Tommy Le Wins 2017 World Series of Poker $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

Card Player’s 2017 WSOP coverage is sponsored by BetOnline Poker.

35-year-old Tommy Le has an incredible resume when it comes to pot-limit Omaha tournaments at the World Series of Poker. In 2016 the Southern Californian business owner and brother of poker pro Nam Le put together a trifecta of final table finishes. He started out by placing fifth in the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event, follwed that up with a third-place score in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha championship only a week later and then ended as the runner-up in the $25,000 pot-limit Omaha championship eight days after that. After that incredible run of close calls, Le finally emerged victorious this year, topping a field of 428 players to win the 2017 WSOP $10,000 pot-limit Omaha championship. For the win Le earned his first gold bracelet and the $938,732 top prize.

“[It’s a] monkey off my back,” Le told WSOP reporters. “I’ve made so many of these final tables and I’ve felt like the guy that could never win it. That could get there, but could never close. So, it feels amazing to finally get it. Especially for all my friends and family for all the support that I’ve been given. It feels like I kind of won it for them actually. More for them than myself.”

Le came into the final table of this event in second chip position with eight players remaining, looking to improve on his third-place finish in this same event in 2016. He busted two-time WSOP bracelet winner Jason DeWitt in fifth place ($197,533) to remain within reach of chip leader Scott Clements, who looked to be running away with the tournament. At the start of four-handed play Clements, a two-time bracelet winner whose wins both came in Omaha variants, had roughly 10 million of the 21 million chips in play.

Clements’ momentum came to a screeching halt shortly after that, though. He lost a huge pot to amatuer player Hani Mio and then withing 20 minutes was out of the tournament. In the hand in question Clements raised to 500,000 with the KJJ8 and Mio called from the small blind with the Q986. The flop brought the 632 and Mio checked. Clements bet 500,000 and Mio check-raised to 2,700,000 in total, leaving only 40,000 left in his stack. Clements went deep into the tank with just an over pair of jacks, but eventually made the call. The A came off on the turn and Mio put in his last few chips. Clements made the call and was one card away from taking an aboloute stranglehold on the event, but the Q hit the river to give Mio two pair and take a chunk out of Clements stack. A few orbits later Clements was eliminated in fourth place, earning $277,768 after turning one pair into a bluff and getting called by Mio’s flush.

Starting with three-handed play Le began to take over the final table. He eliminated Mio in third place ($397,836) to take just under a 3-to-1 lead into heads-up play against 2011 WSOP $2,500 10-game event winner Chris Lee.

Their heads-up battle lasted only half of an hour. On the final hand a short-stacked Lee 8753 called Le’s raise to 900,000 from the big blind and saw a flop of A8]3. Lee checked and Le bet 1,000,000. lee thought it over and elected to move all-in with his bottom two pair, only to get instantly called by Le’s A1032 for top two pair. The turn gave Lee some more outs with the 7, but the 6 river secured the pot and the title for Le.

Lee earned $580,177 as the runner-up, the largest cash of his live tournament career.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2017 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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