Event #57: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better

David Nowakowski is the newest member of poker’s gold bracelet club.

The 28-year-old poker grinder originally from Voorhees, NJ won the $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha High-Low Split tournament, which was played over three days and nights at the Rio in Las Vegas. 

Nowakowski collected $203,113 in prize money, making this the biggest live win of his career.  However, the online player who has spent considerable time out of the United States to pursue his profession has made considerable profits and even acquired “Super Nova” status at one of the world’s largest online sites.

“I played rush Omaha online, but haven’t played a lot of PLO High-Low recently,” Nowakowski said.  “I definitely wanted to win this.  It’s a dream come true.  It’s still all a bit surreal to me.”

Nowakowski won his victory by coming out on top at a final table which included a mix of pros and semi-pros who were less accustomed to the pressures of playing for a WSOP title.  The moment of triumph came when Nowakowski was up against two tough adversaries – Timothy Vukson and Marco Johnson – who finished in second and third place respectively.  In fact, Nowakowski wiped out his last two challengers in just 15-minutes time, despite plenty of chips in play.  By that time the blinds had escalated to the point where a few hands could determine the final outcome, which is exactly what happened.

Nowakowski has been living in Panama lately, where he’s spent much of his time playing online poker.  However, Nowakowski has recently moved back to his native New Jersey.  He plans to return to college in the fall and study accounting. 

Despite the victory, Nowakowski knows the life of a professional poker player isn’t always easy.  He’s worked hard at his craft, but also realizes there are other things he wants to do with his life.  He dropped out of college seven years ago when the games were lucrative, but also admits he’s gotten burned out somewhat by playing so much.

“I just decided to move back to the U.S. recently,” Nowakowski said.  “I plan on returning back to school and finishing up my degree in the fall, so this win definitely helps.”

As for the future, Nowakowski was candid in his admission that poker might not figure in his future plans. 

“I don’t really like poker all that much,” he said laughingly.

This tourney attracted 732 entrants which created a prize pool totaling $988,200.  The top 110 finishers collected prize money.

Aside from the winner, here’s a brief report of the other top finishers who made the final table:

Second Place:  Timothy Yukson, from Ottawa, ON (Canada) made quite a showing in his first WSOP final table appearance.  After cashing deep in last year’s Colossus (30^th place out of 22K entrants), he outmaneuvered another big field and took the runner up spot.  Yukson collected $125,507.

Third Place:  Marco Johnson, from Walnut Creek, CA was aiming for his second win at the ’16 series and third win overall, after winning his first WSOP title back in 2013.  Johnson, winner of the $3K HORSE tourney (Event #18) made another deep run and ended up in third place.  Johnson earned a well-deserved $87,192.

Fourth Place:  James Alexander, from San Antonio, TX came in fourth.  He’s now cashed six time at this year’s series, including three in-the-money finishes in the top-11.  Alexander, surely someone to watch in future events, received $61,519.

Fifth Place:  Kenneth Po, from Seven Hills, OH enjoyed his highest WSOP finish ever after coming in fifth place.  Po collected $44,094.  This was his fourth time in-the-money at the series.

Sixth Place:  Colin Gelker, an accountant from Bellingham, WA came in sixth place.  This was his second time to cash in a WSOP event.  He collected $32,114.

Seventh Place:  Stephen Johnson, from Eugene, OR cashed for the third time at the series with this deep run, which paid $23,772.

Eighth Place:   Martin Staszko, from Trinec, Czech Republic came in eighth place.  He is best known for finishing as runner up in the 2011 WSOP Main Event Championship.  Staszko now has 23 cashes at the series.  He added $17,890 to his career earnings, which now totals more than $5.5 million.

David Nowakowski raises to 160,000 from the button, and gets called by Timothy Vukson in the big blind.

The flop is    . Both players check.

The turn is the  . Vukson checks, and Nowakowski bets 200,000. Vukson calls.

The river is the  . Vukson checks again, and Nowakoswki bets 500,000. Vukson calls.

Nowkowski shows      for trip aces. Vukson mucks, and Nowakoski takes the pot.

Nowakowski - 4,350,000 (54 bb)
Vukson - 1,600,000 (20 bb)