Event 11: Alex Haber Plants a Jamaican Flag in Hollywood

2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #11
$360 No-Limit Hold’em Black Chip Bounty
Total Entries: 305
Total Prizepool: $61,000

Alex Haber
Alex Haber

Alex Haber is the champion of Event 11 at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. Haber bested a field of 305 entries in the $360 Black Chip Bounty, winning the trophy and the top prize of $10,936 in a three-way deal.

The champ is a 49-year-old part-time player from Kingston, Jamaica.  By day, he sells car parts and kitchen fittings. By night, he’s a poker player, and he’s amassed a few significant results in his short tournament career. Haber cashed in the WSOP Main Event this past summer, and he came close to winning an LAPT Main Event title two years ago. His total career tournament earnings are nearing $200,000 after this result.

This one-day event began Sunday at noon, and it looked for a while that it might not play out. By the time the clock struck 5:00 a.m., there were still three players battling furiously for the trophy. The idea of making a deal had come up a handful of times over the course of the final table, but the players had been unable to come to terms to that point.

Eventually, though, the fatigue began to set in, and the final three players were content to chop up the prize money and call it a night around 5:30. Haber had the chip lead, so each of his two opponents added $250 from their own shares of the otherwise-even chop.

“I got lucky,” Haber said in the moments after his win. Luck may have played a role, but Haber certainly showed his chops. This result was his fourth five-figure cash in the last three years.

Results
1st: Alex Haber – $10,936 + trophy
2nd: Faisal Siddiqui – $10,187
3rd: Gary Bolden – $10,187
4th: Brian Sodre – $4,575
5th: Jarrett Vaughn – $3,599
6th: Efrain Lopez – $2,959
7th: Domenico Albano – $2,379
8th: Vincent Fiorenza – $1,800
9th: Ari Dinov – $1,220
10th: Zoltan Czinkota – $793
11th: Chia-Hui Huang – $793
12th: Luis Dos Santos Gomez – $793
13th: Jamie Avila – $656
14th: Mansoor Kader – $656
15th: Robert Williams – $656
16th: Nancy Burgess – $522
17th: Schneur Borentsein – $522
18th: Brent Wajcman – $522
19th: Jackie Lee – $427
20th: Gary Khutorsky – $427
21st: Rodger Smith – $427
22nd: Michael Merister – $427
23rd: Robert Engle – $427
24th: Arthur Rodriguez – $427
25th: Joseph Villatico – $427
26th: Ethiel Garcia – $427
27th: Richard Whitebrook – $427
28th: Hyndi Khomutetsky – $378
29th: Kyle Harry – $378
30th: David Brown – $378
31st: Vincent Spadavecchia – $378
32nd: Philip Rigby – $378
33rd: Raymond Keigley – $378
34th: James Sutherland – $378
35th: Eric White – $378
36th: Joseph Allison – $378