Event 13: Vimy Ha Wins Bounty Title in Heads-Up Chop

2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #13
$570 No Limit Hold’em Double Black Chip Bounty
Total Entries: 240
Prizepool: $72,000 + $48,000 in Bounties

Vimy Ha Wins $570 No Limit Hold'em Double Black Chip Bounty
Vimy Ha Wins $570 No Limit Hold’em Double Black Chip Bounty

Vimy Ha earned his first tournament win in a few years in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Ha took the win in a heads-up chop with Pasquale Caiazza in the $570 No Limit Hold’em Double Black Chip Bounty event.

Ha and Pasquale each took home $16,020, but Ha takes credit for the win since he had more chips at the time of the chop.

“It feels good,” said Ha after his win. “I’ve been needing one. I haven’t had a first place win since 2013. I had a couple final tables this year, but haven’t been able to seal the deal until this one.”

Ha lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two kids. He works as a retail software consultant and his busy personal life keeps him from playing poker full time.

“I am in between work right now,” said Ha. “So I can play a little bit more and I came down to Florida to play. It’s my first time at the Hard Rock and I love it.”

This is Ha’s second cash of the series, both of which came in bounty formats. He earned a 17th place finish on Monday in the $1,650 No Limit Hold’em Purple Chip Bounty.

“I love the bounty format,” he said. “I actually seem to run well in them for some reason. It’s a great dynamic. I wish all tournaments had bounties.”

Ha came into the final table as the chip leader and had already amassed a sizable amount of bounties. He didn’t keep a running tally throughout the event, but it was “between six and 10.”

When the final table began, the table agreed to take back their bounties and keep the $200 for themselves. That agreement allowed Ha to just focus on the task at hand, winning the tournament.

“It kind of really takes back the dynamic,” said the native Texan. “I was the big stack at that point and I didn’t necessarily know if it was to the short stack’s only advantage because it got me to kind of just focus on the tournament and not the bounties anymore, so that was good.”

Ha started with the chip lead and really took the reigns of the final table when he busted defending champion Ido Ashkenazi in fifth place.

They were the two biggest stacks at the table and they both flopped two pair. Ha’s two pair was bigger when all the money went in on the flop to send Ashkenazi home. Ha had almost two-thirds of the chips in play and never looked back.

When Cornel Cimpan was eliminated in third place, Caiazza and Ha, took a few minutes to agree upon a chop and Ha earned his first title in a few years.

Here is a look at the final table results:

1st: Vimy Ha – $16,020
2nd: Pasquale Caiazza – $16,020
3rd: Cornel Cimpan – $6,840
4th: Johanssy Joseph – $5,544
5th: Ido Ashkenazi – $4,320
6th: Jon Brody – $3,600
7th: Dalton Mills – $2,650
8th: Stephen Esposito – $2,150
9th: Jim Rothlein – $1,440

Event 13 Final Results