Ryan Laplante Crowned Poker Masters $10K PLO Champion

November 07, 2019 Matthew Pitt

Ryan Laplante became the latest 2019 Poker Masters champion after he came out on top of a star-studded field in Event #2: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. It was an impressive victory that netted Laplante $186,000, the second-largest cash of his career, surpassed only by the $190,328 he secured when he won a WSOP bracelet in 2016.

2019 Poker Masters Event #2: $10,000 PLO Payouts

Place Player Country Prize 1 Ryan Laplante United States $186,000 2 Chance Kornuth United States $124,000 3 Thai Ha Vietnam $86,000 4 John Riordan United States $62,000 5 Ali Imsirovic Bosnia & Herzegovina $49,600 6 Tim McDermott United States $37,200 7 Damjan Radanov United States $31,000 8 Brent Roberts United States $24,800 9 Anthony Zinno United States $18,600

A field of 62 entries were whittled down to a more manageable six on Day 1. German star Manig Loeser was the unfortunate player to burst the money bubble, getting his chips in with two pair and losing to a turned jack of Damjan Radanov.

Anthony Zinno, fresh from a final table appearance at the WSOP Europe Main Event, busted in ninth at the hands of reigning Poker Masters champion Ali Imsirovic before Brent Roberts crashed out in eighth place for $24,800.

The final elimination on Day 1 was that of Radanov. Radanov flopped a set of jacks but Imsirovic had flopped a set of aces. With that, the final table was set.

Laplante Leads the Final Six

Laplante was the man to catch at the start of the six-handed final table with almost 3 million chips. Short stacked Tim McDermott was the first finalist to bust and the hands of John Riordan. Imsirovic then busted at the hands of Laplante when he committed most of his chips preflop with a pair of aces only for Laplante to flop the nut flush.

Riordan then fell in fourth place, again at the hands of Laplante who was now a considerable chip leader.

Thai Ha, who finished eighth in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em event, lost his stack after getting his stack in with a flopped straight only to lose to a rivered flush of Laplante.

This set up a heads-up battle between Laplante and Chance Kornuth. Kornuth would ultimately have to settle for his second runner-up finish in as many days when his pocket queens lost to Laplante’s tens after the latter flopped a set.

An emotional Laplante said to Poker Central shortly after his impressive victory, “This tournament series as a whole is obviously very tough, playing against some of the best players in the world. The structure, however, is built to be pretty fast and especially in a game like PLO it’s a real battle and you’re constantly going for it. I tried my best to get into good situations and make thin bluffs, but honestly, I just ran really well and that’s required to win any tournament.”

Current 2019 Poker Masters Standings

Place Player Points Cashes Winnings 1 Chance Kornuth 420 2 $293,400 2 Isaac Baron 300 1 $223,100 3 Ryan Laplante 300 1 $186,000 4 Thai Ha 210 2 $124,800 5 Ralph Wong 150 1 $116,400

Kornuth’s brace of second-place finishes places him top of the 2019 Poker Masters leaderboard and does so with a 120 point advantage. There is a long way to go, however, before he can don that purple jacket.

Event #3: $10,000 Short Deck has reached its six-handed final table and will play to a conclusion today.

Seat Player Country Chip Count 1 Jorryt van Hoof Netherlands 1,425,000 2 Sam Soverel United States 1,265,000 3 Ben Yu United States 1,745,000 4 Alex Foxen United States 1,285,000 5 Jonathan Depa United States 3,305,000 6 Erik Seidel United States 2,065,000

Remaining 2019 Poker Masters Schedule

Date Time Event Nov. 6 12 p.m. $10,000 Short Deck Nov. 7 12 p.m. $10,000 8-Game Nov. 8 12 p.m. $10,000 Big Bet Nov. 9 12 p.m. $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Nov. 10 12 p.m. $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Nov. 11 12 p.m. $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Nov. 12 12 p.m. $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em Nov. 13 12 p.m. $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em

Lead image courtesy of PokerGo