Eldridge Leads The Way, Rast and Helppi Among Final Five in $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha
After almost eight hours of play on the penultimate day of Event #73: $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha, the second-most expensive four-card High Roller tournament of the 2024 World Series of Poker is just one day away from the conclusion at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
The event surpassed last year's record figure of 449 entries and the biggest slice of the $11,186,000 prize pool is still up for grabs on the final day. Out of 476 entries, only five contenders remain, and they have locked up a cash prize of $524,911. The top three finishers will earn seven-figure prizes, and the winner will receive the coveted WSOP gold bracelet along with a top prize of $2,246,728.
Leading the way is David Eldridge with 23,400,000. He soared to the top of the leaderboard after scoring the night's final elimination. Eldridge is part of the Pittsburgh Omaha crew, which also includes James Chen and Manh Nguyen, both of whom have already reached final tables in the four-card variant this year.
Second in chips is Ethan Cahn with 17,550,000 and Yang Wang sits in third place with a stack of 12,250,000. The bottom two spots belong to Brian Rast (9,450,000) and Juha Helppi (8,775,000). It is the sixth cash of the summer for Rast, who won his sixth gold bracelet one year ago in Event #43: $50,000 Poker Players Championship and was inducted into the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame.
Seat Assignments for the Final Day
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethan Cahn | United States | 17,550,000 | 70 |
| 2 | Yang Wang | China | 12,250,000 | 41 |
| 3 | Brian Rast | United States | 9,450,000 | 32 |
| 4 | David Eldridge | United States | 23,400,000 | 78 |
| 5 | Juha Helppi | Finland | 8,775,000 | 29 |
There are 5:20 minutes remaining in Level 28 at blinds of 125,000/250,000 with a big blind ante of 250,000.
Action of the Day
Day 3 brought back 34 hopefuls to their seats inside the Horseshoe Event Center, and within the first four hours, that figure was cut in half as rapid eliminations whittled down the field to the final two tables. Among those to depart soon after the cards went back in the air were Noah Schwartz, Tom Dwan and Sean Winter.
Schwartz lost most of his stack in a rough beat against Richard Gryko before busting and Dwan went from middle of the pack to the payout desk within two consecutive hands. Joao Vieira and Michael Moncek followed soon after that; the final three tables were set with Rast in the lead.
Online legend Viktor "Isildur1" Blom recorded yet another deep run during the 2024 WSOP but was denied another shot at a maiden gold bracelet. Next to bow out was Erick Lindgren, who hero-called at the wrong time and was ousted by Anuj Agarwal. The same table then lost Kahle Burns, Christian Harder and Gryko in a matter of minutes before Alex Livingston was eliminated before the two table redraw.
The all-in showdowns didn't slow down after the final 16 hopefuls were moved to the side feature tables in the Horseshoe Event Center and Joni Jouhkimainen as well as Eelis P?rssinen were among the notable casualties. P?rssinen's exit in tenth place came in the very same seat on the right-hand side in which his run in Event #66: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship ended in seventh place just three days ago.
Fellow countryman Juha Helppi was among the short stacks when the final nine took their new seat assignments, but he scored a double almost immediately before knocking out Maxi Lehmanski.
A few minutes later, the field was reduced to the final six thanks to back-to-back eliminations. Agarwal got it in with a straight and flush draw against Rast, who earned the knockout with the nut flush. Liran Twito was sent to the payout desk in the next hand when his double-suited ace-king combo ended up second-best to Yang Wang.
One more level was to be played or down to the final five, and Ethan Cahn, as the shortest stack, doubled through Wang to keep his hopes alive. Only one further all-in showdown followed, and it brought with it the elimination of Billy Tarango. He ran his kings into the aces of Eldridge on a queen-high flop, after which the final five players bagged up their chips for the night.
The five contenders for WSOP gold will be back on Tuesday, July 2, at 3 p.m. local time to play down to a winner. You can follow all the action right here on PokerNews and on the PokerGO platform.
Final Table Results and Remaining Payouts
| Place | Winner | Country | (Prize in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,246,728 | ||
| 2 | $1,497,824 | ||
| 3 | $1,038,097 | ||
| 4 | $731,819 | ||
| 5 | $524,911 | ||
| 6 | Billy Tarango | United States | $383,191 |
| 7 | Liran Twito | Israel | $284,794 |
| 8 | Anuj Agarwal | United States | $215,563 |