Robert Cowen Wins Bracelets in Back-to-Back Years; Binks $50K PLO High Roller for $1.4M

The 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas has crowned yet another repeat winner during live poker's annual spectacle in Sin City. England's Robert Cowen secured his second gold bracelet in Event #28: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller. After a short-lived heads-up duel with Dash Dudley, the latter was denied a third title in the four-card variant while Cowen doubled his tally.

In total, the most expensive non-hold'em tournament on the schedule attracted a field of 106 entries and a prize pool worth $5,074,750, which was shared between the top 16 finishers. The lion's share of that was up for grabs on the final day, which saw five players return to the PokerGO live-streamed feature table in the Bally's Event Center.

After just four hours of play, Cowen came out on top to score the top prize worth $1,393,816 ,which nearly double his all-time cashes on the live poker circuit according to The Hendon Mob. When asked what it feels like to win his second bracelet in such a high-stakes competition, he said: "It's the same, it is just PLO. It is obviously a lot tougher because everyone is gambling a lot more ... you can't really run anyone over."

The final day also included the 2011 WSOP Player of the Year Ben Lamb, Bulgarian poker pro Veselin Karakitukov and Jared Bleznick. Lamb held more than half of the chips in play with four contenders remaining only for Cowen to pull ahead after scooping several big pots to then close out the victory not even one hour later. The top three finishers in the high-stakes competition now share five WSOP PLO titles between them.

Event #28: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller Final Table Results

Both Cowen and runner-up Dudley were supported by a boisterous rail and it was the Brits who had reason to celebrate after both four-card enthusiasts had navigated their way through a field filled with High Roller regulars and some of the best mixed game players in the world.

"There were a couple of times I was short here again but with everyone behind me makes it a lot easier to fight," runner-up Dudley said in the final interview before adding "It's great, I couldn't have been happier to have this rail, they have been here forever, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger."

The rail from Michigan included his wife, Racquel, and his mother, Kim. It was the second-biggest cash for the Michigan State graduate, who earned a payday of $861,442. The couple are now also parents of a nine-month old daughter as well and the 2022 WSOP in its new home at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas could not have commenced much better for the PLO specialist.

“It’s nice to close it out. The first one was very quiet. It was on a side table. There wasn’t much around. So it’s nice to get that experience this time."

While he specializes in the great game of pot-limit Omaha, the previously biggest score of the 36-year-old from Alcester in Warwickshire near Birmingham came in a no-limit hold'em Event as he took down the EPT Prague €10,300 High Roller earlier this year for €475,410.

Prior to that, Cowen finished 39th in the 2021 WSOP Main Event for $163,900 before claiming the elusive gold bracelet a few days later in Event #80: $3,000 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha.

“It’s nice to close it out. The first one was very quiet. It was on a side table. There wasn’t much around. So it’s nice to get that experience this time," the Englishman admitted in the interview after his victory.

He was surrounded by some of the biggest names in the world of poker during the entire event, which seemingly didn't have any influence on him at all.

"Honestly, it doesn't phase me when I play. Coming into this final table, I felt indifferent to any other poker tournament. It's difficult to explain, I don't really know what to say."

With such a success as of late, Cowen has certainly experienced the most profitable time in his career thus far on the live poker circuit and there is no apparent magic reason for it.

"I just spend a lot of time focusing on playing my best. My effort on the table is incremental," Cowen added.

While he was one of the more active players not only on the final day but also prior, the Englishman pointed out that he had a lot of decent hands en route to victory.

"I ran pretty good on that final table, I had a lot of good cards. Earlier on when we were deep enough, I could just fold and it wasn't too critical to win pots. But when we got three-handed, I was picking up big cards. The blinds were so big up to that point and every pot was critical and it was just nice to get heat at the right time."

The Action of the Final Day

While only five players returned to their seats in the Thunderdome, that number was almost immediately down to four. In the second hand of the day,Jared Bleznick was in rough shape in a preflop contest when his kings ran into the aces of Dudley. With one live suit at his disposal, Bleznick had only the case king at his disposal after the turn and found no magic escape.

From there on, start-of-the-day chip leader Veselin Karakitukov started to drop not only into the middle of the pack but also at the top of the leaderboard as the other three contenders took advantage of his passive approach. It was Dudley who soared to the top of the chip counts but he then doubled Cowen with an ill-timed move when his queen-high rundown failed to crack double-suited aces.

Lamb took over the lead from Cowen when he flopped the bottom end of a jack-high straight and caught his opponent firing three barrels with naked kings. The lead of Lamb grew to essentially half of the chips in play while Karakitukov became the fourth-place finisher after he fell to Cowen.

From there on, Cowen hit several big hands and took a large chunk out of Lamb's stack to take over the role as the commanding chip leader. A clash of the two shortest stacks between Dudley and Lamb put more misery on the latter and his bid for a second gold bracelet ended a few minutes later.

Cowen started the heads-up duel with a lead of three-to-one over Dudley and the Michigander scored a double to bring the stack sizes to nearly even. However, once Cowen pulled ahead again, a typical PLO showdown crowned the new champion.

In a three-bet pot, Dudley went with his overpair and flush draw while Cowen looked him up with top pair and a wrap. The rather dramatic conclusion of the hand gave Dudley a flush eventually but Cowen improved to a full house with running nines on turn and river. The initial confusion subsided quickly as the British rail burst out in celebration and Dudley had to settle for the runner-up spot.