The WSOP's Weirdest Event Is Down to 74 — and It's Glorious

There are 74 players left in Event #83, the $1,500 PLO Double Board Bomb Pot, an event where every hand starts with a forced pot and two separate boards — and if you're confused, so are some of the players.

This is one of the WSOP's newest formats and it plays exactly as unhinged as it sounds. Every hand begins with each player anteing into a bomb pot — no preflop betting round, just four cards and a flop. Two flops, actually. Two completely separate boards run out simultaneously, and the pot splits between the best hand on each. PLO with training wheels removed and then set on fire.

Two completely separate boards run out simultaneously, and the pot splits between the best hand on each.

The Stacks That Matter

Abdul Amer leads the surviving field at 960,000 chips. Amer has $15,854 in lifetime tournament cashes — this is not a household name chasing a bracelet. That's the beauty of a format this young: nobody has a solved playbook.

Rhett Vanleeuwen sits second at 845,000. He's the most credentialed player near the top with $79,048 in career earnings and three prior final tables. Christopher Amaral holds 708,000 (lifetime earnings: $16,273), and Matthew Baiza is at 420,000.

Stephen Biggar rounds out the named stacks at 180,000 — short but alive in a format where a single bomb pot can triple you.

Why You Should Be Watching

Double-board bomb pots reward adaptability and punish anyone trying to play standard PLO ranges. The two-board structure means players regularly flop premium on one board and air on the other, creating pot geometry that doesn't exist anywhere else in tournament poker. Decisions get strange. Bet sizing gets stranger.

None of the five chip leaders have a WSOP bracelet. One of them will have one by the time this event ends.

Stream coverage is live from the Horseshoe. No confirmed end time has been posted — tune in now while the field is still condensed enough for every table to matter.