Watson's 4.3M Stack and the PLO Pot That Built It

Michael Watson sat behind 4,335,000 chips at the Triton Montenegro $100K PLO Main Event final table — and the pot that put him there was pure Omaha chaos.

With nine of the original 76 entries still alive in the $100K buy-in field, Watson held a lead of nearly a million chips over Austria's Manuel Stojanovic (3,425,000) and more than 1.1 million over Patrik Antonius (3,225,000). In Pot-Limit Omaha at these stack depths, a single pot can rearrange the entire final table. One did.

Watson held a lead of nearly a million chips over Austria's Manuel Stojanovic and more than 1.1 million over Patrik Antonius.

The Pot

The hand that separated Watson from the field came against a shorter stack pushing back on his aggression. Watson committed chips in a spot where the pot ballooned past half his stack — the kind of PLO junction where folding feels impossible and calling feels reckless. He called.

What makes the hand worth dissecting isn't the result. It's the math underneath. Watson's 4,335,000 stack represents roughly 5.7% of all chips in play across nine remaining players. In a field that started at 76 entries — meaning 7.6 million in total chips at a $100K buy-in — Watson alone controls more than 57% of the average stack. That cushion changes every decision at the table. He can flat wider, three-bet lighter, and let the mid-stacks — Matthias Eibinger (2,585,000) and Denmark's Martin Granhoej Dam (1,880,000) — bleed into each other.

The Table Behind Him

Stojanovic and Antonius aren't going anywhere quietly. Stojanovic's 3,425,000 keeps him in striking distance with a single double-through. Antonius — still one of the most feared PLO players alive — sits third with 3,225,000 and the kind of post-flop edge that makes chip counts misleading.

Eibinger, Austria's second representative at the final table, holds 2,585,000. Dam rounds out the top five at 1,880,000, less than half of Watson's stack but still deep enough to play real poker.

What Comes Next

Nine players. $7.6 million in chips. One Canadian at the top.

The structure of this final table is a pressure cooker: three stacks above 3 million, two around 2 million, and four more compressed below. Watson doesn't need to win every pot. He needs to avoid the one pot that brings him back to the pack. In PLO, that's the hardest discipline there is.