Event 17 | Event 19
Daniel Alaei is perfect when it comes to winning WSOP events when he makes the final table. The cash-game superstar defeated a tough field of 179 professionals in the Omaha high-low World Championship event to win his second bracelet and $445,898 in prize money.
Alaei, 26, has more than $2.5 million in tournament earnings, but as you've most likely seen on GSN's High Stakes Poker, he specializes in cash games. His first bracelet was in 2006 in the 2-7 lowball event, and some could argue that the field in this event was one of the best so far in the WSOP.
"Everybody at the final table is a great player," Alaei said to the WSOP. "Everybody here played good. This is a big buy-in event with a smaller field, so there just aren't many bad players. No one was giving anything away. Everyone was playing their best."
The final table featured big name after big name. One of the biggest, Daniel Negreanu, made his second final table appearance of the Series, but finished short once again, ending up in fourth place. Negreanu wasn't the only player who made his second final table in this event -- John Monnette also made a repeat appearance. Monnette finished second to Phil Ivey in Event 8, and with a fifth-place finish in this event, he currently ranks fourth in the WSOP Player of the Year standings.
Perhaps the most well-known poker player in the world thanks to her "Celebrity Apprentice" appearance, Annie Duke, finished in eighth. This was Duke's second cash of the WSOP; she currently ranks first among women on the all-time cash list.
Joining the aforementioned players was Scott Clements, who might have the best record when it comes to Omaha events at the WSOP over the last few years. Clements, a two-time bracelet winner, finished third at his fifth final table in an Omaha variant since 2006. That's incredible, and as Gary Wise stated, "[Scott is] absolutely amongst the most underrecognized players in tournament poker."
Other notable finishers include Jacobo Fernandez (11th), Ville Wahlbeck (13th) and Alexander Kravchenko (16th).
Below are the complete results of Event 18:
Event 18: Omaha high-low split World Championship
Buy-in: $10,000
Entries: 179
Prize pool: $1,682,600
Players in the money: 18
1. Daniel Alaei ($445,898)
2. Scott Clements ($275,946)
3. Ben Boyd ($182,730)
4. Daniel Negreanu ($130,401)
5. John Monnette ($97,422)
6. Greg Jamison ($77,736)
7. Thomas Koral ($65,453)
8. Annie Duke ($58,049)
9. Rich Zhu ($54,179)
10. Cam McKinley ($39,709)
11. Jacobo Fernandez ($39,709)
12. Samir Khoueis ($39,709)
13. Ville Wahlbeck ($31,632)
14. Ted Lawson ($31,632)
15. Pat Pezzin ($31,632)
16. Alexander Kravchenko ($26,921)
17. Toto Leonidas ($26,921)
18. John Rogers ($26,921)