Ben Lamb Closes In On Historic WSOP Main Event Victory

US pro Ben Lamb moved a step closer to capping off one of the most remarkable WSOP runs ever, after finishing last night’s 10 hour November Nine marathon as one of only three players still remaining in the 2011 Main Event.
Despite lying 5th in chips going into last night’s action, most of the media attention was firmly fixed on the 26 year-old whose unprecedented run at this year’s WSOP shows no signs of abating.
Ben Lamb had already cashed 5 times at the 2011 Series for $1,331,832, including winning a bracelet at the $10k PLO Championship ($814,436), a 2nd place finish at the $3k PLO event ($259,918), 8th at the $50k Poker Players Championship ($201,338) and 12th at the $10k NL Six Handed for $56,140.
Now guaranteed at least $4,021,138 for reaching the last three, Lamb stands on the brink of adding the Main Event bracelet to his tally and its accompanying $8,715,636 top prize.
Last night, Ben Lamb (A-K) eliminated UK’s Sam Holden (A-J) in 9th place and much later a short-stacked Matt Giannetti in 4th, whose A-3 shove ran into the pocket Kings of Lamb.
Hitting a K-K-Q flop, Lamb made quads to finish the day on a 55,400,000 stack, ahead of Martin Stszko (Cze) on 42,700,000, but still behind the chip leader Pius Heinz (Ger) on 107,800,000.
However, things weren’t all plain sailing for Lamb who twice found himself battling for his tournament survival and way behind his opponent’s hands.
Firstly, with around 14 million in chips Lamb (Qd-8d) was all-in against the Ac-9d of Eoghan O’Dea and looked to be on his way out before an 8 hit on the river to double him up to around 30 million in chips.
Next, Lamb (Ah-7h) with 25 million chips pushed over the top of Matt Giannetti with pocket Jacks, before hitting the flush on a Kh-9d-5h-4h board.
Nevertheless, even his fellow November Niners acknowledged Lamb as the toughest opponent at the final table, with Phil Collins commenting that “he plays poker at a very elite level,” and O’Dea stating that:
“Ben Lamb always seems to know where he’s at. I saw him do some things that were pretty impressive, like when he was holding pocket kings against two aces. He lost some chips, but any other player would have lost a lot more or would have doubled his opponent up. Ben played it just right.”
Back in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, Ben Lamb finished in 14th place for $633,022 and the seasoned pro with $2,553,878 in career cashes up to now surely looks set to go all the way. It would take a very brave man to bet against him  this time.