2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 13
$1,650 Purple Chip Bounty (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 128
Prize Pool: $128,000
Bounty Prize Pool: $64,000
April 10-11, 2019
It was a good start to the trip for former Big 4 Champion Brian Altman who has just defeated Kristopher Tate heads up. The Boston native took his massive chip lead wire-to-wire to win the trophy outright, as well as the $37,120 first place prize.
Altman had no intention to play the $1,650 Purple Chip Event but got in serendipitous fashion.
“I wasn’t going to play this event but my flight landed thirty minutes early, and I thought I would swing through and play this.”
It was a rocky start for Altman on Day 1 of the event “I busted the first hand, but got more traction on my second bullet and was able to accumulate chips down the stretch.”
One pivotal hand was on the direct money bubble when He cracked Keith Ferrara’s pocket kings with seven five.
“I thought he was trying to make a move, and I remade a move… I made the wrong decision but it worked out. That’s part of poker, sometimes you just gotta get lucky”
Altman came into the day with more than double his second place competitor.
He drew first blood when he won the coin flip against Myles German to eliminate him in fourth place and score his eighth bounty.
Chris Gilkey proved difficult to eliminate as Altman kept doubling his short stack up. He finally got Gilkey however when he made three-outted him on the river to make two pair.
Altman held most of the chips in play going into heads up against Kristopher Tate. The match didn’t last very long, in fact all of Day 2 took less than two hours to complete.
On the final hand, Altman got it in with ace high and held against Tate’s king high.
When the dealer handed out payout cards Tate joked about switching them.
“I love coming down here, I’ve had a lot of success in the past and its a really comfortable place to play. The venue is really nice, I’m looking forward to the new hotel opening up. It’s always nice, all my friends come down here to play, its always a pleasurable experience.”
Event 13 results:
1st: Brian Altman – $37,120
2nd: Kristopher Tate – $23,040
3rd: Chris Gilkey – $13,760
4th: Myles German – 8,600
5th: Raffaello Locatelli – $6,400
6th: Greg Baird – $5,504
7th: Erik Christensen – $4,768
8th: Eli Levy – $4,224
9th: Manny Tarich – $3,712
10th: Asher Conniff – $3,264
11th: Ryan McKnight – $3,264
12th: Ivan Sergeyev – $3,264
13th: Adnrew Boujaoude – $2,848
14th: Cord Garcia – $2,848
15th: James Gilbert – $2,848
16th: Greg Rosen – $2,496