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2025 RRPO in Review

We wrapped up our fourth and final major series of 2025 with the Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open which featured 52 trophy events and more than $7.5 million in guaranteed money.

Events:  52
Entries:  16,636
Guarantees:  $7,590,000
Prize Pools:  $12,391,160

Another fantastic turnout from our friends and very loyal supporters. We strive to provide the best tournament experiences you will find, and you continue to come out in big numbers.

Thank you.

It’s important to highlight some of our best moments throughout the series, memorable wins, and significant numbers.

Kevin Nee (Photo Credit: Luther Redd/WPT)

We closed out the series with the highlight on the schedule, the 2025 WPT RRPO Championship. The $3,500 buy-in tournament drew 1,224 entries, pushing the $3,000,000 guarantee up to a prize pool worth $3,916,800. Kevin Nee battled over five fun days of action and took the title for $605,100 after one hand of heads-up play.

2025 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Event 1 Champion Dario Dussan

We opened the series with a $400 Deep Stack with a massive $2,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, a ton of money for the investment. The tournament drew an incredible 6,853 entries (the third-biggest field in state history) and created a prize pool worth $2,261,490.

Dario Dussan won the Event 1 title outright, banking $278,150 for the win. Not done there, a week later, Dussan won the $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament for another $61,075.

2025 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Event 47 Champion Dario Dussan

Dussan wasn’t the only player to win two titles during the series; Boris Kolev made some history of his own. He won the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament on Monday for $266,100, entered the $25K High Roller soon after, and won that tournament on Tuesday for another $465,900.

2025 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open High Roller Champion Boris Kolev
2025 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open $10K Champ Boris Kolev

He won the two biggest buy-in tournaments on the schedule in back-to-back days.

Joseph Olivieri also did the back-to-back thing earlier in the series. He won the $600 Mixed PLO one night and followed that up with a win in the $600 10-Game Mix the next.

2025 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Event 39 Champion Yuval Bronshtein

Yuval Bronshtein continued to pack his trophy case. He won the $400 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 title for his 15th career major SHRP win to put himself in a tie with Raminder Singh for most in our history.

Hal Klein won the $600 H.O.R.S.E. for his eighth trophy, and the legend Phil Hui won the $600 Dealer’s Choice for his 12th. Here’s a look at the updated trophy counts:

Raminder Singh  –  15 wins
Yuval Bronshtein  –  15 wins
David Shmuel  –  12 wins
Michael Newman  –  12 wins
Phil Hui –  12 wins
Matt Bretzfield  –  10 wins
Gabriel Ramos  –  9 wins
Hal Klein  –  8 wins
John Holley  –  8 wins
Scott Baumstein  –  8 wins

On a final historical note, we surpassed a major milestone during the series. Over the course of 56 major series, starting with the 2011 Poker Showdown, we have now awarded more than $600 million in prize money.

Major Series: 56
Entries: 650,801
Guarantees: $310,808,500
Prize Pools: $605,640,504

Again, thank you for coming out and supporting our series. We appreciate you all and look forward to seeing you in 2026.

Next up on our major schedule is the Lucky Hearts Poker Open running from January 6th through the 21st with 58 trophy events and nearly $9,000,000 in guarantees.

See you there!

