2023 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 47
$25,500 Big 4 High Roller (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  86
Prize Pool:  $2,124,200
August 7-8, 2023

Aaron Mermelstein topped the field in the 2023 SHRPO high roller tournament to claim his second title in this event at Seminole Hard Rock. His first victory came back in 2019, and he now holds a total of three SHRPO trophies.

“It feels great, it always good to beat the $25k, and it’s special because I’ve won it before and it’s all the best players out here. It feels amazing, so I’m glad I could close it out,” said Mermelstein just after the win.

When he was asked about what keeps bringing him back to the SHRPO lineup events throughout the year he had this to say. “I love the venue, I mean the Hard Rock is one of the best places to play. It’s a clean environment, the hotel is amazing, the tournaments are really good, and I run good here so that adds to it.”

The final table played down quickly, but the heads-up match between Mermelstein and Marcos Exterkotter took a while to play out with both players holding a lot of chips to work with. “It was a little unusual, because the structure was so deep. There was hour-and-a-half levels for heads up, which is a little different than I’m normally used to, but it was fun. The final table went really fast so it was nice to be able to get a lot of hands in heads up. I love playing heads up so it was actually a lot of fun. He was a really nice guy, and I think he played really well. It was cool to get some hands in and play with deepstacks heads up,” said Mermelstein about the final match.

Mermelstein was going to celebrate the win after play ended, but it sounds like he will be on to the next one soon after that. “I’ll have a couple of drinks, and I might still fire the $10k later,” said Mermelstein with a laugh at the end of the interview.