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Albania Hosts Million-Dollar Pot-Limit Omaha Tournament

High-Stakes Regular Tom Vogelsang Bested 225 Entries In The €5,000 PLO Event At Arena Casino Tirana

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Pot-limit Omaha is having a moment on the poker tournament scene. The popular four-card poker game has been the format for more and more large events around the globe in recent years. While PLO’s popularity is spiking, poker itself continues to spread around the globe, establishing footholds in more and more major international cities. A recent addition to the poker scene had been Arena Casino Tirana in the capital of Albania. The venue started hosting widely publicized events in late 2023, and last year established the PLO Grand Slam hosted by Diamond Poker Series, focusing on the hot game on the scene. The inaugural running in 2024 featured €3 million in guarantees, and the success of the festival lead to a second edition early in 2025.

This time around, the guaranteed prize money across the festival has been upped to €5 million, with the two largest events being the €1,000,000 guaranteed €5,000 ‘opener’ and the €2,000,000 guaranteed €10,000 championship. While the latter of those two marquee tournaments is currently ongoing, the former wrapped up on Jan. 26. High-stakes tournament regular Tom Vogelsang overcame the field of 225 entries to earn $245,910 and his fourth recorded title, including a win in a Triton Poker $25,000 pot-limit Omaha event.

This was the fifth-largest score yet for the Dutch player, with his top payday being the $1.4 million he earned as the runner-up in the Triton Poker Cyprus $100,000 buy-in event back in 2022. He now has nearly $3.9 million in lifetime cashes to his name after this latest victory.

Vogelsang also earned 768 Card Player Player of the Year points, placing him inside the top 40 in the early 2025 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

The top 27 finishers earned a share of the $1.1 million in total prize money that was awarded in this event. There were plenty of big names among those that cashed, including Robert Cowen (23rd), Ismael Bojang (22nd), Dario Alioto (21st), and Fahredin Mustafov (18th).

Bracelet winner Ronald Keijzer finished eighth for $30,135, while European Poker Tour champion 2019 World Series of poker main event winner Hossein Ensan placed sixth for $57,015. The German got all-in with top pair and three live kickers against an overpair of aces for Sean Rafael. Ensan turned two pair to move in front, but the board paired on the end to give Rafael aces up and the pot. Ensan now has more than $13.9 million in career earnings after this latest deep run.

Rafael went on to finish second for $166,005. This was a new high score for the American, besting the $115,000 he had earned with a thirdplace showing in a $10,000 event at the 2024 PokerGO Tour PLO Series.

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

Place Player Earnings POY Points
1 Tom Vogelsang $245,910 768
2 Sean Rafael $166,005 640
3 Nino Pansier $114,240 512
4 Youness Barakat $93,135 384
5 Fabian Riebau-Schmithals $74,235 320
6 Hossein Ensan $57,015 256
7 Harry Casagrande $41,580 192
8 Ronald Keijzer $30,135 128
9 Andrew Ige $24,885 64

Photo credit: PokerNews.