You can find links for all events and results listed below

2025 RRPO Championship: Kevin Nee – $605,100
Event 1 ($400 NLH): Dario Dussan – $278,150
Event 2 ($600 Seniors): Juan Montoya – $18,234
Event 3 ($600 Big O): Mehmet Siginc – $10,300
Event 4 ($300 Bounty): Omar Urriola Peren – $4,450
Event 5 ($600 O8): Aron Dermer – $9,344
Event 6 ($1K PLO): Manuel Herrera Lopez – $24,114
Event 7 ($200 NLH): Bryan Hernandez – $7,220
Event 8 ($400 Turbo PLO): Thomas Tramutola – $5,932
Event 9 ($600 Bounty PLO): Pawel Andrzejewski – $7,755
Event 10 ($600 Bounty NLH): Dario Pistalo – $8,438
Event 11 ($600 H.O.R.S.E.): Hal Klein – $11,605
Event 12 ($400 Turbo NLH/PLO): Richard Ganesh – $8,934
Event 13 ($600 Mixed PLO): Nadya Magnus – $11,439
Event 14 ($400 NLH): Kevin Choe – $20,874
Event 15 ($600 Mixed TD): Frederic Moss – $10,840
Event 16 ($400 PLO): Benjamin Zamani – $12,280
Event 17 ($1K Platinum Stack): David Lee – $103,370
Event 18 ($300 Bounty): Leonardo Jafet – $9,560
Event 19 ($600 Seniors Bounty): Thomas Puccio – $13,490
Event 20 ($600 Dealer’s Choice): Phil Hui – $10,585
Event 21 ($200 Big Stack): Maurice Davis – $22,613
Event 22 ($400 Turbo PLO): Frederic Normand – $7,835
Event 23 ($600 6-Max): London Lawrence – $15,831
Event 24 ($600 2-7 TD): Rob Sherwood – $9,785
Event 25 ($1,700 Bounty PLO): Robert Cowen – $24,500
Event 26 ($400 Turbo NLH): Vincent Picardi – $7,215
Event 27 ($600 TORSE): Sam Spira – $7,268
Event 28 ($400 WPT Wildcard): Nan Min – $13,520
Event 29 ($400 Bounty PLO): Alexander Tafesh – $7,740
Event 30 ($300 6-Max Bounty): Willie Wiggins – $8,940
Event 31 ($300 Holiday Deep Stack): Matthew Bock – $13,975
Event 33 ($600 Mixed PLO): Joseph Olivieri – $13,685
Event 34 ($400 Bounty): Marlon Ramos – $9,690
Event 35 ($600 10-Game Mix): Joseph Olivieri – $9,410
Event 36 ($300 Quad Stack): Allan Dungo – $7,784
Event 37 ($1K Bounty Turbo): Frank Checho – $10,965
Event 38 ($400 NLH): Karel Kratochvil – $22,852
Event 39 ($400 PLO8): Yuval Bronshtein – $7,475
Event 40 ($10K NLH): Boris Kolev – $226,100
Event 41 ($1,700 Bounty): Brandon Sheils – $27,730
Event 42 ($600 NLH): Yann Abitbol – $43,000
Event 43 ($1K Turbo): Tanupat Punjarojanakul – $13,950
Event 44 ($1K Triple Stack): Jhordy Sanchez – $28,440
Event 45 ($25K High Roller): Boris Kolev – $465,900
Event 46 ($600 O8): Grant Hart – $12,360
Event 47 ($3K PLO): Dario Dussan – $61,075
Event 48 ($300 Quad Stack): Miguel Caraballo – $7,072
Event 49 ($400 6-Max NLH): Steven Bennett – $9,495
Event 50 ($5K NLH): Aram Oganyan – $143,900
Event 51 ($1K 6-Max PLO): Rainer Kempe – $19,705
Event 52 ($300 Bounty NLH): Mike Vela – $9,425

Kevin Nee Wins the 2025 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Championship for $605,100!

2025 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 32
$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  1,224
Prize Pool:  $3,916,800
November 28 – December 3, 2025

2025 WPT RRPO Champion Kevin Nee (Photo Credit: Luther Redd/WPT)

The 2025 WPT Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Championship was the big ticket item on the series schedule, and it did not disappoint. The $3,500 buy-in tournament drew 1,224 entries, turning the $3,000,000 guarantee into a prize pool worth $3,916,800, and Kevin Nee took the top spot for $605,100 after a fun few days of action.

Of those 1,224 starters, 437 players made it through to Day 2, with Natasha Mercier leading the pack, along with Debbie Lee and Cherish Andrews in the top five. They burst the money bubble after the dinner break, with 63 players advancing to Day 3, and it was Hyndi Khomutetsky’s turn to lead the start of a new day.

