Poker produces strange coincidences, but this one is off the charts. At the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe in Las VegasThomas Taylor and David Simon met heads-up in two different Pot-Limit Omaha events, and Taylor won both, sending Simon to a second-place finish each time.
The two finals
In Event #3 ($600 PLO)a 451-entry field boiled down to the pair, with Taylor taking $44,586 and his third Circuit ring while Simon banked $29,699 as runner-up (Eugene Moss was third for $20,983).
Just three events later, in Event #4 ($800 PLO) with 247 entries, the exact same duel played out: Taylor won again for $38,826 and another ring, Simon again finished second for $25,549, and Brazil’s Vivian Saliba took third for $17,266.
How rare is this, really?
As PokerNews put it, it’s already unusual for the same two players to reach the final duel of a single tournament. Having them meet twice in a matter of days, with the identical winner both times, is an astronomical statistical improbability. Taylor pocketed more than $83,000 across the two runs; Simon earned around $55,000 for a pair of near-misses that he surely won’t forget.
