2016 Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event 3: $300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em
Entries: 124
Prize Pool: $31,620
November 18, 2016

(Hollywood, FL) — Domenic Amore laid claim to his first major tournament title Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood. Amore bested a strong field of 124 entries in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open $300 Seniors 50+ event. The tournament ran as part of the property’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker series and awarded Amore $7,274 for his efforts.

Kicking off at 10am and playing out over a one-day structure, the tournament was fast but yielded no shortage of play. William Vo, fresh off a WPT final table and six-figure score, burst the bubble shortly after 5:30pm and from there action narrowed to the 10-handed final table by about 6:45pm. Amore owned the chip lead at the time and sat on a stack of more than 120 big blinds. Play started slow as players shied away from big pots. There was some talk of chop when just five remained, but Hollywood regular Paul Balzano opted out. Balzano owns nearly $1,000,000 in tournament earnings (much of which came over the course of his eight major victories) and didn’t go down without a fight.

With four players left, Balzano surrendered a massive pot to Amore after his top pair was outdrawn by an open-ended straight draw. Balzano still had chips to work with, but never recovered. He went on to finish 3rd earning $3,162.

With Balzano’s elimination, Amore and Vo quickly agreed to a chop. Despite there being more than 100 big blinds in play and Amore holding an advantage of nearly 2-to-1 over Vo, the pair agreed to splite the prize money evenly. Both pocketed $7,274 while Amore’s chip lead was good for the title and the trophy.

Amore is 64-year-old business owner from Miami. His Event 3 win marks his first major tourmament cash.

Event 3 final results:

1st: Domenic Amore – $7,274
2nd: William Vo – $7,274
3rd: Paul Balzano – $3,162
4th: Reuben Rosenthal – $2,530
5th: Nancy Burgess – $1,897
6th: George Davis – $1,581
7th: Robert Levin – $1,265
8th: Ira Horowitz – $949
9th: Larry Bass – $711
10th: Clint Dunn – $632
11th: Ira Schwartz – $632
12th: Joseph Warlen – $632
13th: Stephen Leahy – $553
14th: Peter Bronstein – $553
15th: David Ring – $553
16th: Robert Allan – $474
17th: David Coughlin – $474
18th: Brian McKane – $474