2016 Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event 5: $360 Black Chip Bounty NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries: 209
Prize Pool: $41,800
November 20, 2016

Rob Cowen has planted the Union Jack in South Florida, winning Event 5 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open. Cowen defeated a field of 209 players in the $360 Black Chip Bounty event, collecting his own bounty, the trophy, and the top prize of $11,706.

Cowen is a professional poker player and former Psychology student from Swansea, Wales. The 31-year-old has been playing the game seriously for nearly a decade, but this year has been his most successful one yet. He has more than six figures in tournament earnings in 2016, including a deep-ish run in the WSOP Main Event this past summer.

No victory goes unappreciated, but the champ actually had other plans for Sunday when it began. He’d bagged up a fairly small stack of 52,500 chips in Event 1 — still good for 17.5 big blinds at the Day 2 starting level. The issue wasn’t “making it to Day 2”, but making it to Day 2. Physically. Cowen overslept by nearly three hours, only showing up after his stack had been completely blinded out.

“When I woke up this morning, I thought I wouldn’t bother turning up for Day 2, and I’d ship the Bounty instead,” he laughed it off.

Cowen did late-register Event 5 with 30 big blinds, and he went on to build his way into the chip lead by the time the final table was set. A couple hours later, he was heads-up with Stephen Song, though he was facing a huge chip deficit of about 10:1 at that point. “I was always going to win, though,” Cowen chuckled in his postgame interview.

Cowen found a quick cooler of a double-up with pocket tens against pocket eights, then another double, and another. A few orbits into the duel, he completed the comeback, defeating Song to snag the trophy and the winner’s share of the prizepool.

Final Table Results
1st: Rob Cowen – $11,706
2nd: Stephen Song – $6,897
3rd: Nicolas Ochoa – $3,971
4th: David Kaye – $3,219
5th: Aaron Thomas – $2,508
6th: Scott Zakheim – $2,090
7th: Mark Dube – $1,672
8th: Dimitry Agrachov – $1,254
9th: Brian Phillis – $836

Complete Tournament Results

$360 Black Chip Bounty NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 20: 4,000/8,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 10 of 209

The field has been reduced to 10 players, and they’ve just drawn for new seats around the final table. Here’s the lineup:

Seat 1: Mark Dube – 354,000 (44 bb)
Seat 2: Dimitry Agrachov – 189,000 (24 bb)
Seat 3: Krystal Harris – 43,000 (5 bb)
Seat 4: Brian Phillis – 203,000 (25 bb)
Seat 5: Stephen Song – 358,000 (45 bb)
Seat 6: David Kaye – 265,000 (33 bb)
Seat 7: Nicolas Ochoa – 98,000 (12 bb)
Seat 8: Rob Cowen – 469,000 (59 bb)
Seat 9: Scott Zakheim – 260,000 (33 bb)
Seat 10: Aaron Thomas – 264,000 (33 bb)

Blinds are 4,000/8,000 with a 1,000 ante in the current level, putting the average stack just north of 30 big blinds.

Play will continue tonight until a winner is determined, after which a final story will be published.

$360 Black Chip Bounty NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 16: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 Ante
Players Remaining: 27 of 209

The field has just been reduced to 27 players, and they’re now in the money in the Bounty as they redraw for seats around the final three tables. Everyone left is guaranteed to earn at least $376.

Florida pro Scott Zakheim’s 155,000 chips give him one of the group’s biggest stacks and more than 50 big blinds at the current level. Zakheim has more than 20 career cashes at Seminole Hard Rock, and he’s put himself in the hunt for his first trophy here this evening.

That’s a good stack, but it’s not quite as good as Marc Levy’s 170,000. Levy, like Zakheim, is a semi-professional Florida player with 20+ cashes in this building. Unlike him, however, Levy does have a trophy, with his lone victory here coming in the Seniors event during August’s Hard Rock Poker Open. He’s looking to add a second to the mantel — a blue one this time — and he appears to be first or second in chips at the moment.

Play will continue tonight until a winner is determined.

$360 Black Chip Bounty NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 13: 800/1,600 with a 200 Ante
Players Remaining: 39 of 209

While most of the ballroom action was concentrated in the huge Event 1 restart, Event 5 built a nice prize pool of its own. The $360 Black Chip Bounty event drew 209 entrants to create a prize pool worth $41,800 plus the $100 bounties on each player. The last 27 players will take home some money with the winner earning $11,706 plus the shiny trophy and custom-framed winner’s photo courtesy of Image Masters.

2016 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open”
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event 5
$360 Black Chip Bounty NL Hold’em
Entries: 209
Prize Pool: $41,800
November 20, 2016

$360 Black Chip Bounty NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50

The 2016 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” has hit the end of the first weekend and it will not be a slow, casual Sunday. Besides the huge 960-player restart for Event 1, we have our next new tournament running today in the ballroom.

Event 5 is a $360 Black Chip Bounty tournament with a $30,000 guaranteed prize pool and $100 cash chip bounty on each player’s head. Knock someone out, lock up $100.

Entrants will sit down to 12,000 starting stacks and play 30-minute levels throughout this one-day tournament. Late registration and re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 4:30pm followed by a dinner break at 6:30. The tournament will play out to a winner later this evening to wrap up a big opening weekend.

• $30,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 5 Structure Sheet

Main Event Schedule

12PM: Event 5 – $360 Black Chip Bounty NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• $30,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 5 Structure Sheet

1PM: Event 1 Day 2- $360 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• Event 1 Day 2 Chip Counts
• Event 1 Day 2 Table/Seat Assignments
• Event 1 Payouts

Secondary and Satellite Schedule

9AM: Event 24 – $140 Event 6 Mega Satellite (1-in-5)

• 4 seats guaranteed into the $250K GTD Guarantee Event 6
• Players begin with 7,500 in chips and 20-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 7
• Satellite will be held in The Poker Room
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 24 Structure Sheet

3PM: Event 25 – $200 Deep Stack Turbo NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 25 Structure Sheet

7PM: Event 26 – $150 Survivor NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• One (1) in ten (10) players will win $1,200 in cash
• Players begin with 10,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 26 Structure Sheet