Van Der Fluit wins $1,500 PLO event at WSOP for $265K

Vincent Van Der Fluit became the fourth Dutch-born World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner on Wednesday night, besting a field of 970 players in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament to claim first-place prize money of $265,221.

2010 and 2011 were forgettable years at the WSOP for this highly-decorated online pro. He recorded four cashes, but his deepest run came in a $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event when he finished 15th for $14,936. In his own words, he never really got close.

Thankfully, 2012 started out drastically different. This event was the first that he played, and he made it count, cashing in on gold.

“I had two very frustrating summers," said Van Der Fluit. "YThen this year I land in my first event and win it. It’s sort of a weird contrast.”

After only three and a half hours of final table play, Van Der Fluit faced 2012 WSOP Circuit Pot-Limit Omaha champion Charles Tonne heads up. The pair began their duel almost even in chips, and it appeared as if the lightning-fast pace that characterized play to that point would slow. But in true PLO fashion, the heads-up battle lasted barely 30 minutes and Van Der Fluit was the last man standing. Tonne claimed $164,132 for the second-place showing.

“I actually have a buddy coming in at 6 o’clock and I thought he might be able to rail me, but it’s already done,” Van Der Fluit joked following his victory. “In PLO the money tends to go in more quickly.”

Joining Van Der Fluit and Tonne at the final table was professional poker player Tristan Wade. Wade is a 14-time WSOP in-the-money finisher and won a bracelet at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe. His bid for bracelet number two came up short when he was eliminated in third place, earning $102,690.

Damien Lhommueau was fourth, Alex Dovzhenko was fifth, Rodney Brown was sixth, Brian Garbe was seventh, Calvin Anderson was eighth and David Schnettler was ninth.

Modified from tournament notes provided by Lukas M. Willems, WSOP.com