2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #24
$1,100 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Total Entries: 828
Total Prize Pool: $820,000
August 15-16, 2016
The 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Event 24 — $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) — began with 828 entrants, but on Tuesday just nine returned to the final table as a part of The Big 4. World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hui started with a massive chip lead, but in the end the day would belong to local favorite Ruslan Dykshteyn.
The $151,100 win was the third-largest of Dykshteyn’s career behind the $202,335 he won for a victory in the 2014 World Series of Poker West Palm Beach Main Event and $184,705 he earned for taking down the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Event 39 — $570 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack — back in April.
“Feeling good, it’s not my first time [laughs],” said Dykshteyn after the win. “I have a little home field advantage. I moved out here three years ago from New York. I came here to play the $5,000 event three years ago. Put seven bullets into it but didn’t make Day 2. I had a couple of friends here and just decided to change my scenery.”
With the chips so uneven at the start of play, there was a ton of action early. Daniel Buzgon was the first to go, the result of shoving with ace-ten only to run into the pocket kings of Dykshteyn.
Just a few hands later, George Boyadjian, who had previously won five tournaments at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, followed him out the door after his pocket deuces failed to hold against Jordan Joeckel’s jack-ten suited.
From there, Aaron Massey shoved king-ten and failed to get there against Dykshteyn’s pocket queens. That proved to be the start of a heater for Dykshteyn, who a few minutes later picked up pocket aces to best Adam Krach’s pocket nines.
Not long after, Dykshteyn raised to 180,000 from the button and Guy Smith defended the big blind. Smith then check-raised all in for 740,000 over Dykshteyn’s 210,000 continuation-bet and received a call. Smith flopped top pair with jack-ten, but he had a kicker problem as Dykshteyn held ace-jack. No help on the turn and river was all she wrote for Smith, who earned $37,800 for his performance.
Dykshteyn then sent Joeckel packing – the result of winning a flip with pocket sixes to ace-ten – and Hui followed that up by dispatching fellow WSOP bracelet winner Marsha Wolak in third place after getting lucky with ace-four against ace-nine.
Dykshteyn and Hui then engaged in a short heads-up battle that saw the former prevail.
“I caught some cards,” Dykshteyn admitted. “The first two tournaments down here — the $5,000 [Championship] and the $2,650 — didn’t work out well. I couldn’t make Day 2. At the beginning of this tournament I caught a couple good hands and just survived. Today was another good run. Perfect hands. I caught queens blind versus blinds, caught kings and aces. It was just a good run.”
Amazingly, all of the above final table action took place in the same 90-minute level.
Here is a look at the final table results:
1st: Ruslan Dykshteyn – $151,100
2nd: Phillip Hui – $87,600
3rd: Marsha Wolak – $52,900
4th: Jordan Joeckel – $45,300
5th: Guy Smith – $37,800
6th: Adam Krach – $30,200
7th: Aaron Massey – $22,700
8th: George Boyadjian – $18,900
9th: Daniel Buzgon – $15,500