$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 7: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Entries: 1,072
On the turn with the board reading 
, Michael Aron bet about 1,800 from the big blind and Blake Bohn called from under the gun.
The river was the 
and Aron bet about 5,000. Bohn called fairly quickly. The table audibly let out a groan in awe of Aron’s quad sevens. Bohn mucked his hand and Aron dragged the pot.
Michael Aron – 29,000
Blake Bohn – 16,000
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 7: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Entries: 1,040
On a flop of 
, Tony Sinishtaj checked from the small blind and Mark Herm bet 1,400 on the button. Sinishtaj called and the turn was the 
.
Sinishtaj checked again and Herm bet again, this time 2,700. Sinishtaj called and the river was the 
.
Sinishtaj checked and Herm took a few moments of thought before checking back. Sinishtaj announced “ace” and showed 
. Herm mucked his hand and Sinishtaj took the pot.
Tony Sinishtaj – 72,000
Mark Herm – 76,000
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Entries: 995
On a flop of 
, Cliff Josephy checked from middle position and Team SHRP member Darryll Fish bet 2,000 on the button.
Josephy called and the turn was the 
. Josephy checked and Fish bet 4,400. Josephy quickly moved all in for effectively Fish’s remaining 20,000 behind.
That sent Fish into the tank for about five minutes. The table was silent throughout the whole tank before finally tossing his hand into the muck just a few minutes before dinner break. Josephy quickly mucked his hand and took the pot.
Cliff Josephy – 54,500
Darryll Fish – 18,500
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Entries: 927
On a flop of 
, the player in the big blind checked and the player under the gun checked as well. Jean Gaspard bet 2,000 and Team SHRP member Stewart Newman tossed out two yellow, 5,000 denomination chips and announced a raise to a different amount.
The big blind folded, as did the under the gun player before Gaspard moved all in for about 20,000. Newman snap-called.
Newman showed 
, good for bottom set and was in the lead against Gaspard’s 
. The turn was the 
and the river wast he 
.
Newman faded Gaspard’s gutshot straight draw and sent Gaspard to the rail at least temporarily. He still has several hours to re-enter.
Stewart Newman – 55,000
Jean Gaspard – Eliminated
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Entries: 927
There was about 15,000 in the pot on the turn with the board reading 
, Allen Kessler checked from middle position and his opponent went all in from late position.
Kessler tanked for a minute before calling and was all in for about 12,000.
Kessler’s opponent tabled 
and Kessler showed 
to chop the pot with his opponent. The river is the meaningless and both players pull their bets back.
“You should’ve waited until the river to move all in,” said another player at the table. “Then Allen would’ve folded.”
Allen Kessler – 19,500
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Entries: 869
There was about 12,000 in the pot already with a board of 
. It was a heads-up battle between two WPT Champions.
Mike Del Vecchio, who just recently won WPT Rolling Thunder, bet 6,800 from the hijack and Ryan Van Sanford, who put his name on the Champions Cup in Jacksonville a couple years ago, called from the cutoff. Del Vecchio showed , but Van Sanford won the pot with 
.
Ryan Van Sanford – 55,000
Mike Del Vecchio – 27,000
2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event #18
Entries: 226
$2,200 No Limit Hold’em Eight-Max
Prize Pool: $452,000
March 30, 2017
With the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown championship set to get underway on Friday, many of poker’s biggest names are in South Florida for the high-stakes series-ending events that are on the horizon.
It was no surprise that the one-day $2,200 no limit hold’em eight-max event was full of the game’s best players. It was 2015 World Series Main Event Champion Joe McKeehen who came out on top of one of the tougher fields that has been put together so far this series.
McKeehen added another $104,608 to his already massive career earnings after defeating a field of 226 players in the early hours of Friday morning.
McKeehen has poker’s most coveted title to his name already, but this final table was about as tough as it can get. Ian O’Hara, Faraz Jaka, Charlie Carrel, Brian Altman and Byron Kaverman all joined McKeehen at the final table. While Sam Panzica, Keven Stammen, Daniel Weinman, Niall Farrell and Dan Colman were all in the money.
