By Andrew Feldman
ESPN.com
Limit Omaha high-low split isn't the world's most popular poker game. It especially isn't a tournament format that casinos around the world are hoping to run with hopes of building excitement for the offerings at their venue. As Ronin1085 once said: "My horse won't even play it." However, if you look at the 925-player turnout in Event 3 at the 2011 World Series of Poker, you're probably thinking otherwise.
The players poured into the Rio and increased the field size from 2010 by 13 percent to set a record for the largest Omaha high-low split eight-or-better event in WSOP history. This was the first open event at the 2011 WSOP and players just wanted to hit the felt, no matter what the game. Francesco "Cheech" Barbaro took full advantage of the dead money in the field, and there was plenty, to win his first bracelet and $262,283.
"I am not into fame. I do not want to be famous. I don't care about people knowing who I am. But the bracelet does matter. It's everything. It's a great sense of accomplishment," Barbaro said after his victory. "Going through 924 other players and winning is pretty awesome."
Barbaro is a professional poker player from Chicago, IL.
The 37-year-old has been playing full-time for the past two years and after winning a HORSE event at the WSOP Circuit stop in Hammond, IL, he decided to play in his first WSOP event. Clearly, his decision paid off.
Despite it being only the fourth day at the WSOP, it can be said that the final tables have been filled with the top talent in the world and this one was no exception. Last year's emerging Russian superstar, Vladimir Shchemelev, finished in eighth, but the most notable, and loudest player, at the final table was Humberto Brenes.
After playing a short-stack for most of the final two days, Brenes was eliminated in sixth place. At that point it was Matt Waxman, WSOP Circuit main event champion from Atlantic City, who was in control, but Barbaro took a few key pots off of Waxman to gain the lead and never looked back. Waxman would be eliminated in third and Barbaro would knock out 28-year-old businessman Kostas Kalathakis to win the title.
Other notable finishers included Scott Clements (21st), Allen Cunningham (26th), Men Nguyen (27th), Chau Giang (29th), Erik Seidel (32nd) and Barry Greenstein (36th).
Below are the complete results of Event 3 at the 2011 World Series of Poker:
Event 3: Omaha high-low split eight-or-better
Buy-in: $1,500
Entries: 925
Prize pool: $1,248,750
Players in the money: 90
1. Francesco Barbaro ($262,283)
2. Kostas Kalathakis ($161,675)
3. Matthew Waxman ($104,770)
4. Bradley Helm ($76,673)
5. Michael Deveronica ($56,943)
6. Humberto Brenes ($42,857)
7. Cameron McKinley ($32,654)
8. Vladimir Shchemelev ($25,174)
9. Travis Pearson ($19,617)
10. Richard Monroe ($15,484)
11. Ryan Lenaghan ($15,484)
12. Fabrizio Gonzalez ($15,484)
13. Daniel Smith ($12,450)
14. John Mccaffrey ($12,450)
15. Guillaume Rivet ($12,450)
16. Jimmy Fricke ($10,002)
17. Mallory Smith ($10,002)
18. Jacobo Fernandez ($10,002)
19. David Harper ($8,191)
20. Michael Simon ($8,191)
21. Scott Clements ($8,191)
22. Andreas Krause ($8,191)
23. Jaime Kaplan ($8,191)
24. Lex Veldhuis ($8,191)
25. Brian Swinford ($8,191)
26. Allen Cunningham ($8,191)
27. Men Nguyen ($8,191)
28. Miguel Proulx ($6,868)
29. Chau Giang ($6,868)
30. Ben Landowski ($6,868)
31. John Bunch ($6,868)
32. Erik Seidel ($6,868)
33. Eric Cloutier ($6,868)
34. Daniel Sindelar ($6,868)
35. James Dempsey ($6,868)
36. Barry Greenstein ($6,868)
37. Jessie Bryant ($5,744)
38. Matthew Lefkowitz ($5,744)
39. Benjamin Yu ($5,744)
40. Ahmad Abghari ($5,744)
41. Dale Kunkel ($5,744)
42. James Bord ($5,744)
43. Michael Rahmn ($5,744)
44. Ralph Arpaio ($5,744)
45. Michael Pfeiffer ($5,744)
46. Michael Sweeney ($4,845)
47. Noah Bronstein ($4,845)
48. Joe Ford ($4,845)
49. Par Hildebrand ($4,845)
50. Ted Woolridge ($4,845)
51. Thomas McCormick ($4,845)
52. Patrick Gunn ($4,845)
53. Julie Schneider ($4,845)
54. Daniel Ratigan ($4,845)
55. Mary Jones ($4,095)
56. Troy Palmer ($4,095)
57. Howell Cheek ($4,095)
58. Mark Tenner ($4,095)
59. Ted Lawson ($4,095)
60. Dave Stann ($4,095)
61. Dario Alioto ($4,095)
62. Ray Henson ($4,095)
63. Gary Bolden ($4,095)
64. Clayton Newman ($3,496)
65. Robert Keegan ($3,496)
66. Brian Micon ($3,496)
67. Ruben Vera ($3,496)
68. Josh Arieh ($3,496)
69. David Nowakowski ($3,496)
70. Gebrehiwet Goitom ($3,496)
71. James Pechac ($3,496)
72. Leo Fasen ($3,496)
73. John D'Agostino ($3,096)
74. Anirudh Seth ($3,096)
75. Robert Morbitzer ($3,096)
76. Dallas Wottlin ($3,096)
77. Robert Mougous ($3,096)
78. Steven Cowley ($3,096)
79. Ryan Himes ($3,096)
80. Christopher Amaral ($3,096)
81. Ronald Ware ($3,096)
82. Alan Engel ($2,809)
83. Roland Israelashvili ($2,809)
84. Daniel Tossounian ($2,809)
85. Alan Bittikofer ($2,809)
86. John Clark ($2,809)
87. James Meehan ($2,809)
88. Jeffrey Shulman ($2,809)
89. Michael Jensen ($2,809)
90. Richard Sklay ($2,809)
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