Ryan Bambrick Wins 2018 WSOP $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Event

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Ryan Bambrick overcame a field of 799 entries to win the 2018 World Series of Poker $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event, earning $217,123 and his first WSOP gold bracelet. The 30-year-old New Jersey native has been a day trader for seven years, but recently decided to take a leave of absence to give playing poker a shot. He has played online for 15 years semi-seriously, but after a recent winning streak online he opted to head out to Vegas for the summer. This event saw him make his fourth cash at the 2018 WSOP, but it was his first final table finish.

“I was just trying to play my best game the whole time,” Bambrick told WSOP reporters. “And whatever happens, happens. I was really focused on trying to win. I wasn’t really concerned about the pay jumps. I was just trying to win a bracelet, to be honest with you.”

In addition to the money and the bracelet, Bambrick was also awarded 912 Card Player Player of the Year points, enough to see him jump to 214th place in the 2018 Player of the Year standings despite not having made any other final tables so far this year.

Bambrick came into the final day of this event as the chip leader with 12 remaining, sitting with more than twice as many chips as the next biggest stack belonging to Phil Riley. Finland’s Sampo Ryynanen scored the first knockout at the official nine-handed final table, eliminating Pushpinder Singh (9th – $14,904) to become one of the chip leaders. Bambrick picked up the next elimination, with his KK108 besting Randy White’s AJJ9 in a preflop all-in to send White home in eighth place ($19,469).

Tim McDermott scored three of the next four knockouts, sending Daniel Woolard (7th – $25,841), Jared Ingles (5th – $47,713) and Phil Riley (4th – $66,342) to the rail. Sampo Ryynanen had the only other elimination during that spree, busting Jody Fayant in sixth place ($34,843).

Bambrick entered three-handed play as the short stack, but quickly doubled through Ryynanen to take the lead. He then scored a big knockout to set up the final heads-up showdown. McDermott raised to 210,000 from the button holding the AJ43 and Bambrick defended his big blind with the 9773. The flop brought the 993 and Bambrick checked his flopped full house. McDermott went all-in for 370,000 and Bambrick quickly called. McDermott ended up making a flush when the turn brought the 2 and the river the 8, but Bambrick’s hand was still best. McDermott was awarded $93,639 for his deep run.

With that Bambrick took more than a 2-to-1 lead into heads-up play with Ryynanen. He quickly extended that lead to over 5-to-1 before the final handwas dealt. Bambrick raised to 240,000 from the button with the QQ83 and Ryynanen called from the big blind holding J1076. The flop brought the 974 and Ryynanen moved all-in for 300,000. Bambrick called and found himself with the best hand with his pair of queens. The 4 gave him queens and fours, which beat the jacks and sevens that Ryynanen made on the J river. With that Ryynanen was eliminated in second place, earning $217,123.

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

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2018 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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