Championship Winner – Eric Afriat ($1,081,184)

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship Event

Blinds 250k/500k/50k ante

Eric Afriat (Montreal, Canada) $1,081,184
Eric Afriat (Montreal, Canada)
$1,081,184

On the seventh hand of heads up play, Eric Afriat calls the 10.8 million (22 bb) all-in bet of Vinny Pahuja.

Afriat: 8d8h
Pahuja: Kh9s

Flop: 5c5s2d (Afriat still leads)

Turn: Td (no change)

River: 6h

Afriat wins the coin flip with two pairs, 8s and 5s to take the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship and the first place prize of nearly $1.1 million.

“Everything was just magical,” said Afriat who is enjoying the win with a strong Canadian rail made up of family and friends. “You can’t fight faith and it was my time.”

The 44 year-old businessman wins $1,081,184, taking Afriat’s career recorded live tournament earnings past $1.5 million.

“I always envisioned it, always felt I was going to win,” he says, “but the fact, after everything is over, it just sunk in that it’s ridiculous what I just accomplished.”