Khomutetsky stayed strong, played well, and was among the leaders all the way to the six-handed final table. She was second in chips and took a bad beat from Joel Gola, the only player at the table with more chips, to exit in sixth place.

In a historically fast final table, it took only 60 hands to find our winner and only one hand when the tournament was heads-up.

Gola had a big lead most of the last day, but Nee chipped away at the popular amateur. After Aram Zobian was sent out in third place, they set up the table for heads-up play, and that took longer than the match.

On the first hand, they put all their chips in the middle ,and Nee flopped a nut flush to leave Gola drawing dead to second place.

It was a fun, action-packed few days during the Championship. Congratulations to Kevin on the win, and thanks to everyone for coming out.

PlaceFirst NameLast NamePrize Amount
1KevinNee$605,100
2JoelGola$395,000
3AramZobian$295,000
4ChadEveslage$220,000
5AnthonyMerlo$166,000
6HyndiKhomutetsky$127,000
7NenadMedic$98,000
8RobWazwaz$76,000
9ShaneSantacroce$59,000
10JasonHickey$59,000
11FrankLagodich$49,000
12WilliamSlepcevich$49,000
13MatthewPeng$40,500
14StoyanMadanzhiev$40,500
15JackobDatashvili$40,500
16ThienNguyen$33,500
17TobyBoas$33,500
18RaymondRousseau$33,500
19ShannonShorr$33,500
20NatashaMercier$28,000
21LoniHarwood Hui$28,000
22BobbyKennedy$28,000
23RainerKempe$28,000
24ChanceKornuth$23,200
25AgharaziBabayev$23,200
26TrungPham$23,200
27OlvensoSavoie$23,200
28MoAlhalwani$23,200
29RenjiMao$23,200
30MichaelBelov$23,200
31GaryHerstein$23,200
32MannyMinaya$19,400
33JonathanPastore$19,400
34MannyAmaro$19,400
35VadzimLipauka$19,400
36LoganEisner$19,400
37RajVohra$19,400
38AlexYen$19,400
39JoshKay$19,400
40ThomasMühlöcker$16,300
41ElliottKampen$16,300
42OttoPalacios$16,300
43SethKatich$16,300
44NitisUdornpim$16,300
45JimmyLucifero$16,300
46DimtriFares$16,300
47FlorianGaugusch$16,300
48JaredHemingway$13,800
49JoshuaHopkins$13,800
50CubaLevenberry$13,800
51IoanTaizs$13,800
52SungwoonYoo$13,800
53IlkinDostiyev$13,800
54JuanMontoya$13,800
55JuanSanchez$13,800
56TomFuchs$11,500
57BrianMurphy$11,500
58ScottBaumstein$11,500
59Robert-AndreiBurlacu$11,500
60FrankFunaro$11,500
61ShahinNorouzian$11,500
62AnatolyNikitin$11,500
63MichahRaskin$11,500
64IanArmstrong$9,600
65SzymonPawlak$9,600
66BenjaminZamani$9,600
67PavlinKarakikov$9,600
68FrancisAnderson$9,600
69GlennSlater$9,600
70GaspareSposato$9,600
71RichardDavis$9,600
72NickYunis$9,600
73JustinVaysman$9,600
74EdwardPak$9,600
75VeraDong$9,600
76DavidJackson$9,600
77JohnLittleton$9,600
78VladDarie$9,600
79AdrianLipe Jerez$9,600
80JerryWong$8,200
81DannyQutami$8,200
82DiegoFernandez Mendez$8,200
83GiuseppeIadisernia$8,200
84CaioSobral$8,200
85RobertLeBeau$8,200
86JoeyWeissman$8,200
87ArseniiKarmatckii$8,200
88LongNguyen$8,200
89TalRothman$8,200
90DarryllFish$8,200
91MikeMeskin$8,200
92KonstantinVolkov$8,200
93AndreaOrphanos$8,200
94IgorDe Oliveira Pinheiro$8,200
95IlanVerdnickov$8,200
96HobyShapiro$8,200
97MisaelIadisernia$8,200
98JoseSeverino$8,200
99AndrewOstapchenko$8,200
100TaylorWilson$7,000
101MaryonHarper$7,000
102MazenKarnaby$7,000
103RobertHover$7,000
104MatthewSesso$7,000
105MarceloAagesen$7,000
106KurtKrainski$7,000
107MhdAmer Al Kmeh$7,000
108MatthewLambrecht$7,000
109JackShea$7,000
110DamienSteel$7,000
111KevinSchulz$7,000
112SridharSangannagari$7,000
113NaromiTodd$7,000
114DanielKusnerak$7,000
115DebbieLee$7,000
116MikeVanier$7,000
117ErnestBush$7,000
118AlfonsoLozano Arnau$7,000
119TonySinishtaj$7,000
120EliotHudon$7,000
121TravellThomas$7,000
122IgorTretyakov$7,000
123GabrielAndrade$7,000
124ConnorRash$6,400
125$6,400
126ChadDavis$6,400
127JosephDrory$6,400
128MarcSacheli$6,400
129AndreuFerragut-Lluch$6,400
130RonnieDay$6,400
131PaulaAlibrandi$6,400
132JackNathan$6,400
133EricAfrat$6,400
134StevenPiper$6,400
135ZacharyFischer$6,400
136AlexisKivu$6,400
137ItzhakoDickstein$6,400
138AlonShahar$6,400
139MartinZamani$6,400
140DarrenRabinoiwtz$6,400
141WalterTaylor$6,400
142AaronThivyanathan$6,400
143JoseLopez Fibla$6,400
144MikeLiang$6,400
145KalebHarwell$6,400
146HiteshPatel$6,400
147StephanieMorris$6,400
148JoeMcKeehen$6,400
149BorisVaynberg$6,400
150PaulSnead$6,400
151NaveenSama$6,400
152KennethBruno$6,400
153JonathanDokler$6,400

