Why did victory elude him for so long? Was it just a fluke? Or is something strange happening to Ike, one step away from the title? Remember the most famous tournament of his youth—the PCA Main Event final, his spectacular (and for some, perhaps insane) heads-up bluff against Ryan Daut? Ike finished second there, too...
Haxton entered the $100k Pot-Limit Omaha Main Event in Jeju in good form, playing 11 tournaments, cashing eight times, and making three final tables. The Omaha Main Event attracted 116 entries, setting a new Triton Series record for this game. The prize pool was $11.6 million, with $2.8 million going to the winner.
Prizes were prepared for 19 players. Björn "asianflushie" Lee, who recently battled Ossi Ketola for millions, was eliminated in 22nd place. Biao Ding finished 21st. After his elimination, a battle for survival ensued on the bubble. The poor grew poorer, the rich grew richer.
At one point, only four players remained with above-average stacks! ICM pressure is, in theory, particularly intense in Omaha; some authorities even claimed that, if played correctly, there shouldn't be any play at all—due to the closeness of hand equity and risk premium, the chip leader's word is law. It seems practice and theory are gradually beginning to converge.
The bubble boy was Chinese player Liu Shixia. With six blinds, he couldn't fold a double-suited beauty and limped . Gergo Nagy called in the small blind and David Wang checked in the big blind.
The flop came Nagy bet, and Liu Shixia moved all-in with two pair and open-ended draws. Nagy called with a worse made hand – , but improved on the turn and held on the river.
Another six hours later, the final table was formed.
- Jesse Lonis – 7,985,000 (133 bb)
- Isaac Haxton – 7,245,000 (121 bb)
- Rahul Byrraju – 6,655,000 (111 bb)
- Robert Cowen – 2,450,000 (41 bb)
- Daniel Tang – 1,970,000 (33 bb)
- Nacho Barbero – 1,440,000 (24 bb)
- Klemens Roiter – 1,250,000 (21 bb)
Lonis and Tang had won the No-Limit Hold'em and Short-Deck Main Events, respectively, at this series and were hoping to build on their success. Barbero had won the mixed Hold'em/Poker Omaha tournament a year ago, and his victory now could have served as a title defense of sorts. Triton's debutant, Indian venture capitalist Byrraju, played with an engaging, fearless style, ignoring the conventions of optimal preflop play, and was on track for his first victory. Like Haxton...
Barbero quickly doubled up, flopping a set of tens against Lonis's aces. Soon, Austrian regular Reuter, who had built up to 2.2 million, opened in the cutoff with (Blinds 30k/60k, 60k ante on the big blind). His raise to 210,000 was raised by Barbero on the button to 720,000. The blinds folded, and Reuter had to make a choice. He and Barbero had comparable stacks, more or less, and both were deeper than Danny Tang. The resilient Argentinean was hard to pin on aces, so Reuter went all-in.
Barbero quickly calls with And, without removing his massive sunglasses, he knocks out his opponent. Seventh place earns Roiter $489,000, and Barbero's stack rises above 5 million.
At the next level, he finds himself heads-up against an Indian amateur. Byrraju plays a style somewhere between a LAG and a maniac, and of course, it's always worth bluffing against such an opponent on the flop without any matches, draws, or even blockers. Great job, Nacho!
Byrraju's raise would have won the hand immediately, but he was in no hurry and with the nut flush draw and a low draw he called.
Turn – , Barbero has a tangible draw. And when Byrraju checks, Nacho gives up the free river and literally pounces on his opponent, betting all the pot, representing a straight.
Byrraju calls. The announcers ask for a blank river, but the dealer denies them this pleasure and completes Barbero's backdoor to a full flush – .
Byrraju quickly checks, not even thinking about bluffing on repeat. Barbero considers for a moment whether he has a draw, but then checks back.
At the odd blind level of 50k/125k/125k, Haxton and Byrraju are playing a limped pot. On the flop Ike with a coincidence and a backdoor – – logically checks, to which the Indian with a lower set bets a third. A third is fine, he calls.
Turn – Haxton has two pair and check-calls a bet of just over half the pot.
The river is another ace. Haxton checks again. Byrraju makes a fairly large bet – a million to 1.3 million. Ike's full house beats only one hand, and he's up against an aggressive amateur.
"Just call," says Ike. "Let's remember that decision!"
With 14 blinds left, Daniel Tang raised from the cutoff with . Barbero defends BB with On the flop With top pair and a gutshot, the Argentine bets all-in. Danny decides to go all-in. Barbero calls and immediately catches a nine-high draw. The river doesn't help the noticeably thinner Daniel Tang – 6th place, $655,000.
