Dean Salisbury Wins His First Seminole Hard Rock Trophy in a Five-Way Deal

2021 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 5
$600 Double Black Chip Bounty (Re-Entry)
Entries:  158
Prize Pool:  $82,950
November 18, 2021

Dean Salisbury
Event 5 Champion Dean Salisbury

Dean Salisbury is primarily an online player, and herarely plays live tournaments. But Salisbury held his own just fine in Event 5, the $600 Double Black Chip Bounty, navigating a field of 158 players to start the final table with the chip lead, and build his lead even higher before the final five players made a deal to end the tournament.

As chipleader, Salisbury was awarded the title, the trophy. In addition to the $8,000 he was paid for first, he figures he earned another $1,000 in bounties by knocking out five players along the way.

This isn’t the first poker trophy for Salisbury — he won one six years ago — though it was his first from Seminole Hard Rock.

“My son broke my last one,” said Salisbury about his old poker trophy. “I came home one day and he had tried to glue it so I wouldn’t see it.”

Salisbury’s son is a little older now, and the RRPO trophy is fairly sturdy, so this trophy should last longer.

Salisbury was short-stacked near the Money Bubble with 24 players left, but he survived, and by the time the final table began, he had reversed his fortunes and become the chipleader, a position he held until the end.

What made Salisbury so willing to deal when things were starting to go so well for him?

“I’m tired,” said Salisbury after the deal was made around 3:15 am. “I’m playing in the 10:00 am flight tomorrow morning.”

So Salisbury is off to sleep with a title and a trophy, but he’ll be back on the felt tomorrow in search of another.


Final Results:

PlaceNameWinnings
1stDean Salisbury$8,000*
2ndGil Nachum$8,000*
3rdRafael Rodriguez$6,500*
4thVasyl Yurkevych$5,490*
5thSam Lieber$5,490*
6thLorne Kanover$2,100
7thMohammed Ayyash$1,780
8thMaxx Dansky$1,540
9thRosanne Kocher$1,310
10thMarcel McGray$1,310
11thRobert Brandl$1,175
12thBenjamin Boston$1,175
13thJeffrey Nguyen$1,055
14thAaron Mahlfeldt$1,055
15thValentino Lettieri$935
16thIra Schwartz$935
17thMichael Newman$875
18thWillie Wiggins$875
19thMichael Blinn$875
20thIvan Modosanov$875

* Indicates results of a five-way deal.