Although there were six tournaments running at the Rio yesterday only two of them were in the final day action. One of those tournaments was the $1,500 Omaha 8 or better tournament (Event #3) which attracted the largest field in WSOP history for an Omaha 8 event, 925 entrants.

Day 3 of the tournament still boasted a number of big names, with Humberto Brenes leading the final table in name recognition, joined by last year’s breakout WSOP performer Russian Vladimir Schemelev as well as poker pro Matthew Waxman.

In the end it would be an anonymous 37 year-old player from Chicago who would steal the headlines as Francesco “Cheech” Barbaro was able to ride his chip-lead through the final table on his way to his first WSOP bracelet –not to mention a very nice $262,283 payday. The win is Barbaro’s first major tournament cash of any kind, although the semi-pro poker player is a familiar face in the Chicago area casinos, including winning a WSOPC Gold Ring in a $350 HORSE tournament during the Hammond, IN stop in 2010 according to thehendonmob.com.

Here is a look at the complete final table payouts from Event #3: $1,500 Omaha 8 or better tournament:

1. Francesco “Cheech” Barbaro — $262,283

2. Kostas Kalathakis — $161,675

3. Matt Waxman — $104,770

4. Bradley Helm — $76,673

5. Michael Deveronica — $56,943

6. Humberto Brenes — $42,857

7. Cameron McKinley — $32,654

8. Vladimir Shchemelev — $25,174

9. Travis Pearson — $19,617

Results courtesy www.wsop.com

Tags: Barbaro, Breakout, Brenes, Cameron, Casinos, Cheech, Chicago Area, Familiar Face, Gold Ring, Headlines, Helm, Matthew Waxman, Mckinley, Pearson, Poker Player, Poker Pro, Rio, Travis, Vladimir, WSOP

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