2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event 17: $1,100 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Entries: 186
Prize Pool: $180,420
August 10-11, 2016
Seth Davies is the champion of Event 17 at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. Davies defeated a field of 186 entries in the $1,100 six-max freeze-out event, claiming the trophy and the top prize of $41,604 for the outright win.
The champ is a 27-year-old professional poker player from Oregon, and he’s been playing the game full-time for about five years. Davies was a highly-recruited baseball player in college, but a trio of arm surgeries was an early indicator that he needed to pursue another career path. He took up online poker while he was recovering from one of those surgeries. Black Friday forced him to move to Mexico to maintain his livelihood, but he’s back in the States now and spending more time grinding live tournaments.
Whatever he’s doing lately, it’s working. Davies is having a career year on the felt, winning his first WPT title in the spring and continuing to rack up cashes as the year has progressed. This most recent result brings his total 2016 earnings to more than $300,000.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of work lately,” Davies said about his efforts this year. “Whenever you win live tournaments, you’re going to be running pretty well. So obviously, I’m running pretty well. But I’ve been really focused lately too.”
Though he had a strong Day 2 performance, Davies was almost eliminated late on Day 1. Down under 20 big blinds, he three-bet shoved from the small blind with four-five of hearts behind a button open. The big blind re-shoved with pocket sevens, and the original raiser ended up calling with ace-queen to put both of his opponents at risk. Davies flopped one pair and turned a second, tripling up right near the end of the night.
That pivotal pot propelled Davies into a deep run on Day 2, where he eventually found himself heads-up with a familiar foe. He first met Harrison Gimbel in 2012 when they were both at the final table of a $1,500 ante-only event at the WSOP. Davies finished seventh after losing a big pot to Gimbel, but he got revenge on his fellow WPT Champion this time around. After a long, back-and-forth duel, Davies emerged victorious, earning his second live victory and first in this building.
Final Table Results
1st: Seth Davies – $41,604
2nd: Harrison Gimbel – $28,146
3rd: Matthew Sloan – $18,403
4th: Chad J. Brown – $14,704
5th: Hussain Sajwani – $11,042
6th: Sean Stevens – $8,498