On Thursday, the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” saw another big crowd take part in the $1,000,000 opening event and we awarded our second trophy of the series.
The RRPO schedule has non-hold’em games spread throughout the opening weekend to give a nice variety of action for our players. Yesterday’s one-day trophy event was a treat for our mixed-game players.
It was a $360 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament that far surpassed the turnout from last year. The 2017 RRPO version of the tournament drew 53 entries while this year saw a jump up a whopping 98. The last 13 spots were paid out and we saw of our best mixed games players get there including John Holley, Joel Harwood, and local poker reporter/Razz enthusiast Mickey Doft.
Carey Pickus finished runner-up to Phil Hui in this event last year and made the final table again. She fell short of the title, ending her run in third place, and Sebastien Soares went on to win the trophy. It was his first career tournament win after several close calls.
Event 3 results:
1st: Sebastien Soares – $8,965
2nd: Barry Levy – $5,513
3rd: Carey Pickus – $3,381
4th: Michael Barry – $2,205
5th: Joel Harwood – $1,720
6th: Antonio Pezzi – $1,374
7th: John Holley – $1,169
8th: Mark Hurst – $1,014
9th: Kevin Nettle – $897
10th: Mihails Morozovs – $809
11th: Mickey Doft – $809
12th: James Juvanic – $809
13th: Michael Sopko – $735
Another two flights ran in Event 1 and they pushed it closer to the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. Flights C and D put the tournament at the halfway mark and moved the combined entry count up to 1,655 with four more weekend flights to go.
Marc Bronstein took the overall chip lead after Flight B but two players passed him in Flight D. Michael Rannelli bagged 468,000 but Peter Pacifico topped him at the end with 487,000. Bronstein rounds out the list of players over 400,000 when he returns with 434,500.
We have 210 players already set for Day 2 on Sunday and that number will jump much higher before we close out the last flight on Saturday evening.
Top ten stacks through Flight D:
- Peter Pacifico – 487,000
- Michael Rannelli – 468,000
- Marc Bronstein – 434,500
- Heng Zhang – 378,000
- Carlo Rodriguez – 370,000
- Atef Nassall – 364,000
- Justin Harvell – 362,000
- Kharlin Sued – 351,500
- Martin Ryan – 329,000
- Lloyd Gunther – 316,000