2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, FL
Event 2
$300 No-Limit Hold’em Seniors 
Entries: 177 
Prize Pool: $43,135
April 5, 2018 

In the early hours of Friday morning, Bruce Freedman took home the first trophy of the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. The recently retired lawyer from nearby Plantation defeated a field of 177 entries and earned the trophy in a heads-up chop with Jeff Kessler to take home $9,768.

Freedman is a regular at the Seminole Hard Rock, but doesn’t always make an appearance in the tournament area. He reserves most of his time playing tournaments for some of the larger buy-in events.

“I’m pretty much a cash player,” said Freedman after his win. “I come here almost every day. I play in a lot of the bigger events, not the smaller ones. This one, I just had the day off. For $300, you come out and have a good time.”

Even though he’s used to playing against some of the best competition South Florida has to offer in high-stakes tournaments, he finds the smaller stakes challenging in a different way.

“I actually think it’s much harder playing in these smaller events because you have no idea what anybody has,” said Freedman.

Freedman came into the final table in the middle of the pack, but lasted long enough to get down to three-handed play as the short stack. He doubled up once and then cracked Zoltan Czinkota’s aces to send him home in third place and take the chip lead for good.

“I cracked aces near the end. He slowplayed his aces. Never do that,” joked Freedman.

Freedman is no stranger to success at the Seminole Hard Rock, having won several trophies earlier in his career. His most recent came at the 2012 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, taking down the $300 Pot-Limit Omaha for $7,373.

Freedman got down to heads-up play against Kessler with a big chip lead. Kessler made a good river call to double up and put himself right back in the match. With the clock ticking later into the night and both wanting to take shots at tomorrow’s flights of the $570 no-limit hold’em, the two agreed to a deal.

Final Results:

1st: Bruce Freedman – $9,768*
2nd: Jeff Kessler – $9,767*
3rd: Zoltan Czinkota – $4,626
4th: James Kirvin – $2,814
5th: Jacobo Fernandez – $2,173
6th: Greg McCann – $1,801
7th: Dennis Johnson – $1,535
8th: Steven Harmell – $1,350
9th: Boyd Rose – $1,169
10th: John Selix – $993
11th: Howard Talesnick – $993
12th: Charles Reed – $993
13th: Mark Nahama – $835
14th: Michael Turcol – $835
15th: Edwin Decarbo – $835
16th: Michael Preston – $700
17th: Scott Robbins – $700
18th: Donald Lehn – $700
19th: Allan Carmel – $564
20th: Luiz Sa – $564
21st: Peter Bloom – $564
22nd: Sandy Matza – $428
23rd: Ismail Patel – $428