Championship: Kevin Nee ($605,100) Defeats Joel Gola ($395,000) for the Title

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
Prize Pool:  $3,916,800  |  Payouts  |  Results
Level 33:  200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 ante

Kevin Nee (Photo Credit: Luther Redd/WPT)

On the first hand of heads-up play, Kevin Nee opened to 1,200,000 from his button and Joel Gola moved all in for 19,500,000. Nee quickly called and they both stood up to fade the board.

Nee: As2s
Gola: KcJc

Nee was ahead with his ace then slammed the door on the Qs7s5s flop for a nut flush. Gola was drawing dead to the 4c turn and Qh river to finish second for $395,000.

Nee picked up $605,100 as the 2025 WPT RRPO Champion and his name will now go on the Mike Sexton Champions Cup.

1st: Kevin Nee – $605,100
2nd: Joel Gola – $395,000

Joel Gola (Photo Credit: Luther Redd/WPT)

Championship: Aram Zobian – 3rd Place ($295,000)

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
Prize Pool:  $3,916,800  |  Payouts  |  Results
Level 33:  200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 1,224

Aram Zobian (Photo Credit: Luther Redd/WPT)

Joel Gola limped from the button, Kevin Nee completed the small blind, and Aram Zobian checked in the big blind.

The flop was Td4c3d and both Nee and Zobian checked. Gola bet 1,500,000 and Nee check-raised to 3,500,000. Zobian moved all in for 4,250,000 to get a fold from Gola and call from Nee.

Zobian: Th9c
Nee:  7d4d

Zobian was ahead with his paired ten versus Nee’s paired four but he needed to dodge diamonds. His bad news showed up immediately on the Ad turn and was eliminated after the 3h river.

