Richard Gryko has taken down Event 3 at the 2015 WSOPE in Berlin: the €3,250 Eight-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha event.
For his troubles, The British pro and Omaha specialist took home a first prize worth €126,345 ($144,501) and his first career WSOP bracelet.
His prize also took his lifetime live earnings over the $1 million mark.
161 runners had anted up for the PLO tournament at the Spielbank Casino in Berlin.
The event carried a buy-in of €3,250 and the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Mike Leah and Jeff Madsen all turned out.
And in a trend that has continued since the start of the WSOPE, there was plenty of homegrown talent on display.
But despite good runs from Christian Stratemeyer, Dirk Schumann and Alfredo Vega, it was the experience of Max Pescatori, Roberto Romanello, and Mike Leah which would see a star-studded final table battle it out for top honors.
Plum In Plum Position For PLO
After three days of action, the final table was reached, with Danish pro Mikkel Plum heading the chipstacks just ahead of Gryko.
However, despite avoiding the pitfalls of solid opponents like Brit Roberto Romanello, Plum eventually departed in third place.
Raising to 20,000 from Seat 1, Mike Leah called and both players saw a flop of 10-9-6.
The rest of the stacks went in, before Plum turned over 8-7-6-4 for a made 10-high straight and Leah A-Q-J-8 for the ace-high and needing help with a jack or king.
A jack duly arrived on the turn to improve the Canadian’s hand, and the king on the river confirmed Leah’s higher straight to send the Dane to the rail. For third place, Plum took away a prize worth €55,755.
Leah Leaves On a High
Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah from Canada has long been the bridesmaid at WSOP events.
His sole bracelet came last year at the WSOP APAC (World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific) in Melbourne, the AUD25,000 High Roller, but since then he has racked up nine WSOP final tables and cashes.
The PLO event would make it close-but-no-cigar #10 for the online specialist after a heads-up that for long periods saw Leah a 2-1 chip dog to his British opponent.
Building on his advantage, Gryko soon held a 5-1 advantage and never really let that position slip.
When all of the chips went in on an A-K-6 flop, Gryko flipped over A-J-10-2 for top pair, with a diamond flush draw and gutshot for good measure. Fighting for his life, Leah had A-K-7-6 for top-two.
The 10c on the turn helped no-one, but the 3d on the river completed Gryko’s flush and sealed the deal for the man from Essex.
WSOPE 2015
Spielbank Berlin
Event #3: 8-Handed Pot Limit Omaha
Final Table Payouts
1st: Richard Gryko (UK) €126,345
2nd: Mike Leah (Canada) €78,150
3rd: Mikkel Plum (Denmark) €55,755
4th: Roberto Romanello (UK) €40,480
5th: Lawrence Lazar (USA) €29,940
6th: Benjamin Pollak (France) €22,535
7th: Max Pescatori (Italy) €17,240
8th: Ismael Bojang (Germany) €13,445
