World Series of Parker · Event 1-1
A New Series Opens With Omaha Hi/Lo, and Eric Denny Wins It
Six players, a $25 buy-in, and a game nobody here plays on a Friday night.
The Canterberry Poker League plays no-limit hold'em, ten times a season, and has done for nine years. The World Series of Parker is something else: five events, a different game at each one, and the first of them was Omaha Hi/Lo. Six players put up $25 apiece on Saturday and Eric Denny took $85 of the $145.
Only two places paid, which is what a six-handed field buys you, and the two who got there took almost an hour to separate. Greg Howell lost the heads-up match after fifty-nine minutes — a third of the tournament's three hours and four minutes was the two of them — and collected $60.
Eric and Greg made two knockouts each, which between them is four of the five available.
Where the money went
| Player | Prize | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Denny | $85 |
| 2 | Greg Howell | $60 |
The undercard
Rick Mazza bubbled in third, one place off the money. Andrew Shier was fourth and Lee Ugarte fifth.
Paul Denny was the first player out, after thirty-three minutes.
The bigger picture
Omaha Hi/Lo splits the pot between the best high hand and the best qualifying low, which means half the table can be drawing at something the other half is not even looking at. It rewards patience and punishes the hold'em habit of playing one hand at a time. On the evidence of Saturday it also takes a while: three hours for six players, where a full Canterberry field of fifteen often finishes inside four.
Four events remain, and each will be a different game. The series runs alongside the regular Canterberry season rather than instead of it, and the two feed one combined table — so a good night here counts toward the WSOP Champion trophy at the end of the season.
World Series of Parker, Event 1-1 — Saturday, June 24, 2017. Omaha Hi/Lo, $25 buy-in, 6 entrants, no rebuys, two paid from a $145 prize pool. The first event of the first WSOP season.