Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ’N’ Roll” Poker Open
$200 Big Stack Turbo No Limit Hold ‘Em (Re-Entry)
$20,000 Guaranteed

November 30th, 2014

Total Entries: 149
Total Prize Pool: $25,330

It was a banner day for Nick Pupillo as he stormed to the title in Event 17.

Pupillo came into the final table with a massive stack and as player after player dropped, his chip stack grew and grew leaving runner-up Brian Morgan with barely enough chips to put up a legitimate fight. Morgan held in as long as he could but Pupillo’s dominant stack gave him all the room he needed to step up the aggression and end the tournament.

“After I’d won the KK hand against him (Morgan), I knew I just had to patient and pick my spots. I was just taking each situation one at a time and let them make the mistakes.”

With the blinds skyrocketing and everyone else getting shorter while trying to catch up, his opponents were left with no choice but to challenge with less than optimal hands. The whole way Pupillo used the right combination of aggression and good timing to clear the table. Holding a huge lead heads-up, Pupillo even tried a raise with 7-2 but got caught and was priced in giving up a few chips to Morgan. But it didn’t matter as he just continued his march toward the win.

Pupillo, a mainstay on the MidStates and Heartland Poker Tours, wins his second title this month after winning an event at the Deepstack Extravaganza IV just a couple of weeks ago.

Pupillo’s only reaction to the tournament was that it “feels good” to win and thanked the SHR staff and dealers for a well-run tournament. You’d have to excuse him for being short with his comments as he was already being blinded off in Event 18 but said he hoped to see us again soon at the end of that event as well.

Congratulations to our Event 17 Champion – Nick Pupillo!

Event 17 Results

1st – Nick Pupillo (Adison, IL) – $7,978
2nd – Brian Morgan (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) – $4,559
3rd – Brady Churches (New Albany, OH) – $2,989
4th – Jorge Gomez (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – $2,077
5th – William Underdown (Deerfield Beach, FL) – $1,545
6th – Norman Zapczynski (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – $1,191
7th – Joseph Patalano (Wellington, FL) – $836
8th – Mark Bernstein (Moorestown, NJ) – $608
9th – Victor Cianelli (Carnegie, PA) – $583