Las Vegas, NV - "I started playing a lot more Pot-Limit Omaha because Hold'em has just become too hard," admitted Kim Frederiksen in a recent post-tournament interview held at Caesars Palace. "I think Pot-Limit Omaha games are softer." Whatever the reasoning, it turned out to be a very wise decision for the 36-year-old Danish-born CEO of an online advertising company who just won his first major tournament victory in the $500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha poker championship. Frederiksen, who moved to Las Vegas about two years ago, pocketed $19,798 in the tenth event on this year's schedule at Caesars' World Series of Poker Circuit. He was also presented with the prestigious gold ring, awarded to all poker champions at this year's Caesars event.

The tournament attracted a highly-competitive turnout of 126 players, including at least eight former WSOP gold bracelet winners. The total prize pool amounted to $61,110. After 117 players were eliminated on day one, the final nine players began play with longtime poker veteran and four-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Eskimo Clark as the chip leader with 125,000. Curtis Walker was close behind with 115,000. Quentin Krueger was third with 109,000. The others had less than 80,000. Kim Frederiksen began day two in fifth place, with 52,000.

The final table had interesting implications given Clark's eccentric character and widely publicized health issues which first surfaced at last year's WSOP. While playing in the 2007 Razz World Championship, Clark suffered a stroke which twice halted the tournament. He recovered and went on to finish fourth in that event. Today, Clark looked much healthier and appeared to regain his old form as a great tournament player. However, no "comeback story" would be written with Clark's name in the headline.

The exact starting chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1: Andre Le Bail 36,500
Seat 2: Shawn Silber 78,000
Seat 3: Kim Frederiksen 52,000
Seat 4: Aaron Duczak 36,000
Seat 5: Josh Crawford 34,000
Seat 6: Curtis Walker 115,000
Seat 7: Ross Ruby 45,500
Seat 8: Eskimo Clark 125,000
Seat 9: Quentin Krueger 109,000

Opening blinds were 1,000-2,000.

9th Place - Just three hands into play, Aaron Duczak went out when he missed a straight draw. On the final fateful hand, the flop came 8-6-3. Duczak moved all in holding A-9-5-4, which gave him several outs. Kim Frederiksen (J-10-8-3) made an instant and obligatory call with two pair and two diamonds in his hand matching the two on board. When another diamond turned, Duczak was left drawing dead. Duczak, who won the British Columbia Pot-Limit Championship in 2006, was the ninth-place finisher in this event, paying $1,222.

8th Place - Blinds increased to 1,500-3,000. Play was conservative for three orbits, as no player was in a desperate enough chip position to be forced to gamble. However, Curtis Walker was the biggest loser during this next hour has his stack dwindled from over 100,000 to less than 50,000. Another 24 hands went by before the next major confrontation. That occurred when Eskimo Clark took a punch against Walker. On the hand, both players made spade flushes, but Walker held the higher cards (king high versus jack high) and dragged the 100,000 pot. Still, Clark maintained a slight lead.

Andre Le Bail from Paris was eliminated next. The Frenchman re-raised all-in pre-flop with A-J-6-6 and was called by Shawn Silber, with K-K-10-4. The final board showed J-7-2-9-K giving Silber trip kings. Meanwhile, Le Bail said au voir. He received a payout worth $1,833.

7th Place - Eskimo Clark continued to take a beating. He lost half of his stack (and the chip lead) with Q-Q-x-x against eventual winner Frederiksen with A-K-K-x (an ace flopped, which gave Frederiksen the 110,000 pot. Then, he got incredibly unlucky when he moved all-in with his last 35,000 (A-K-K-Q) and was instantly called by Ross Ruby with A-A-9-6. Three spades came and Ruby made a flush, which eliminated Clark from the tournament. Eskimo Clark, one of poker's most colorful characters, was forced to settle for seventh place and a payout totaling $2,444.

6th Place - Curtis Walker went out on the 70th hand when was down to just 25,000 and moved all-in with 10-10-7-6. Frederiksen, now making his move, called from the blind and showed A-K-2-2. A deuce flopped and the trip 2s held up, which retired the 66-year-old Las Vegan. Walker collected $3,056.

5th Place - With blinds at 2,000-4,000, Shawn Silber was low on chips and moved all-in with A-K-8-8. He took something of a bad beat on the hand as Ross Ruby had K-J-x-x and made a full house (kings over jacks) with a final board showing K-8-7-J-K. Silber's three kings were no good which meant "Big LV" was forced to settle for fifth place. Silber, a pharmacist, was prescribed a payout totaling $3,667. He also cashed in the WSOP main event a few years ago.

