$ 5k Pot Limit Omaha

After one of the most exciting hands of this year’s WSOP, Richard Austin has beaten out online superstars Sorel Mizzi and Cliff ‘JohnnyBax’ Josephy to the $ 5,000 Pot Limit Omaha bracelet.

With three players remaining Austin had a slight chiplead over his two opponents but all were still fairly deep stacked. Austin limped the button, Mizzi completed from the small blind and Josephy raised to 150,00 from the big blind. Austin made the call before a surprising pot-sized reraise from Mizzi up to 750,000 turned this hand into a monster. One time bracelet winner Josephy moved all-in for just 195,000 more while Mizzi and Austin saw a flop.

With nearly 3m in the pot the Kc-9d-3c flop was irrelevant as Mizzi threw his last 680,000 into the middle and Austin called with the chance to win the tournament right here.

The hands were;

Josephy: Ad-Kh-Ks-8d for top set and a backdoor diamond draw
Mizzi: As-Ah-5d-3d for Aces
Austin: a slightly strange Qh-Js-8c-5c for a flush draw and gutshot

The turn was a blank 8s before a killer 7c on the river made Austin a flush giving him the hand and bracelet. Mizzi and Josephy were left stunned and many wondered how Austin had come to put so much money into the pot pre-flop with such a substandard holding.

The crowd in attendance were left disappointed at not seeing a famous pro pick up the bracelet and events took an even stranger tone when champion Richard Austin refused to accept any of his media obligations after the tournament, leaving journalists in the lurch. Furthermore, he became the first player to shun the WSOP gold bracelet ceremony that has been introduced this year to great acclaim.

Nobody knows the reason for Austin shunning the spotlight – poker players are usually clutching at every possible inch of fame they can get – but he’ll always be remembered for winning one of the most explosive hands of this year’s Series.