve a lot of hope with a set of deuces. The turn came a queen and filled Steve’s set. The river card was a disaster for Steve and Jason’ s only out, an ace. Jason made aces full and Steve was forced to take 8th place and $912.
The limit was about to increase when Peter Piccirillo and Gary Kizziah got involved in a pot. Peter had gotten beat on a previous hand that left him short-stacked with only $2,000. He scooped the much needed pot against Gary and was back in the game.
At 10:25 the limit rose to $6,000-$12,000 with blinds of $3,000-$6,000.
Twenty minutes into the new level Michael Yoshihara called all-in with his remaining $1,100, Marie Gabert raised and it ended up heads-up. Marie showed A-5-3-K and Michael showed A-A-2-8. The board came 9-3-5-4-J and Marie’s two pair took the pot. Michael finished in 7th place and collected $1,112.
There were six players remaining and there were no more casualties at that limit. The short stacks were surviving there all-ins and there were a lot of split pots that just ate seconds and minutes off the clock.
At 10:55 the limit increased to $8,000-$16,000 with $4,000-$8,000 blinds.
Four hands into the new level the players took a short break and when they returned they began discussing a money deal.
Chris Sinclair had taken a commanding chip lead and the rest of the field was fairly close in chips. Chris made a very generous money offer to the remaining five players to get them to end the tournament and let him have 1st place. With the limits as high as they were it was pretty much anyones last hand if they got involved from here on out.
The remaining six players agreed on a money deal and decided to end the tournament at 11:45. Most were tired and the deal was profitable for all.
Chris Sinclair was declared the winner and received the hand-made clock, the TOC qualification and $9,263. Jason was the 2nd place winner and collected $5,216, Marie was the 3rd place winner and took home $3,449, Gary finished in fourth with $2,423, Bob was the fifth place finisher and took home $1,767 and finishing in sixth place was Peter $1,368.
Congratulations, Chris!
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