2017 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open 
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event 7
$360 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better 
Entries: 94 
Prize Pool: $28,200 
November 21, 2017 

David Shmuel moved from Israel to Miami 23 years ago and became a regular in the South Florida tournament poker scene. On Monday night, Shmuel won his first trophy Hard Rock trophy after more than two decades of grinding tournaments in the area.

Shmuel defeated a 94-entry field in the $360 pot limit Omaha 8 or better event. He won $7,152 in a heads-up chop with Jeff Duvall along with his first piece of hardware.

“I feels great,” said Shmuel. “It’s my first trophy. I’ve been playing here a long time and I’ve never actually gotten a trophy. It’s always good to get at least something to remember.”

Shmuel was born and raised in Israel, but came to the area because of his sister’s wedding. He never wanted to go across the Atlantic. He made his permanent residence in South Florida and currently makes his home in Downtown Miami.

The small business owner earned most of his previous cashes in no limit hold’em, but Omaha was the game that he played when he first moved to America and before Chris Moneymaker played a major role in the poker boom.

“This is the game we used to play in the old Indian casino across the street,” said Shmuel. “That was the main game – Omaha. Then, no limit hold’em was getting more popular.”

He’ll dabble in some HORSE events when they run, but Shmuel pretty much sticks to flop games. He has sworn off one thing when it comes to poker, however. And it’s helped improve his tournament results.

“I stopped playing cash games,” said Shmuel. “Only tournaments. I used to play cash before a lot, but it just messed me up. If you play cash a lot and then you play a tournament, it messes up your game.”

Shmuel came into the final table with the chip lead and while he didn’t go wire to wire, he was never short on chips and always near the top of the counts.

Jeffrey Trudeau held the chip lead for the middle stages of the final table and Duvall started out the heads-up match with the chip lead, but Shmuel regained the lead just before they reached an agreement on a heads-up chop.

By his own account, this was par for the course. He had chips the whole tournament and was never in much danger of busting.

“I was very lucky today and I got a lot of chips from the beginning,” said Shmuel. “I got through that. It’s really great to win.”

Results:

1st: David Shmuel – $7,152*
2nd: Jeff Duvall – $7,151 *
3rd: Jeffrey Trudeau Jr. – $3,384
4th: Alexander Orlov – $2,186
5th: Mihails Morozovs – $1,692
6th: Nancy Birnbaum – $1,340
7th: Gabriel Ramos – $1,128
8th: Zachary Milchman – $987
9th: Joel Harwood – $895
10th: David McClure – $818
11th: Michael Soroka – $761
12th: Cameron Reid – $706

*Indicates adjusted payouts according to a deal

• Download: Final Results (PDF)