Event 1 Recap

2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guarantee

April 6th-8th, 2015

Total Entries:  1,210
Total Prize Pool:  $254,100

James Salmon won Event 1 ($250 NLHE w/ Re-Entries), earning $31,074.
James Salmon won Event 1 ($250 NLHE w/ Re-Entries), earning $31,074.

Recap:

The opening event of the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown was Event 1 ($250 No-Limit Hold’em with re-entries), and it needed to attract 477 entries to reach the guaranteed prizepool of $100,000.

There were six starting flights over two days, and at the end of it all, there were 1,210 entries, creating a total prizepool worth $254,100 — more than two-and-a-half times larger than the guarantee.

Of those 1,210 entries, there were 142 survivors who made it to Day 2, but only about half of them (72) would finish in the money.

The field reached the nine-handed final table shortly after 9:00 pm, and Pasquale Caiazza of Davie, FL, was the big chipleader with more than 3 million in chips. On the other end of the leaderboard was Marcus Stein of Pembroke Pines, FL, who was clinging to life with less than a tenth of that amount — 290,000 (fewer than 4 big blinds).

Several of the players had been actively discussing a chop of the prizepool since there were 12 players remaining, and that talk continued as nine-handed play lasted for more than an hour. Unfortunately for the dealmakers, there were always one or two holdouts who refused.

Eventually, Michael Fryett of Palm City, FL, was all in for 5 big blinds with 5s5d against the AdQh of Stein. The board came AhQc4c7sQs, and Stein won the pot with a full house to bust Fryett in ninth place. That hand capped an amazing comeback for Stein, who went from the short stack with nine players remaining to the chipleader with eight players remaining.

The blinds double every three levels, and in the three levels since nine-handed play began, only one player had busted. That left the final eight players with an average chip stack worth only about 15 big blinds — and that’s when they successfully reached a deal to chop the remaining prizepool based on their chip counts.

What turned out to be the final all-in situation was played between Caizza and James Salmon. With the blinds at 60K-120K, Caiazza made a big initial raise from middle position to 1,000,000, and Salmon moved all in from the big blind for 1,480,000. Caiazza called with QhJs, but Salmon turned over an overpair — KhKc.

The board came 10h9c3h3c10s, and the pocket kings held up for Salmon to double up in to the chip lead — a position he retained until the players agreed to chop, awarding the title and the trophy to Salmon.

Salmon is a 29-year-old professional poker player who was born and raised in Plantation, Florida. Salmon considers himself more of a cash-game player than a tournament player (“60-40” is how he describes it), and he plays most of his poker at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. Salmon particularly enjoys their big tournament series (like this one), saying “As a native Floridian, it’s nice to have these great tournaments, with this kind of value, in my own backyard.”

Salmon was surprised at how solid the final table was for a tournament with just a $250 buy-in. The final table played tighter than he expected, “except when I opened light. That’s when they’d reraise.”

Salmon added that he had a particularly good time playing in this event, and not just because he won it. “What was interesting about this tournament is that it was enjoyable and not very stressful — which is usually not the case.” Salmon praised the other players in the event, saying they were generally having a good time, with plenty of laughing and good conversations.

This was the first tournament of the series, but the third to award a trophy because it was a three-day event. With 1,210 total entries, the prizepool of $254,100 was paid out to the final 72 players.

Final Table Results:

1st:  James Salmon  (Plantation, FL)  –  $31,074
2nd:  Marcus Stein  (Pembroke Pines, FL)  –  $27,760
3rd:  Alon Yehudai  (Fort Lauderdale, FL)  –  $27,587
4th:  Leanne “Tracey” Gelb  (Doral, FL)  –  $23,456
5th:  Matthew Friendly  (Miami, FL)  –  $19,151
6th:  Pasquale Caiazza  (Davie, FL)  –  $16,332
7th:  John DePersio  (Parkland, FL)  –  $15,296
8th:  Anthony Casas  (Miami, FL)  –  $13,804
9th:  Michael Fryett  (Palm City, FL)  –  $3,557