Gabi Livshitz Wins First Live PLO Trophy During Diamond Poker Series (€218,100)

The marathon that was Day 2 of the PLO Grand Slam Malta €5,200 Millions is in the books. Just before the clock struck 4:30 a.m., Gabi Livshitz was crowned the champion after 13 hours of four-card poker at Casino Malta. Despite the late hour, Livshitz had a lively rail, with many of his friends cheering him on as he dragged pots left and right. Livshitz took home €218,100 for conquering the field of 189 entries and winning his first-ever Diamond Poker Series event, the largest share of the slightly overlayed €940,000 prize pool.

Despite having won many tournaments since his first Hendon Mob recorded live cash in 2014, this marks Livshitz’s maiden live pot-limit Omaha victory. However, Livshitz had already proven his four-card prowess by winning an online bracelet in the variant when the world was in lockdown in 2021, and his PLO Grand Slam trophy will form a nice addition to his trophy cabinet.

Meanwhile, runner-up Jelle de Kroon went home without a trophy, but the short-stacked player was elated with making the pay jump to the second-place prize of €148,000 after Aki Vihikainen got his aces cracked in a pot of 100 big blinds to be eliminated. Like Vihikainen, Filip Lovric was on his second final table of the series, finishing in sixth, while Carlo van Ravenswoud and Espen Myrmo also made an appearance.

PLO Grand Slam Malta €5,200 Million Final Table Result

Livshitz Leaves Competition Behind

Livshitz started Day 2 somewhere in the middle regions of the leaderboard, but he immediately made an impact by eliminating Onur Gur during the first few hands of the day. As the late registration was still open during the first two levels of Day 2, Gur reentered and would end up placing 17th for €13,150. Livshitz grew his stack steadily throughout the early stages of the day, while the likes of Dario Alioto, Jessica Teusl, Tom-Aksel Bedell, and Robert Cowen all fell before the money.

Just before the dinner break, Livshitz made sure the money was reached by busting Leonid Yanovski in 24th place. Livshitz entered the dinner break in the same position as he started the day with, in the middle of the pack, but after sending Lucas van den Belt (20th – €11,850) and “Sonic” (11th – €18,300) to the rail, he started the final table third in chips.

Livshitz shot further up the rankings as he busted a recently-tripled Myrmo with aces against kings, and not much later took care of “NoNeedMoney” to become second in chips with six players remaining. Livshitz was finally promoted to chipleader when he eliminated “LuxonTrustWallet” in fourth, after which a swingy three-handed battle began.

After the lead had changed a couple of times, De Kroon and Vihikainen seemed to get the upper hand over Livshitz, but the eventual champion spiked back-to-back flushes to reclaim his lead. Vihikainen then doubled through De Kroon, leaving the latter with around 15 big blinds, three times less than Vihikainen ended with. However, it was Vihikainen who would miss the heads-up, as he created a monster pot by jamming his aces into the flopped straight of Livshitz, eliminating him in the process.

With Vihikainen out of the picture, Livshitz’s lead became insurmountable for De Kroon. Feeling delighted by making an unexpected pay jump to second place, De Kroon’s final 12 blinds were committed preflop on the very first hand of heads-up. Livshitz would hit the board better, securing his victory and sending his cheering rail to the table to congratulate him with his newly acquired PLO Grand Slam trophy.

Although the PLO Grand Slam Malta is not done yet, with the highlight of the remaining two days being the €25,500 High Roller, the PokerNews coverage concludes with Livshitz’s victory. The next Diamond Poker Series stop is already in the works, so keep an eye out for information on where Europe’s premier Omaha tournament series is headed next. In the meantime, check out our live reporting hub for coverage on other events around the world.