2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #5
$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Total Entries: 1,804
Prize Pool: $216,480
After a long final table in which the average stack was rarely above 20 big blinds, Sagi Zommer won Event 5 in a heads-up deal with Alan Dobrow. The latter collected $35,000 for his runner-up finish, while Zommer took the trophy and the top prize of $44,329.
Zommer is a 43-year-old physical therapist from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was born in Israel, but he’s spent most of his life in the United States, splitting time between his east coast hometown and Silicon Valley. He’s only been playing poker seriously for about two years, and this is by far his largest result on record.
“I was going to be patient and pick my spots,” the champ said of his strategy entering the final table. “Let some of the small stacks take each other out.”
He did just that, treading water for most of the evening and eliminating just one of his nine final table opponents. He entered the heads-up duel against Dobrow facing a significant chip disadvantage, and he initially declined the deal that his opponent offered.
After a brief back-and-forth battle, Zommer found two doubles in quick succession to take the lead, then offered Dobrow the same deal in return. They shook hands and called it a night, with Dobrow seemingly content to settle for second place. Both men showed a remarkable return on their $150 investments.
“Once we got heads up, I just tried to tire him out,” Zommer said. “And it worked.”
Final Table Results
1st: Sagi Zommer – $44,329
2nd: Alan Dobrow – $35,000
3rd: Fred Allenspach – $20,146
4th: Mike Beasley – $13,638
5th: Zo Karim – $9,417
6th: Salah Levy – $7,252
7th: Jordan Meltzer – $5,520
8th: Steve Fraser – $4,048
9th: David Hass – $2,901