2016 Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event 3: $300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em
Entries: 124
Prize Pool: $31,620
November 18, 2016

(Hollywood, FL) — Domenic Amore laid claim to his first major tournament title Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood. Amore bested a strong field of 124 entries in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open $300 Seniors 50+ event. The tournament ran as part of the property’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker series and awarded Amore $7,274 for his efforts.

Kicking off at 10am and playing out over a one-day structure, the tournament was fast but yielded no shortage of play. William Vo, fresh off a WPT final table and six-figure score, burst the bubble shortly after 5:30pm and from there action narrowed to the 10-handed final table by about 6:45pm. Amore owned the chip lead at the time and sat on a stack of more than 120 big blinds. Play started slow as players shied away from big pots. There was some talk of chop when just five remained, but Hollywood regular Paul Balzano opted out. Balzano owns nearly $1,000,000 in tournament earnings (much of which came over the course of his eight major victories) and didn’t go down without a fight.

With four players left, Balzano surrendered a massive pot to Amore after his top pair was outdrawn by an open-ended straight draw. Balzano still had chips to work with, but never recovered. He went on to finish 3rd earning $3,162.

With Balzano’s elimination, Amore and Vo quickly agreed to a chop. Despite there being more than 100 big blinds in play and Amore holding an advantage of nearly 2-to-1 over Vo, the pair agreed to splite the prize money evenly. Both pocketed $7,274 while Amore’s chip lead was good for the title and the trophy.

Amore is 64-year-old business owner from Miami. His Event 3 win marks his first major tourmament cash.

Event 3 final results:

1st: Domenic Amore – $7,274
2nd: William Vo – $7,274
3rd: Paul Balzano – $3,162
4th: Reuben Rosenthal – $2,530
5th: Nancy Burgess – $1,897
6th: George Davis – $1,581
7th: Robert Levin – $1,265
8th: Ira Horowitz – $949
9th: Larry Bass – $711
10th: Clint Dunn – $632
11th: Ira Schwartz – $632
12th: Joseph Warlen – $632
13th: Stephen Leahy – $553
14th: Peter Bronstein – $553
15th: David Ring – $553
16th: Robert Allan – $474
17th: David Coughlin – $474
18th: Brian McKane – $474

$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 22: 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 124

Following Paul Balzano’s 3rd-place elimination, Domenic Amore and William Vo chopped the remainder of the prize pool. Despite a chip advantage of 801,000 to 444,000, Amore agreed to an even chop that saw him go down as the champion and earn the token guitar pick trophy.

A full report on the event will be posted shortly. In the meantime, here’s a look at the final table results:

1st: Domenic Amore – $7,274
2nd: William Vo – $7,274
3rd: Paul Balzano – $3,162
4th: Reuben Rosenthal – $2,530
5th: Nancy Burgess – $1,897
6th: George Davis – $1,581
7th: Robert Levin – $1,265
8th: Ira Horowitz – $949
9th: Larry Bass – $711
10th: Clint Dunn – $632

$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 22: 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 124

Paul Balzano was all in from the small blind versus Domenic Amore on the button. Balzano was in good shape with against the of Amore, but an flop changed that. The board completed with the turn and river. Balzano, who finished 4th in last year’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year race, was eliminated.

Paul Balzano – Eliminated in 3rd place ($3,162)

$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 21: 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 3 of 124

$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 21: 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 4 of 124

The flop laid and Domenic Amore and Paul Balzano got Amore’s 337,000 chips in the middle. Balzano owned for top pair and was in good shape against the open-ended straight of Amore.

Runout:

Amore spiked his straight on the river and a pot that would have given Balzano nearly 1,000,000 of the 1,240,000 chips in play instead went the way of Amore.

Domenic Amore – 690,000 (69 bb)
Paul Balzano – 280,000 (28 bb)

$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 20: 4,000/8,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 4 of 124

Domenic Amore opened the cutoff for 20,000 and Nancy Burgess shoved the small blind for her last 144,000. Paul Balzano folded his big blind and Burgess was at risk with versus the of Amore.

The board fell and Amore’s ace-king was good. Burgess was eliminated in 5th place.

Domenic Amore – 350,000 (43 bb)
Nancy Burgess – Eliminated 5th place ($1,897)

$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 19: 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 5 of 124

George Davis open-shoved about 45,000 from the small blind and Paul Balzano called. Davis was at risk.

Balzano:
Davis:

Runout:

Balzano’s aces up were good and he eliminated Davis in 6th place.

Paul Balzano – 505,000 (84 bb)
George Davis – Eliminated in 6th place ($1,581)

$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 18: 2,500/5,000 with a 500 Ante
Players Remaining: 6 of 124

$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 18: 2,500/5,000 with a 500 Ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 124

Domenic Amore limped from middle position. Ira Horowitz limped from middle position. Nancy Burgess came along from the small blind and Ira Horowitz raised from the big blind. It was back on Amore who three-bet to an unknown amount. Burgess got out of the way. Horowitz moved all in and Amore called putting Horowitz at risk.

Amore:
Horowitz:

Runout:

Amore’s aces held and Horowitz was eliminated in 8th place.

Domenic Amore – 505,000 (101 bb)
Ira Horowitz – Eliminated in 8th place ($949)

$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 17: 2,000/4,000 with a 500 Ante
Players Remaining: 8 of 124

Larry Bass got things started with a limp from under the gun. Two more players, including the small blind, made their way into the pot for the minimum. Action was on Paul Balzano and he raised to 19,000. Bass called as did a player in middle position. The small blind mucked and they were three handed to the flop.

Flop:

Balzano lead for 11,000. Bass shoved for about 70,000. The middle position folded. Balzano, who had Bass covered, called.

Balzano: for an overpair
Bass: for top pair

Runout:

Balzano’s overpair held and he busted Bass in 9th place.

Paul Balzano – 282,000 (70 bb)
Larry Bass – Eliminated in 9th place ($711)