At the same level, a huge multi-way pot is being played. On the turn, Haxton and Barbero have the same straight, and in the sandwich, they face Lonis with three pair and the nut flush draw!
Jesse is the equity favorite, but he calls.
Ike's difficult decision potentially lightens his dominant stack—the extra chips are worth the risk. With a more even hand, he might well have folded, as his non-redraw nuts will remain the nuts on very few rivers. However, here he's the big chip leader, so he's calling plus pot!
Now Barbero has something to suffer over. Yes, he has a redraw, but it's weak—a straight! And there are two flush draws on the board. And by the way, there are two short stacks left in the game, one of whom has only 5 big blinds.
And although Nacho famously declared that ICM is a poor man's science, after much deliberation, he gives in. Lonis immediately follows suit—an experienced man, he understands math, and three pairs with a nut flush draw won't fool him.
"Nuts!" Haxton declares.
"What are you doing?" Barbero asks, displeased. "I had the nuts too. What redraws?"
We don't hear an answer.
"Ike, you can't lose if people fold the nuts against you!" Lonis informs him. "We'll remember that too."
The leaders continue to discuss the hand, and in the meantime, Birraj takes 5th place. Having doubled up with a high-low hand, , the Indian does not wait for a better hand, but rushes into battle with against Lonisa. A second miracle doesn't happen, and Birraju is eliminated with a prize of $838,000.
Online player Robert Cowen is also making his Triton debut, but he's hardly an amateur, and he already has two WSOP bracelets in Omaha. When Ike opens with a raise to 425.00 from the button, and Cowen in the BB and the shortest stack, it doesn't take an Omaha genius to find a three-bet for him. Finding a call for Haxton isn't hard either—he has four live cards against aces, and the chip leader has a lot of extra chips that don't come into play and become sadly cheaper with each level.
Having missed the flop by a wide margin, Cowen still moves all-in. He has 14% against Ike's hand. Two blanks, and Cowen gets $1,037,000 for fourth place. Haxton's greedy hands now hold two-thirds of the tournament's chips.
With a 10bb stack, Lonis raises from the button with . Nacho calls to the BB with .
Flop – Barbero forces his opponent all-in! Lonis may have no outs, but the American doesn't believe in such miracles – he calls and, surprisingly, becomes the favorite in this all-in. However, two cards are put down, and Lonis is eliminated in third place. His prize is $1,261,000.
In heads-up play, Haxton has 144 blinds against Barbero's 50. Ike is forcing his opponent to play slowly, limping a lot, not giving him any chance to get going. In the next hand, Ike limps. and calls plus the pot.
Flop – A pretty good flop for Ike, commentators note.
Barbero isn't complaining either. He has – The board wasn't the worst for heads-up play. He bets 400,000.
"Runner-runner nines, runner-runner kings, runner-runner aces," the commentators methodically list his outs. "Good old one percent equity! The hardest possible turn card is the ace of spades."
Ike calls.
The turn does indeed bring the .
Having made a flush with blockers, Nacho continues to apply pressure.
Ike makes another call in position.
River – !
There's 4,400,000 in the pot. Nacho Barbero has 5,300,000 behind him. Wow, this is action! The commentators are anticipating a very exciting heads-up between roughly equal stacks.
After some thought, Nacho bets 3,000,000.
Ike, however, is hesitant to make a decision. He seems unsure what hand Nacho could have played like that with. After thinking for about a minute, he returns the third barrel with a curveball—min-raising!
Nacho is shocked. He rechecks his cards.
"Is this a bluff? Or a value push?" the commentators are confused. "How come I've played six heads-up games and never won! Variance! These are the kinds of hands where you never know what's going on."
After a minute or so, Nacho quickly throws the cards into the pass.
“It was the craziest fold of my life,” he says.
“I think I bluffed you by mistake,” Haxton replies.
Nacho's face is gone. The next hand turns out to be the last one of the tournament.
After checking on the flop, the turn brings an ace, giving Nacho 40% equity. That's when they get it all in. Ike goes all-in, calls.
– Did you really have any? "What?" Nacho asks as the dealer counts the chips. "What's with the all-in? What were you thinking?"
"Well, I have a full house. Better than a flush," Ike replies. And after a long pause, he adds, "Well, you can throw a stronger hand."
River is a six, a straight.
– I really did have some. "Honestly, honestly!" Ike shrugs.
And Nacho Barbero, having folded the nuts twice, goes home with $1,897,000. And modern poker's first troll, Isaac Haxton, goes to pose with his winning hand without even removing his COVID-19 mask.
