Escalator VII Series
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 2
$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guarantee
Entries:  1,592
Prize Pool:  $331,136
February 15-19, 2023

Event 2 of the Escalator VII Series was a multi-flight $250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry). Across six starting flights, a field of 1,592 entries generated a prize pool of $331,136, crushing the $200,000 guarantee.

A six-way deal was reached at the final table, and as the chip leader it was Ernesto Alvarez who was the official winner for $30,673.

“It’s incredible,” said Alvarez afterward. “This is the biggest tournament that I’ve won, and I fired one bullet. I can’t be more grateful. I played with a bunch of great guys, and we all decided to chop, and I can’t be happier. I’ve got my adrenaline rush right now, I don’t even know what to say.”

Alvarez began the day with just 67,000 in chips at the 2,000/4,000/4,000 level, sitting with 17 big blinds and in 175th place of the returning 200 players, but navigated his way through flawlessly en route to his victory. Alvarez primarily plays cash games here at the Seminole Hard Rock, but will jump in tournaments from time to time.

“I’m mostly a cash game player. I play $1-$2 here all the time, and here and there I fire tournaments if it’s a good deal, like this one. $250 isn’t going to hurt, so I’m like let’s get in there, and look where we ended up. I couldn’t be happier.”

*denotes six-way deal