Event 16 Recap

2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
$1,650 Eight-Max No Limit Hold’Em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guarantee

April 19 – 20th, 2015

Total Entries:  110
Total Prize Pool:  $165,000

Event 16 Champion Rachel Kranz
Event 16 Champion
Rachel Kranz

Recap:

A world champion, a November Niner and one of the most consistent players at Seminole Hard Rock took to the felt chasing the Event 16 title but in the end Rachel Kranz pulled off the amazing upset and took down Event 16 and the $44,683 first prize.

11 players returned on Day 2 including Jamie Gold, Chino Rheem and Daren Stabinski plus chip leader Robert Black.

Fairly quickly, the short-stacked Jamie Gold fell in 10th place and was soon followed by Ray Qartomy in 9th. The field continued to whittle down rapidly as Long Nguyen went out in 8th, Eracles Panayitou left in 7th, and Black finished 6th.  At that point, the remaining five players were battling for most of the evening before Daniel DiZenzo finally went out in 4th leaving Rheem, Stabinsky and Kranz to play for the title.

Because the players were so deep, it took hours before Stabinski finally met his fate in 3rd.  Stabinski just could not find an answer for Kranz finally going out when he went all-in with 8d9d on a 7-9-10 board.  Kranz had an answer holding pocket tens and sent Stabinski to the payout window in third setting up a showdown with Rheem.

With a large crowd including Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi watching the action, Rheem began with a ton of confidence but outchiped 4:1.  With what seemed like non-stop conversation going on, Rheem finally doubled up.  On a 9sJcTh board, the chips ended up in the middle and Chino flipped up KsJs and Kranz had 8sTs.  After the board ran out 4d5h, Rheem now had a 2:1 edge.

But Kranz struck back.  Rheem went all-in having hit a top pair on a six-board but Kranz turned over pocket jacks and retook the lead.

Not long after, the woman who had seemed to have all the answers pulled out some magic one more time.  After a 7hAs9h flop, Kranz and Rheem had their chips in the middle.  Rheem was looking good with Ad7c for top two pair but Kranz was holding AhAc for the set and after the cards ran out 2dQd, Kranz had pulled out the victory.

Kranz was very congratulatory to Chino and was thrilled with victory yelling out “It just set in – I won $44,000!”  Not only that but she had outlasted one of poker’s greats to do it.

Congratulations to our Event 16 Champion – Rachel Kranz!

Results:
1st – Rachel Kranz (New York, NY) – $44,683
2nd – Chino Rheem (Los Angeles, CA) – $26,400
3rd – Daren Stabinski (Weston, FL) – $19,365
4th – Sean Giesbrecht (Richmond, BC, Canada) – $13,860
5th – Daniel DiZenzo (Sussex, NJ) – $10,478
6th – Robert Black (Dallas, TX) – $8,003
7th – Eracles Panayitou (Tom’s River, NJ) – $6,435
8th – Long Nguyen (Houston, TX) – $5,198