Missouri poker pro and primarily cash game player Pat Walsh enjoyed a profitable weekend after claiming his first winner’s bracelet and the $923,379 first prize in event 64 of the 2014 World Series of Poker, an excellent return for his $10,000 buy-in for the Pot Limit Omaha competition.
The event, which lasted for 29 one hour levels over three days, was the last of the preliminary competitions leading up to the main event, and attracted an entry field of 418, building a prize pool of $3,929,200.
Walsh turned in a polished and successful performance throughout the event, either holding the chip lead or not being far from it as he powered his way onto a talented final table that was populated by Javed Abrahams, Miltiadis Kyriakides, Isaac Baron, Marko Neumann, Matt Marafioti, Michael Shklover, Michal Maryška and Jonas Entin.
On the way he eliminated aces like Alex Kravchenko and Tom Marchese, denying them the opportunity to join the final table action and heading the final nine players in chip counts, an advantage he managed to retain for much of the final phase of the event.
Heads up, Walsh faced Javed Abrahams, who gave the Missouri pro his first serious challenge by briefly taking the chip lead from him, but it was a temporary lapse for the on-form Walsh, who 18 hands later claimed the honours, leaving Abrahams with the still-impressive $570,284 second prize.
Walsh has two other WSOP cashes on his resume…but none paid as much as this victory.
Other final table pay checks were cut for:
Miltiadis Kyriakides $412,408
Isaac Baron $301,369
Marko Neumann $222,549
Matt Marafioti $166,087
Michael Shklover $125,223
Michal Maryška $95,361
Jonas Entin $73,358