2017 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 4
$360 Pot-Limit Omaha
Entries: 89
Prize Pool: $26,700
November 17, 2017
Brad Ruben continued his dominance in four card flop games at the Seminole Hard Rock on Friday night. Just a year ago, Ruben won his first Hard Rock trophy in the $360 pot-limit Omaha 8-or-Better.
On Friday, he added a second Hard Rock trophy to his mantle after defeating an 89-entry field in the $360 pot-limit Omaha. He defeated Zack Milchman heads-up to earn the title and $8,471.
The win is just the latest in a string of top finishes for Ruben.
“It feels good,” said Ruben after the victory. “It’s always awesome to win a tournament. There were a lot of good players. You got to run good, play good and I did. I’m happy. It’s my second win in the last three or four months, so it’s nice.”
During six-handed play, talks of a chop were afoot. Ruben was one of the short stacks and was willing to take around $3,000 and end the tournament there. Joel Harwood was the chip leader and would’ve taken the trophy.
It was actually Milchman, who ended up finishing runner-up, who turned down the deal as the shortest stack at the table.
“I was like the second shortest chips and I would’ve gotten like third place money, so I thought that was pretty fair,” said Ruben about the chop negotiations. “The guy who got second actually had less than me and he wanted a little bit more. He wanted like $80 bucks from everyone.”
With Milchman demanding a little bit more money, the table couldn’t come to terms on the deal. After the deal negotiations were squashed, Ruben went on a run and never looked back.
“We played on and what vaulted me was that I flopped two pair with a couple backdoors and the other short stack flopped a worse two-pair,” said Ruben. “So, I stacked him and from there I never looked back. I kind of took control.”
The Florida native prefers Omaha to hold’em. The constantly changing hand equities and the intricacies of the game is what draws him to it.
“It seems like every flop, every turn, the equities change,” said Ruben about the game. “So, it’s more interesting and it’s more dynamic. So, I like it more.”
After getting a college degree, Ruben was in the finance world until finding poker. He spent some time playing full-time, but started getting into real estate to supplement his income.
Final Table Results:
1st: Brad Ruben – $8,471
2nd: Zack Milchman – $5,073
3rd: Alexander Orlov – $3,204
4th: Dave Brooker – $2,069
5th: Joel Harwood – $1,602
6th: Drew Epstein – $1,268
7th: Michael Daniel – $1,068
8th: Stefan Lundqvist – $935
9th: Brian Guzman – $847
10th: Mihails Morozovs – $774
11th: Michael Rosenberg – $721
12th: Haim Shrayer – $668
- Download: Final Results (PDF)