2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #12
$1,650 No Limit Hold’em Purple Chip Bounty
Total Entries: 139
Prizepool: $139,000 + $69,500 in Bounties
Andre Crooks feels right at home at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Last year, Crooks made a deep run in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 WPT main event, finishing third for $383,000. This year, he bests a field of 139 players to take home the $1,650 No Limit Hold’em Purple Chip Bounty for $40,308.
He defeated 2015 WSOP Main Event runner-up Josh Beckley in a strenuous heads-up battle to take home the trophy. Their heads-up match lasted several hours with the chip lead changing hands multiple times.
“It was very tough, very tough,” said Crooks of the heads-up match. “I had him down to 20 big [blinds] three or four different times and he came back every time. There was no racing with him. I don’t want to race with him.”
Even though he came out on top in the match, Crooks had nothing but praise for Beckley’s heads-up skills.
“I played a lot of heads-up online,” he said. “And nothing ever like that. As far as heads-up poker goes, he’s definitely the toughest person I’ve ever sat.”
The win puts Crooks’ career tournament earnings over $500,000 with almost all of his cashes coming exclusively in the South Florida area. Even after his breakout performance in last year’s main event, Crooks hasn’t changed his lifestyle much and has stuck to tournaments in the state.
“I’ve actually been working a lot more since that happened,” said Crooks. “I’ve played a little less poker and only play around here. I don’t travel or anything.”
While most of the attention on this event was about the epic heads-up match, the rest of the final table was stacked with results as well. Crooks came out on top of a final table that featured accomplished Florida pros Erik Christensen and Ian O’Hara as well as long-time pro Jean Gaspard, who has over $2 million in tournament earnings.
Here are the final table results:
1st: Andre Crooks – $40,308
2nd: Josh Beckley – $23,630
3rd: Joseph Cappello – $13,900
4th: Erik Christensen – $11,120
5th: Jean Gaspard – $8,340
6th: Mohammad Arani – $6,950
7th: Ian O’Hara – $5,560
8th: James Hughes – $4,170
9th: Gustavo Moscon – $3,128