Blair Hinkle has won a fair amount of his $3,656,403 in career earnings here at the Seminole Hard Rock thanks to his victory in the inaugural SHRPO $10 Million Guaranteed Main Event back in 2013. He topped a field of 2,384 players to win one of the largest tournament prizes in poker that year worth $1,745,245. Hinkle has cashed two other times at Seminole Hard Rock tournament series. He took eighth place ($91,450) in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown back in 2011, and he did an admirable job defending his title in last year’s SHRPO Main Event, cashing in 54th place for $29,933.

We caught up with Hinkle during a break in the action on Day 1C at the Lucky Hearts Poker Open and he shared his thoughts about his success at the Seminole Hard Rock and what he enjoys about playing here.

On his current run in Day 1C: “So far, I’ve had a guy try to bluff off half his stack to me but he got there. It’s not going well yet, I have about half a starting stack – 15,000.”

On his previous success here: “I love playing here, it’s a beautiful resort. I have been lucky to run deep in a few events here.”

On the Seminole Hard Rock property: “The pool is beautiful and the rooms are amazing. They also run some awesome tournaments and every time I go into the poker room it’s packed. It’s a great place.”

On the tournaments and structure: “The structure and turnouts that they get are amazing. There are not too many places where you don’t recognize every single player at the table anymore these days. But here you get a good mix of pros and amateurs, which makes it a fun place to play.”

On the South Florida poker community: “I know a lot of players flocked here to play cash games, a lot of online players moved here. I kind of wish that I did because the weather is amazing. In Kansas City it’s been freezing, so I’m definitely jealous of the people that get to play here year-round.”