Experts in the field of pot-limit Omaha will tell you it's a game that has far bigger swings than no limit Hold'em and it's a sentiment that Martins Adeniya will no doubt agree with this evening.
The Full Tilt Poker Ambassador was dead last of the 29 remaining players when Day 2 got under way. He had fewer than nine big blinds to start the day, 45 minutes later he had 60, which was an average stack and apart from a wobble with 16 players left he never looked back. "I like the swinginess when it's going my way!," he said with a grin on his face and trophy in hand.
The manner of victory was perhaps the biggest surprise, Adeniya is an accomplished PLO player who is comfortable playing up to $5/$10 cash games online. He found himself heads-up against another proficient pot-limit player in the shape of Samuel Welbourne. The 30-year-old from Brighton has been playing for a living for six years and alternates between playing live and online.
Whilst Adeniya started with the heads-up chip lead, Welbourne had reduced the deficit to around three big blinds before the final hand. On the last hand of this first PLO UKIPT Series Adeniya limped for 30,000 off a stack of 755,000, Welbourne raised to 90,000 from his stack of 655,000 and Adeniya made the call.
The chips all went in on a [2h][6c][9s] flop, Welbourne had [Kd][Kc][Qd][8c] he was ahead but only on points against Adeniya's [Ah][8s][7h][5c], which was actually a 59% favourite to win the hand. The [5c] turn card gave Adeniya an unbeatable lead and he took the title.
For a large part of the day Patrick Hudson looked the most likely to take the title as he played almost flawlessly, mixing aggression, control and hand reading to reach the summit with 16 players left. It was lead he hung onto until three players remained when he got involved in a huge pot against Adeniya. They had similar hands and, whilst Adeniya was a favourite, there was a 40% chance of a chop but Adenyia prevailed and Hudson never recovered, exiting in third.
So, 29 players from the 72 entrants returned for Day 2 action at noon, each hoping to finish in the top 11 places and get a return on their investment. Before we reached that juncture Joe Roberts, Day 1 chip leader Sidney Oppong and Full Tilt Poker Ambassador Sin Meilin had all been jettisoned from the tournament.
But, Adenyia had recovered significantly enough that he actually burst the bubble, with Mark McFadden the unfortunate 12th place finisher. Before the official final table was set we'd lose Adam Owen (11th), Axel Briend (10th) and Toran Nicholls (9th), Briend got a significant return on his outlay as he satellited into this tournament at The Hippodrome Casino on Friday night.
It had taken a little over six and a half hours to go from 29 to 8, it would take only a touch over two to go from eight to one. The average stack when the final table got under way was 15 big blinds and the action was non stop.
Inside an hour we said goodbye to Grant Mason in eighth - he qualified in a freeroll at The Hippodrome Casino - Stephen Pearce (7th), Richard Wild (6th) and Clifford Jacobs (5th). At this point Deborah Rogers, who has results going all the way back to 1999, was still in with a chance to become the first ever female UKIPT Series champion. But ultimately she fell, like many did today, to the unstoppable Martins Adeniya to finish in fourth.
UKIPT Series 5: £275 PL Omaha Main Event
Entrants: 72
Prize pool: £17,460
Places paid: 11
1st. Martins Adeniya, United Kingdom, Full Tilt Poker Ambassador, £4,800
2nd. Samuel Welbourne, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £ 3,415
3rd. Patrick Hudson, United Kingdom, £ 2,235
4th. Deborah Rogers, United Kingdom, £ 1,720
5th. Clifford Jacobs, United Kingdom, £ 1,360
6th. Richard Wild, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, £ 1,065
7th. Stephen Pearce, United Kingdom, £ 840
8th. Grant Mason, United Kingdom, £ 655
For Adeniya his first major PLO title sets him up nicely for a summer of bracelet hunting in the heat of Las Vegas that will contain a few PLO tournaments. As for the UKIPT we're off to a different kind of heat as the tour now moves to Marbella. The €500,000 guaranteed €1,000 + €100 Main Event runs June 11th-15th and satellites are running now.
Tonight though belongs to Adeniya and in the classic race situation that is trophy or money I think you know which means more to him tonight.
PokerStars Blog reporting team: Nick Wright. Photos by Nika Zbasnik and Gregory Davies