WSOP 2013 - Event #61 - Daniel Alaei Has Second $10,000 PLO Bracelet, Fourth Overall

With Event #61 $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha, the last bracelet side event of this year’s WSOP kicked off. Day 1 saw 386 entrants and a $3,628,400 prize pool accumulated. 168 players survived with Matthew O'Donnell in the lead, slightly ahead of WSOP 2010 Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel. In the field were the likes of Ben Tollerene, Justin Smith, Jason Mercier, Eric Baldwin, Brian Hastings, Tom Marchese, Erik Seidel, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Selbst, among others.

On Day 2, the 45 in the money finishes were reached with the elimination of Jamie Pickering. Of the most renowned players, Peter Jetten finished 44th, Scott Seiver 42nd, Marcel Luske 41st, Brian Roberts 36th and Matt Giannetti 33rd. The very strong remaining field of 32 competitors were led by Alexey Rybin into the final tournament day.

On the way to the Final Table, Stephen Chidwick busted out in 32nd place on Day 3, followed by Nacho Barbero in 31st, Mike Watson in 29th, Yevgeniy Timoshenko in 22nd, Joseph Cheong in 21st and Duhamel in 18th. The Final Table bubble boy was also a favourite, Oleksii Kovalchuk.

The official Final Table seat draw was as follows:

Seat 1: Gjergj Sinishtaj – 1,960,000
Seat 2: Numit Agrawal – 325,000
Seat 3: Rory Rees Brennan – 885,000
Seat 4: Daniel Alaei – 2,090,000
Seat 5: Jared Bleznick – 2,860,000
Seat 6: Tom Marchese – 630,000
Seat 7: James Wiese – 1,165,000
Seat 8: Alex Kravchenko – 930,000
Seat 9: Sean Dempsey – 345,000

First out was Alex Kravchenko, followed by Rory Rees Brennan, Sean Dempsey, Gjergj Sinishtaj and Numit Agrawal. With several double-ups in the process, the chip counts were rearranged for the four-handed play, mostly to the benefit of three times WSOP champion Daniel Alaei.

Daniel Alaei – 7,520,000
Jared Bleznick – 1,680,000
James Wiese – 1,550,000
Tom Marchese – 710,000

On Level 29 (50,000/100,000), Jared Bleznick and Marchese saw the T 5 2 flop. Bleznick bet 500,000, asking for Marchese’s all-in and the NAPT champion called.

Bleznick: 9 8 7 5
Marchese: A K 7 3

Turn: Q
River: Q

Bleznick’s hand held out, the last streets making little difference.

Still on the same level, James Wiese raised to 200,000 from the Button, Bleznick 3-bet to 650,000 from the BB and Wiese called. The flop came T 6 2 and the players shoved.

Wiese: Q J T 6
Bleznick: K 9 8 7

Turn: 5
River: 4

Wiese flopped two pairs but Bleznick’s straight arrived on the turn and river, so was the heads-up set.

Daniel Alaei – 6,600,000
Jared Bleznick – 4,900,000

It only took a single hand to finish the tournament: Alaei opened to 200,000 from the Button, Bleznick called and the dealer put down the 7 4 2 flop. Bleznick check-raised the pot on Alaei’s 275,000 bet and the latter called instantly. On the T turn, Bleznick bet the pot again, Alaei moved all-in and Bleznick called.

Bleznick: K 7 6 5
Alaei: T T 4 3

River: 2

The river was not even on the table when Bleznick had already been shaking his opponent’s hands to congratulate him on the victory.


Daniel Alaei won the $5,000 NL 2-7 Draw Lowball event in 2006, the $10,000 World Championship Omaha Hi-Lo in 2009 and the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship in 2010 at the World Series. This last title is once again his, making him a four times bracelet holder.

The end results are as follows:

1st: Daniel Alaei - $852.692
2nd: Jared Bleznick - $526.625
3rd: James Wiese - $380.836
4th: Tom Marchese - $278.298
5th: Numit Agrawal - $205.512
6th: Gjergj Sinishtaj - $153.372
7th: Sean Dempsey - $115.637
8th: Rory Rees Brennan - $88.061
9th: Alex Kravchenko - $67.742