The 2023 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open wrapped up two weeks in the Grand Ballroom with 54 trophy events, more history made, and a lot of fun was had over the 14-day run. Here’s a look at the raw numbers:
Events: 54
Entries: 17,645
Guarantees: $8,910,000
Prize Pools: $18,292,375
Our players more than doubled the guarantees offered and topped 17,000 entries in the Grand Ballroom to participate in another big series.
During the series, we had more than one headliner; the Big 4 took center stage with the SHRPO Championship, $25K High Roller, the $2,700 Deep Stack, and the $1,100 Deep Stack.
Local favorite Farid Jattin won the SHRPO Championship for $655,000 against one of the toughest final tables in recent memory. Those nine players combined for more than $62 million in career earnings, five WSOP bracelets, and eight WSOP Circuit rings.
One of those WSOP bracelets belonged to 2021 WSOP Main Event champ Koray Aldemir and 2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess finished in tenth.
Aaron Mermelstein won the Big 4 High Roller for his second career SHRP High Roller title and third overall. Dan Sepiol outlasted Chance Kornuth in an hours-long battle for the $2,700 title, and former WPT Showdown Champ James Carroll rolled to the top of the $1,100 field.
SHRPO Championship: Farid Jattin – $655,000
Big 4 High Roller: Aaron Mermelstein – $614,615
Big 4 $2,700: Dan Sepiol – $204,735
Big 4 $1,100: James Carroll – $100,000
We kicked off the series with a massive $400 Deep Stack that created the second-biggest tournament field in state history, tied our record for the biggest single flight (1,256 in Flight G), and turned the $1,000,000 guarantee into a prize pool worth $2,063,490.
2022 SHRPO Event 1 – 7,703 entries
*2023 SHRPO Event 1 – 6,253 entries
2021 RRPO Event 1 – 6,196 entries
2022 RRPO Event 1 – 6,134 entries
2016 RRPO Event 1 – 5,018 entries
Johnny Bromberg took the top spot in Event 1 for $219,490 on a single $400 entry.
Other notable wins include Shaun Deeb earning a second Hollywood High Roller title in the $25K PLO to go along with his Big 4 High Roller win in 2019.
Anthony Zinno and Sam Sternfield added two trophies to their collection in this series. Zinno won the $1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 title and the $1,100 Mixed PLO a few days later. Sternfield was the $600 Six-Max PLO winner and followed that up with a title in the $2,700 Eight-Game Mix for the biggest cash of his career.
David Shmuel moved up a spot on our all-time major wins list with a win in the $600 Big O for his eighth overall. Former WPTDeepStacks Hollywood champ Michael Graffeo won his fourth title in the $1,100 Deep Stack, and Eugene Kotlyarevskiy picked up his fourth in the $1,100 Limit Omaha 8 event.
Here’s an updated look at our all-time wins list:
Raminder Singh – 10 wins
Michael Newman – 9 wins
John Holley – 8 wins
Yuval Bronshtein – 8 wins
David Shmuel – 8 wins
Brian Altman – 7 wins
David Prociak – 7 wins
Gabriel Ramos – 7 wins
Scott Baumstein – 6 wins
Six tied with 5 wins
13 tied with 4 wins
It was another fantastic series that would not be possible without the support of our incredible players. We thank you for turning up and making the Grand Ballroom an exciting place for two weeks of poker. We appreciate you and can’t wait to see you for the next one in November.
2023 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Schedule and Results
Here’s a full list of every trophy event and the results:
Event 1 ($400 NLH): Johnny Bromberg – $219,090
Event 2 ($400 Seniors): Dan Van Dyke – $12,192
Event 3 ($600 Big O): David Shmuel – $18,903
Event 4 ($200 Bounty): Eric Ward – $3,625
Event 5 ($600 O8): David Thurston – $14,600
Event 6 ($600 6-Max PLO): Sam Sternfield – $23,260
Event 7 ($200 NLH): Zachary Harrell – $11,300
Event 8 ($600 8-Game): Nick Zivolich – $8,020
Event 9 ($600 Bounty): Carlos Bermudez – $9,030
Event 10 ($600 Bounty PLO): Donald Maloney – $15,653
Event 11 ($600 Mixed PLO): Chris Tsiolis – $20,425
Event 12 ($400 NLH): Ethan Bennett – $18,001
Event 13 ($1,100 NLH): Jason Min – $38,100
Event 14 ($600 PLO): Peter Ng – $44,270
Event 15 ($300 Bounty): Antuan Bunkley – $8,239
Event 16 ($400 Turbo): Kevin Naim – $8,785
Event 17 ($1,100 Seniors): Steven Bennett – $33,010
Event 18 ($200 Big Stack): Jose Ordonez – $33,354
Event 19 ($400 Bounty): John Binns – $9,810
Event 20 ($600 Turbo PLO): Christopher Hice – $8,690
Event 21 ($1,100 H.O.R.S.E.): Lawrence Berg – $21,110
Event 22 ($600 6-Max): Nick Palma – $16,446
Event 23 ($10K NLH): Justin Liberto – $257,000
Event 24 ($600 Bounty PLO): Rafael Lima – $6,825
Event 25 ($300 Bounty NLH): Esteban Garcia – $6,540
Event 26 ($1,100 Turbo): Min Zhang – $23,450
Event 27 ($1,100 PLO8): Anthony Zinno – $25,714
Event 28 ($1,100 NLH): Michael Graffeo – $55,285
Event 29 ($25K PLO): Shaun Deeb – $239,100
Event 30 ($200 Bounty): Diana Prkacin – $5,076
Event 31 ($1,100 Bounty): Stanley Lee – $17,740
Event 32 ($2,700 8-Game): Sam Sternfield – $55,745
Event 33 ($2,200 NLH): Mike Vanier – $105,570
$50K Super High Roller: Brandon Wilson – $362,780
Event 35 ($600 Bounty): Tanupat Punjarojanakul – $13,744
Event 36 ($1,100 Turbo): Gil Ben-Simhon – $23,025
Event 38 ($1,100 Mixed PLO): Anthony Zinno – $19,274
Event 39 ($400 Bounty): Chase Carlin – $6,695
Event 40 ($1,100 O8): Eugene Kotlyarevskiy – $15,110
Event 41 ($300 Bounty): Alejandro Arana – $12,595
Event 42 ($400 HEROS): Matthew Kaplan – $7,625
Event 44 ($200 NLH): Nir Peleg – $11,107
Event 45 ($600 Turbo): Sam Ganzfried – $9,300
Event 48 ($1,100 PLO): Kevin Schaffel – $29,308
Event 49 ($600 Turbo PLO): Jon Borenstein – $9,605
Event 50 ($400 NLH): Frank DeMeglio – $8,425
Event 51 ($10K NLH): Viktor Ustimov – $221,332
Event 52 ($400 Triple Stud): David Brookshire – $4,805
Event 53 ($1,100 PLO): Greg Levine – $36,370
Event 54 ($300 Bounty): Adam Rothschild – $7,780