Francesco Barbaro Wins Event #3! Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better ($262,283)
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The biggest field in Limit Omaha Hi-Low history finished early this morning with victory for the overnight chip leader Francesco Barbaro, defeating a field of 925 players to claim his first ever WSOP bracelet.
Barbaro began today as the chip leader just ahead of Matthew Waxman and although he was to relinquish the chip lead to Waxman as they reached the final table, Barbero regained the momentum at a crucial point with around five left and completely dominated once we got four handed.
The day began extremely quickly as we lost 11 players inside the first hour including Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis and double Omaha bracelet winner Scott Clements. Jimmy Fricke was another casualty, suffering a very swingy day while Day 1 chip leader Guillaume Rivet just failed to make the final table. As the event reached the final table, it was Barbaro, Waxman and Kostas Kalathakis who emerged as the three big stacks while the other players' chips began to dwindle and indeed they were the last three left standing.
After winning these two crucial hands, it always looked likely that Barbero would be the first person to take down a non Hold'em event. Those hands put him over the 3 million mark and knocked Kostas Kalathakis and Waxman down to about 500,000 each and from then on it seemed academic that Barbaro would claim the bracelet.
With Waxman finished off when Barbaro flopped a straight, it was left to Kalathakis to try and stop the bulldozer-like momentum of the chip leader. Although the short stack doubled up, it wasn't too last long and after only five minutes of heads up play, it was all over and bracelet was Barbaro's.
Congratualtions to him and all the winners in this event. Remember to rejoin us tomorrow for a whole new set of events as well as more Day 2's and final tables as the WSOP continues!