2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 8
$360 Pot Limit Omaha (Re-Entry)
Entries: 102
Prize Pool: $30,600
April 8, 2019
Event 8 of the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown was a $360 Pot Limit Omaha (Re-Entry). A field of 102 entries generated a prize pool of $30,600 and a first-place prize of $9,331. In the end, a familiar face was left standing as champion. David Prociak emerged victorious, earning the outright win and his sixth SHRP trophy.
Not only is this Prociak’s sixth time winning an SHRP trophy, but it’s his fourth in Pot Limit Omaha. The first came at the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, while the next two he won at the 2017 Lucky Hearts Poker Open. He also won a WSOP Circuit ring here in 2017 in Pot Limit Omaha.
Add in his H.O.R.S.E. win at the 2016 Rock N’ Roll series, and a No-Limit Hold’em win at the 2019 Lucky Hearts Poker Open, and you have perhaps the most well-rounded tournament player at the Seminole Hard Rock. The results speak for themselves.
As to why Prociak has found so much success in the Pot Limit Omaha tournaments specifically, he thinks there’s a reason for it.
“I think I do a good job at just managing my luck,” Prociak told us after his win. “I get good stacks, and then I can afford to gamble in some hands, and a lot of people are afraid to play back at you when they know you’re going to play the pot all the way to the river a lot of times. I think I built up a little bit of a reputation for not being easy to bluff or let go of hands.”
When the final table of 10 players was reached, Prociak was second in chips. However, there were five straight double ups as chips were being passed around. Prociak was doubled though twice before he doubled up to reestablish himself.
“I fluctuated a bit at this final table. It was actually a weird dynamic because they were talking about an even chop ten ways, so I actually knew I could gamble a lot of my chips and still rely on the even chop so I could take some chances. And I did, and got short a couple of times.”
It took more than three full levels at the final table before the first player was eliminated.
“It was tough to knock people out. People were waiting around until they got kind of in that middling stack area where it became a little like where they were gonna put it all in with one hand, not where people are playing post flop.”
Once there were nine players left, though, Prociak found his groove and eliminated the rest of his competitors, en route to his claiming the trophy.
“It feels good,” Prociak said. “I always love to win these. It’s why I play them.”
Results:
1st: David Prociak $9,331 + Showdown trophy
2nd: Chris Kostoulas – $5,738
3rd: German Gomez – $3,519
4th: Luis Torres – $2,295
5th: Joe Bob Locke – $1,790
6th: Harry Thomas Jr. – $1,431
7th: Patrick Heneghan – $1,216
8th: Karim Merali – $1,056
9th: Gabriel Ramos – $933
10th: Charles Gomez – $842
11th: Facundo Lambre – $842
12th: Samuel Charnis – $842
13th: Donovan Walker – $765