McKeehen had to get through Sean Perry, son of poker Pro Ralph Perry, in order to take down the title.
“It was a very difficult field,” said the Philadelphia native. “So, I’m proud of this one for sure. I feel like I played a hell of a lot better in this one, like I needed to, compared to a lot of other tournaments that I’ve done well in before.”
The win helps get a monkey off of McKeehen’s back as well as put some money in his bank account.
“It’s a good one to win,” said McKeehen. “I mean, it’s only the end of March, but I only have one tournament cash this year. So, it was nice to make this one count.”
The win gives McKeehen a nice confidence boost at the right time with the $3,500 championship event starting on Saturday. Unfortunately, McKeehen thinks that the late night from the win may hinder him on Friday afternoon.
“Now I’m going to end up sleeping in and showing up later,” said McKeehen about his plan for Day 1 on Friday. “Which theoretically is supposed to be worse. If you think about about it logically like that.
On the other hand, McKeehen is focused and feeling good about his game.
“I thought I played reasonably well today and I’ve been pretty down on my game lately,” he said. “So, I’m pretty happy. I’m definitely going to come in confident tomorrow. I just hope I don’t go on winner’s tilt and just go in and fire five bullets and play like an idiot. Which is certainly possible.”
McKeehen jumped into the spotlight of the poker world when he won more than $7.6 million in his Main Event win in 2015. At his heart, though, he is a grinder and loves playing poker.
It’s his love for the game that keeps him at the tables when he isn’t playing for seven-figures.
“I do enjoy playing the game and I really do like putting my mind to the test against really good players,” said McKeehen. “I like learning and getting better. These are still giant tournaments. Six-figures is never anything to laugh at up top. If I can play a tournament with six-figures up top, I probably will.”
Final Table Results:
1st: Joe McKeehen – $104,608
2nd: Sean Perry – $74,797
3rd: Ian O’Hara – $46,330
4th: George Dolofan – $28,182
5th: Faraz Jaka – $21,764
6th: Charlie Carrel – $18,035
7th: Brian Altman – $15,368
8th: Byron Kaverman – $12,837
$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 27: 20,000/40,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining: 1 of 226
Sean Perry raised on the button to 105,000 and Joe McKeehen three-bet out of the big blind to 290,000. Perry called and they were heads-up to a flop of 
.
Both players checked and the turn was the 
. McKeehen bet about 180,000 and Perry moved all in for about 800,000. McKeehen snap-called.
McKeehen showed , good for a set, and needed to dodge a club against Perry’s .
The river was the 
, which improved Perry to a flush, but McKeehen made a full house. McKeehen wins the pot and the tournament.
He took home the trophy and the $104,608 for first place, while Perry took home $74,794 for his efforts.
Joe McKeehen – $2,200 No Limit Hold’em Eight-Max Champion
Sean Perry – Eliminated
$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 26: 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 226
Sean Perry raised on the button and Joe McKeehen called out of the big blind.
The flop was 
and McKeehen checked. Perry bet and McKeehen called. The turn was the and McKeehen checked again.
Perry bet 155,000 and McKeehen called. The river was the 
and both players checked.
“Ten,” said McKeehen as he showed .
Perry mucked his hand and McKeehen put a little distance between the two players.
Joe McKeehen – 1,800,000 (60 bb)
Sean Perry – 880,000 (29 bb)
$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 26: 15,000/30,000 with a 4,000 ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 226
Joe McKeehen raised on the button and Sean Perry three-bet to 155,000 out of the big blind.
McKeehen called and the flop was . Perry bet about 160,000 and McKeehen folded. Perry mucks his hand and takes the flop.
Most of the pots between the two during heads-up play thus far have only seen one street of action. They have been trading small blows and are still basically even in chips.
Sean Perry – 1,400,000 (47 bb)
Joe McKeehen – 1,300,000 (43 bb)