Aram Zobian  –  Eliminated in 3rd Place  ($295,000)

Kevin Nee  –  41,700,000  (104 bb)
Joel Gola  –  19,500,000  (49 bb)

Championship: Counts on Break; Joel Gola Leads

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
Prize Pool:  $3,916,800  |  Payouts  |  Results
Level 33:  200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 1,224

Joel Gola (Photo Credit: Luther Redd/WPT)

Seat 1.  Kevin Nee  –  15,800,000  (40 bb)
Seat 2.  Aram Zobian  –  17,200,000  (43 bb)
Seat 3.  Joel Gola  –  28,200,000  (71 bb)

1st: $605,100
2nd: $395,000
3rd: $295,000

4th: Chad Eveslage – $220,000
5th: Anthony Merlo – $166,000
6th: Hyndi Khomutetsky – $127,000

Championship: Chad Eveslage – 4th Place ($220,000)

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
Prize Pool:  $3,916,800  |  Payouts  |  Results
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 1,224

Chad Eveslage (Photo Credit: Luther Redd/WPT)

Action folded to Chad Eveslage in the small blind, he moved all in for 1,450,000 and Aram Zobian called in the big.

Eveslage: Qc7d
Zobian: 9s8d

Eveslage was ahead for the double but Zobian moved into the lead when he paired his nine on the Kd9c4h flop. The 6c turn and 8s river finished the board and Eveslage was eliminated in fourth place.

Aram Zobian  –  11,400,000 (38 bb)
Chad Eveslage  –  Eliminated in 4th Place ($220,000)

Championship: Anthony Merlo – 5th Place ($166,000)

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
Prize Pool:  $3,916,800  |  Payouts  |  Results
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 1,224

Anthony Merlo (Photo Credit: Luther Redd/WPT)

Anthony Merlo open-shipped for 2,025,000 from early position and it folded to Chad Eveslage in the small blind. He called at risk for 1,100,000 and Aram Zobian folded his big.

Merlo: 8s8c
Eveslage: TsTc

Eveslage was a favorite to double up and his tens held on the Qc5d4cThJc board.

Eveslage took the big pot, Merlo was dropped under three big blinds, and was eliminated a few hands later.

Chad Eveslage – 2,800,000 (9 bb)
Anthony Merlo  –  Eliminated in 5th Place ($166,000)

Championship: Hyndi Khomutetsky – 6th Place ($127,000)

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
Prize Pool:  $3,916,800  |  Payouts  |  Results
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 1,224

Hyndi Khomutetsky (Photo Credit: Luther Redd/WPT)

Hyndi Khomutetsky opened to 1,400,000 from the under the gun, Joel Gola raised, Khomutetsky said all in for 11,075,000 and Gola quickly called for a massive hand between the top two stacks.

Khomutetsky: AdQh
Gola: AcJd

Khomutetsky was way ahead with a chance to take the chip lead and the As5c2h flop was perfectly safe. The 6c turn changed nothing but Gola nailed the Jc river to send Khomutetsky out in sixth place.

Joel Gola – 36,625,000 (122 bb)
Hyndi Khomutetsky  –  Eliminated in 6th Place  ($127,000)

Championship: Cards in the Air!

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
Prize Pool:  $3,916,800  |  Payouts  |  Results
Level 31:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 1,224

Cards are in the air for the 2025 WPT RRPO Championship final table with six players remaining and all vying for the $600K top prize along with getting their name on the Mike Sexton Champions Cup.

They will play out the rest of Level 31 before blinds go up, and levels last 60 minutes until heads-up, when they go to 30 minutes.

The live stream will go up and broadcast on a 30-minute delay showing hole cards.

Seat 1: Kevin Nee – 12,300,000 (49 bb)
Seat 2: Chad Eveslage – 5,550,000 (22 bb)
Seat 3: Aram Zobian – 11,075,000 (44 bb)
Seat 4: Anthony Merlo – 5,250,000 (21 bb)
Seat 5: Hyndi Khomutetsky – 8,825,000 (35 bb)
Seat 6: Joel Gola – 18,175,000 (73 bb)

Remaining payouts:

1st:  $605,100
2nd:  $395,000
3rd:  $295,000
4th:  $220,000
5th:  $166,000
6th:  $127,000