2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
$25,500 High Roller
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 99
Prize Pool: $2,445,300
April 15-16, 2019
The 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown rolled into the final weekend and the $25K High Roller kept players in town after their Championship run came to an end. As the headliner played down in the Event Center, the High Roller packed Salon East with some of the best players in the world and Aaron Mermelstein outlasted them all to claim the title.
“This ranks right up there,” Mermelstein commented about this win compared to his other titles. “I live here part-time now so for me it’s nice to get a big win here especially against a lot of the tougher competition.”
“Feels sort of like home. It feels good. This is my first cash in a $25K so it’s nice to win the first one.”
The tournament drew 99 entries to push the prize pool past the $2,000,000 Guarantee and 16 of them survived to make Day 2.
They still had some work to do on Wednesday with only 14 of them taking home part of the $2,445,300 prize pool. Short-stacked Ray Qartomy was an early Day 2 exit and Jonathan Jaffe ran into Alex Foxen’s pocket kings to burst the bubble.
Joe McKeehen was the chip leader at the start of the final table with Mermelstein in the middle of the pack. The WPT Champions Club member found a big double, then took the lead when he eliminated Niall Farrell in sixth place.
McKeehen would never regain the lead and Mermelstein would never let it go as McKeehen went out in third place. He was heads-up with Foxen for the title and the battle lasted less than an hour. Foxen ran his flopped top pair into Mermelstein’s flopped top set and it was over.
“I doubled on Elio (Fox) pretty early,” Mermelstein said of his Day 1 run. “I kind of never looked back from there and it was sort of a smooth ride as far as tournaments go.”
“I busted the Main Event in pretty brutal fashion,” he continued. ‘I wasn’t even sure I was going to play so I’m glad that I did. It worked out well.”
“I’m happy to be in this position and close it out.”
Congratulations to Aaron and thanks to everyone for another great High Roller.
High Roller results:
1st: Aaron Mermelstein – $618,955
2nd: Alex Foxen – $545,000
3rd: Joe McKeehen – $305,665
4th: James Calderaro – $210,295
5th: Shannon Shorr – $136,935
6th: Niall Farrell – $100,255
7th: Alan Schein – $83,140
8th: Brandon Adams – $70,915
9th: Ben Yu – $68,470
10th: Sean Winter – $66,025
11th: Andjelko Andrejevic – $63,580
12th: Sam Sorevel – $61,135
13th: Ali Imsirovic – $58,690
14th: Rainer Kemp – $56,240