4th Place - Blinds increased to 4,000-8,000 as Ruby and Frederiksen battled back and forth for the chip lead. Ruby seized the moment temporarily when he eliminated Josh Crawford. Ruby called his opponent's all-in move after a flop of 10-6-5 (two clubs) and tabled Q-J-9-3 with two clubs. Crawford was in the lead but was not happy, as he showed A-7-7-6. Ruby caught a queen on the river to make trips, which made Crawford the fourth-place finisher. Josh Crawford, from Boston, earned $4,889 in cash.

3rd Place - With Ruby enjoying a 2 to 1 chip lead over Frederiksen, Quentin Krueger had been quiet most of the way. Rarely risking any chips unless he had a big hand, Krueger was the stealthiest of the final three competitors. Then, he went out with K-J-9-8 against Frederiksen's J-J-Q-10. Neither player improved, which meant Krueger lost to a pair of jacks. The 31-year-old Canadian poker player did manage to scoop $6,111 for third place.

2nd Place - "I thought it might be you and me heads-up," Ross Ruby announced to his lone remaining rival, Frederiksen - who smiled confidently from across the table. With Ruby ahead about 2 to 1 in chips, the 100th hand threshold was crossed. The two finalists battled back and forth for another dozen hands before a critical confrontation took place which resulted in a huge swing in Frederiksen's favor. After the flop came A-J-7 Frederiksen moved all-in (A-J-6-5) holding two pair - aces and sevens. Ruby (A-7-3-2), also holding two pair (aces and jacks) made the call. The higher pairs held up and Frederiksen suddenly found himself with about a 5 to 1 chip lead when the final hand of the tournament was dealt.

After binds increased to 5,000-10,000, hand number 115 was dealt. Ruby ended up taking a tough beat on his swan song. He was down to about 180,000 and after a pre-flop bet and raise he moved all-in with Q-Q-7-7 after the flop came J-7-2. Holding trip-sevens, it was clearly the right play. But Frederiksen called with A-J-4-3 (then, top pair) and watched as two running cards (5 and 4) came which completed an unlikely straight - ace-to-five. Ruby's trip sevens hit the muck, and a new poker champion was crowned.

As the runner up, Ross Ruby collected $10,389 in prize money. The 21-year-old college student from the Chicago area will certainly be someone to watch out for in the future.

1st Place - The latest Pot-Limit Omaha poker champion was actually born in Denmark. Europe is widely known to produce some of the best PLO players in the world. In fact, many would say that Europeans dominate PLO events, per capita. As part of the dominance, Kim Frederiksen has a number of significant cashes both in online and live play, including events on the European Poker Tour. However, this marked his first major tournament victory.

"I'm not a great player yet. But I'm a good player," Frederiksen said in his post-tournament interview. "I'm not anywhere near the best, but I think I am better at poker than most."

After becoming the latest World Series of Poker Circuit champion at Caesars Palace, who could argue with that?

World Series of Poker Circuit
2007-2008 Season
Caesars Palace -- Las Vegas

Event #10
Pot-Limit Omaha
Buy-In: $500 + $50
Number of Entries: 126
Total Prize Money: $61,110
April 26-27, 2008

Official Results:

1 $19,798 Kim Frederiksen Las Vegas, NV
2 $10,389 Ross Ruby Buffalo Grove, IL
3 $6,111 Quentin Krueger Winnipeg, Manitoba
4 $4,889 Joshua Crawford Farmington Hills, MI
5 $3,667 Shawn Silber Henderson, NV
6 $3,056 Curtis Walker Las Vegas, NV
7 $2,444 Robert Clark New Orleans
8 $1,833 Andrea Le Bail Paris, France
9 $1,222 Aaron Duczak BC, Canada
10 $978 Kelly Halloway Las Vegas, NV
11 $978 Warren Beres Las Vegas, NV
12 $978 James Wiese Birmingham, MI
13 $856 Travis Brown Winnipeg, Manitoba
14 $856 Randall Holland Los Angeles, CA
15 $856 Alan Adler Bakersfield, CA
16 $733 Darryl Dauerhauet Laughlin, NV
17 $733 Earl Odom Las Vegas, NV
18 $733 Jeffrey Foreman Albuquerque, NM

World Series of Poker Commissioner - Jeffrey Pollack
WSOP Tournament Director - Jack Effel
Caesars Palace Poker Room Manager - Jim Pedulla