2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
$3,500 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries: 1,309
Prize Pool: $4,188,800
April 13-18, 2018

Nearly two weeks of tournaments in the new Hard Rock Event Center led the way toward the headline event on the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown schedule. The $3 Million Guarantee WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship started on April 13 and, after six days of play, the UK’s Scott Margereson defeated Faraz Jaka in a lengthy heads-up battled for the title and $696,640 win.

“I’ve run incredible this year,” Margereson said of his victory. “It feels a little ridiculous to win this much money, but it’s huge.”

The Championship was another huge success with the 1,309 entries making it the fifth biggest field in the World Poker Tour’s 16 years of operation. The great turnout pushed the prize pool to nearly $4.2 million by the time registration closed.

Those 1,309 entries were whittled down to 480 players returning for Day 2. They made the money late in the day with 164 spots taking home some cash. Former WSOP November Niner Joseph Cheong was the chip leader of the 81 players who advanced to Day 3.

That lead helped Cheong make it deep in Day 4 but he went out in 11th place, short of the final table. Margereson moved to the top of the counts late in the day but it was Brian Hasting holding the lead when only six players remained for the WPT televised final table.

Besides Hastings and Margereson, the final table lineup included two-time WPTDeepStacks champ Jeff Fielder, local favorite Joey Couden, popular pro Matt Stout, and former WPT Player of the Year Jaka.

The structure was slow and the 82 big blind average stack meant they had plenty of room to make their move at the final table and it was destined to be a long day.

Fielder was the first eliminated from the final table when his flush ran into a full house and Stout followed shortly after when his pockets tens lost to the quad queens of Jaka. Couden booked a $250,000 payout when he ran into Jaka’s king as the former WPT POY extended his lead.

After a long stretch of three-handed play, Hastings was eliminated by Margereson when he made a flush on the river. Margereson held nearly a three-to-one chip lead to begin heads-up play.

The two battled for nearly three hours before Margereson was able to eliminate his tough opponent. This was the second WPT runner-up finish for Jaka and he took home $454,496. Margereson earned $696,740 for his first WPT title and the biggest tournament cash of his career. In addition, he punched his ticket into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions set to take place next month in Las Vegas.

“When there were four left, we were all guaranteed huge sums of money,” Margereson said. “I try not to focus on it and I’m very, very fortunate to have won the poker tournament.”

“I ran really good all week and I feel like I played pretty good, too.”

Congratulations to Scott on the win and thank you to our players for another great Championship.

Final table results:

1st: Scott Margereson – $696,740*
2nd: Faraz Jaka – $454,496
3rd: Brian Hastings – $336,466
4th: Joey Couden – $251,523
5th: Matt Stout – $189,880
6th: Jeff Fielder – $144,775
* – Includes $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions seat

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championsionship results

2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event 18
$150 No-Limit Hold’em 
Entries: 565
Prize Pool: $67,800
April 16-18, 2018

James Scott dreamed about winning the $150 no-limit hold’em event, literally.

Shortly after the clock struck midnight and the calendar switched to Thursday, Scott made a deal with Manuel Jo and took credit for the win in the $150 no-limit hold’em. Scott earned $15,574 and defeated a field of 565 entries for his first live tournament win.

“It was great because I had a dream today,” said Scott. “I took a nap and I had a dream that I was heads-up and playing for the money. So, it’s unbelievable. It was very exciting.”

Scott came into the final table near the bottom of the chip counts. He took his time and waited for his spots to come up while several other players hit the rail.

It all fit into his strategy to fulfill a modest goal.

“My strategy was to come in fourth because I was so short stacked,” said Scott. “Then, I got that double up and then I got that triple up with the three jacks. So, that was fantastic.”

That was the turning point for Scott. He scored a triple up when he shoved the button with ace-jack, got called by Alfredo Fernandez in the small blind and Jo shoved over the top in the big blind. Fernandez folded and Scott was able to suck out with against Jo’s pocket queens.

That moved Scott from the short stack three-handed into the chip lead. He never relinquished his lead after that. After Jo eliminated Fernandez, the two agreed on an almost dead even chop, which left Scott with the trophy as the chip leader.

Scott is a local player from Fort Lauderdale. He lives a busy life as a business owner, a husband, a father and a grandfather.

He owns a jewelry store in North Miami, which was opened by his grandfather in 1949 and has been in business ever since. With so much on his plate, poker isn’t even close to the top of his priorities, but he makes time to play when some of the major series are in town.

“I try to play once a month,” said Scott. “Then, when they have the series, I play for two weeks straight.”

Scott’s win nearly puts a bow on the entire 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, with only the $3,500 WPT main event still running.

The top 36 players earned a payday and here are the results:

1st: James Scott – $14,574*
2nd: Manuel Jo – $14,573*
3rd: Alfredo Fernandez – $7,119
4th: Christopher Zito – $4,916
5th: Claudio Piedrabuena – $3,627
6th: Antonio Colon – $2,882
7th: George Navarro – $2,204
8th: Joaquin Sosa – $1,593
9th: Bob Tanner – $1,153
10th: Angelo Castaldi – $881
11th: Homero Molina – $881
12th: Daniel Saffer – $881
13th: Ariel Rosello Quintana – $712
14th: Jarrett Vaughn – $712
15th: Jay Klitzner – $712
16th: Larry Klur – $610
17th: Mitsuru Sano – $610
18th: Paul Nguyen – $610
19th: Eric Rivkin – $509
20th: Raymond Nalbandian – $509
21st: David Wyatt – $509
22nd: Elnatan Aminov – $509
23rd: David Jacobs – $509
24th: Thomas Kornechuk – $509
25th: Richard Contell – $509
26th: Julien Durity – $509
27th: Trent Smith – $509
28th: Carlos Torres Vazquez – $441
29th: Nashaat Antonius – $441
30th: Alexis Moreda – $441
31st: Justin Molis – $441
32nd: Brett Taylor – $441
33rd: Julio Rodriguez – $441
34th: Iftikhar Memon – $441
35th: Jermain Phang – $441
36th: Darrell Carril – $441

*Indicates adjusted payouts to reflects the deal

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts | Live Stream
Level 38: 300,000/600,000 with 100,000 ante

Scott Margereson moved all in from the button and Faraz Jaka called all in for 12,375,000.

Jaka turned over and needed to hold against Margereson’s .

The flop came and Margereson flopped two-pair to take the lead.

The turn was the which was no help to Jaka. The river was the and Margereson’s two-pair held to eliminate Jaka in second place ($454,496).

Scott Margereson – WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Champion ($696,740)
Faraz Jaka – Eliminated

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts | Live Stream
Level 33: 300,000/600,000 with 100,000 ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 1,309

Faraz Jaka limped the small blind and Scott Margereson checked his option in the big blind.

The flop came , Margereson checked and Jaka bet 600,000. Margereson  raised to 1,800,000. Jaka called.

The turn brought the , and both players checked.

The river was the , Margereson bet 3,200,000 and Jaka folded. Margereson scooped the pot.

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts | Live Stream
Level 33: 300,000/600,000 with 100,000 ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 1,309

Faraz Jaka limped from the small blind and Scott Margereson checked his option in the big blind.

The flop came , Jaka bet 800,000 winning himself the pot.