2015 WSOP Europe: Richard Gryko Wins €3,250 Pot-Limit Omaha

England’s Richard Gryko has won the €3,250 Pot Limit Omaha eight-max event, after besting a field of 161 players over three days on his way to capturing a first career WSOP bracelet, as well as the tournament’s €126,345 ($143,489) first place prize. Following a victory which now pushes his live earnings to $1,019,671, Gryko commented:
“I haven’t really begun to process this yet. All I can say is that I’ve been a poker player since well before I should legally have been a poker player, so I guess a long time has been leading up to today. The sight of the river card, I’ve never given a fist pump for winning a tournament before. That alone should tell you how much it means.”
The €3,250 Pot-Limit Omaha event featured a €468,510 prize pool, and amongst the notable pros subsequently seeing a return on their buy-ins was Nicholas Palma in 20th (€5,015), Dermot Blain in 15th (€5,905), Maxim Panyak in 13th (€7,075), Noah Bronstein in 12th (€8,620), and Barny Boatman in 9th (€10,680).
After the final table of eight had been set, Richard Gryko eliminated Ismael Bojang in 8th (€13,445), while Mike Leah took care of Benjamin Pollak in 6th (€22,535), Lawrence Lazar in 5th (€29,940), Roberto Romanello in 4th (€40,480), and Mikkel Plum in 3rd (€55,755), to force heads-up against Richard Gryko for the WSOP bracelet.
As the final battle commenced, Leah held a 2-1 chip lead over his remaining opponent, but an hour later Gryko had pulled ahead when the deciding hand was played with Leah (Ah-Ks-7c-6c) moving all-in on an Ad-Kd-6s flop. Gryko (Ac-Jh-10d-2d) made the call, and with a 10c and 3d falling on turn and river, Gryko’s flush secured him the title, whilst denying Leah a second career gold bracelet. Commenting on the heads-up phase, Gryko said:
“He’s obviously a very good live tournament player. But I specialize in playing Omaha online. So when it got to 80 big blinds deep playing Omaha for a bracelet, that’s pretty much as good a shot as I could ask for. It’s my best game with deep stacks and you can’t really ask for much more.”
Final Table Payouts
1 Richard Gryko – €126,345
2 Mike Leah – €78,150
3 Mikkel Plum – €55,755
4 Roberto Romanello – €40,480
5 Lawrence Lazar – €29,940
6 Benjamin Pollak – €22,535
7 Max Pescatori – €17,240
8 Ismael Bojang – €13,445