Herbert Tapscott Beats Triple Crown Winner in WSOP $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo Event
The $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo event at the WSOP saw one of the most spectacular heads-up plays – a 71 year old with cashes of a little over $52,000 against a triple crown holder with millions in cashes. At the end, the 71 year old Herbert Tapscott took home the bracelet and $264,400 in winnings, while triple crown winner Gavin Griffin took the place of runner-up.
Tapscott’s journey to the heads-up match was not smooth. Just before the game paused for dinner, he was looking at six opponents and a chip stack with just 60,000. With not enough to even post the big blind, there were very slim chances he player would make it to the six-handed level. According to Tapscott, it was not the first time he had been short-stacked.
At the final table, Tapscott was up against a number of well-known professionals like Can Kim Hua, John Racener, Raymond Davis and Thayer Rasmussen. The first few hands table took time. Not many players landed monster pots. Eliminations too were slow – after two hours, just one player had been sent to the rails.
9th Place Elimination
Byran Jolly left in 9th place when he played against Hua. On a flop with J-T-K, Jolly’s A-A-5-2 was competing with Hua’s A-K-2-3. While Hua had several outs – for a top kicker, pair and nut flush – the board did not favor Jolly when it brought a 2 on the turn. Hua landed the pot. With that and the wins had landed in previous hands, the player was the first at the table to make it over the one million mark in chip count.
Most hands following this saw the pots getting cut or the short stacks doubling up. One such short stack that managed to triple up was Rasmussen. He placed his chips in the pot pre-flop, got a two pair on the flop and bested Hua and Griffin. Tapscott too managed a triple up that brought 270,000.
8th and 7th Place Eliminations
Davis left the table in eight place after he wagered his stack which was just enough for a little over one blind. When his hand, which had the potential to make a top set did not improve on the board, Davis was eliminated and Rasmussen landed the pot. Despite this, the latter busted after open-raising all-in. The move was called by Hua and Griffin, who checked when the flop showed T-K-5. At the end of the hand, Griffin had a Q-J that helped make a nut straight and earn 1.5 million, Hua had less that the big blind and Rasmussen was eliminated.
Heads-Up Play
Following this, Racener, Michael Kleist, Hua and Butler were sent to the rails. This led to heads-up play between Griffin and Tapscott, which saw the switch places being the lead and short stack. In the last hand that won Tapscott the pot, he had A-6-3-2 on a A-Q-8-9-J board, which did not help Griffin’s Q-T-7-4. Tapscott’s straight brought him the title, bracelet and prize money in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo event. To read about other WSOP events, click here.