For some strange reason, I feel as though I've written this story before. Actually, I have. For the second year in a row, in the same event, Thang Luu has proven once again that he is an extremely talented at Omaha high-low split.
Luu defended his title against a record field of 918 players, the most for any Omaha high-low split tournament. Luu needed to defeat 85 more players in 2009 than he did in 2008 to win his second bracelet and completed the feat after a six-hour final table on Sunday.
Impressed yet? Try this: Luu finished second in this event in 2007!
"It feels even better than the last one," Luu said of his most recent victory. "I think these kinds of $1,500 buy-in events are the best for me. There are a lot of new players in the [lower buy-in tournaments]."
The 34-year-old was joined at the final table by Freddy Deeb and now three-time WSOP runner-up Ed Smith. This was the first time since 2001 that a player has defended his title from the previous year, an accomplishment that has only happened nine times in WSOP history.
Other notable finishers include Eli Elezra (20th), Annie Duke (30th), Erick Lindgren (34th), Layne Flack (44th) and Todd Brunson (77th).
Below are the complete results of Event 3 at the 2009 World Series of Poker:
Event 3: Omaha high-low split
Buy-in: $1,500
Entries: 918
Prize pool: $1,253,070
Players in the money: 90
1. Thang Luu ($263,190)
2. Ed Smith ($162,109)
3. Ming Reslock ($106,373)
4. Robert Price ($73,404)
5. Pascal Leyo ($53,293)
6. Jordan Rich ($40,611)
7. Jim Geary ($32,404)
8. Freddy Deeb ($27,028)
9. Senovio Ramirez ($23,520)
10. Sebastian Ruthenberg ($16,828)
11. Lee Mougous ($16,828)
12. Richard Toth ($16,828)
13. Micah Brooks ($12,668)
14. Dan Spear ($12,668)
15. Adam Quiggle ($12,668)
16. Edgar Cheng ($9,899)
17. William Seale ($9,899)
18. Henry Hull ($9,899)
19. Jeremy Harkin ($7,869)
20. Eli Elezra ($7,869)
21. Morten Lassen ($7,869)
22. Geoff Bouvier ($7,869)
23. Jon Nakatani ($7,869)
24. Alex Michaels ($7,869)
25. Benjamin Gold ($7,869)
26. Sven Arntzen ($7,869)
27. Al Barbieri ($7,869)
28. James Stoddard ($6,566)
29. David Nikithser ($6,566)
30. Annie Duke ($6,566)
31. Brandon Macdonald ($6,566)
32. Michael Christensen ($6,566)
33. Jason Newburger ($6,566)
34. Erick Lindgren ($6,566)
35. Andreas Foulias ($6,566)
36. Paul Sherr ($6,566)
37. Daniel Harmetz ($5,651)
38. Tom Matthews ($5,651)
39. John Parker ($5,651)
40. Jonah Seewald ($5,651)
41. Bruce Levitt ($5,651)
42. Luis Santoni ($5,651)
43. Michael Kleist ($5,651)
44. Layne Flack ($5,651)
45. John Racener ($5,651)
46. Brad Birarda ($4,924)
47. Ahmad Abghari ($4,924)
48. Andre Akkari ($4,924)
49. Chris Chang ($4,924)
50. Thomas Hunt ($4,924)
51. Derek Kadota ($4,924)
52. Dale Kunkel ($4,924)
53. Charles Jett ($4,924)
54. Kia Hooshmand ($4,924)
55. Jason Koonce ($4,360)
56. Jason Riesenberg ($4,360)
57. Greg Yocum ($4,360)
58. Julie Schneider ($4,360)
59. Casey Kay ($4,360)
60. Matt Savage ($4,360)
61. Delmiro Toledo ($4,360)
62. Kristopher Young ($4,360)
63. Clint Steelman ($4,360)
64. Pat Poels ($3,796)
65. Steve Hohn ($3,796)
66. Stephen Ladowsky ($3,796)
67. Robert Goldfarb ($3,796)
68. Todd Sninski ($3,796)
69. Marion Bush ($3,796)
70. Toto Leonidas ($3,796)
71. Fabrice Soulier ($3,796)
72. Gregory Pappas ($3,796)
73. Sean Roy ($3,270)
74. Barry Rosenbloom ($3,270)
75. Colin Barlowe ($3,270)
76. Matt Lefkowitz ($3,270)
77. Todd Brunson ($3,270)
78. Sean McMahon ($3,270 )
79. George Dicambio ($3,270)
80. Luis Deguzman ($3,270)
81. David Daneshgar ($3,270)
82. Mark Ferguson ($2,781)
83. Steven Farmer ($2,781)
84. Joseph Smeraglia ($2,781)
85. Chris Falconer ($2,781)
86. Mark Robinson ($2,781)
87. Patrick Wilmes ($2,781)
88. Mitch Schock ($2,781)
89. Steve Lustig ($2,781)
90. Jeffrey Tunkel ($2,781)