Event 4: Chris Bolek Earns Main Event Title

2018 May Deep Stack Poker Series
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Main Event
$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed

Entries: 349
Prize Pool: $523,500
May 24-28, 2018

Chris Bolek, May Deep Stack Poker Series Main Event champion

The May Deep Stack Poker Series began nearly two weeks ago and it rolled into Memorial Day weekend with the $300,000 Guarantee Main Event. It drew traveling pros and local favorites to the game and it was 2014 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Champion Chris Bolek taking top honors after a heads-up deal with fellow pro TK Miles saw them each walk away with $94,544.

The $1,650 buy-in Main Event drew 349 entries and seven of them joined before the start of Day 2. They combined to push the prize pool up to $523,500 with the last 44 players getting paid.

Event 1 winner Jose Reyes began Day 2 with the chip lead followed by Miles in second and Bolek returned to a top ten stack. Poker pro Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler made a last minute stop in South Florida for the Main Event but was unable to bag. However, his traveling companion and defending WPTDeepStacks Tampa champ Rex Clinkscales was able to advance.

We had 83 players in the poker room for the restart and the tournament progressed at a steady pace thanks to the 60-minute blind levels. They hit the money bubble three hours into the day and it was Bolek taking care of bursting the bubble after 20 minutes of hand-for-hand play.

Notable among those cashing include Jerry Wong and Ronald Young. Wong was one of the last to buy-in when he was a Day 2 entrant and he rode his ten big blinds to a 39th place finish. Young was here on a freeroll after winning the May Big Stack Special. Part of his win included a seat in the Main Event and he went all the way to 19th place.

The Main Event final table included some of the toughest players we get in our games. Besides Bolek and Miles, we had two-time WSOP bracelet winner/five-time WSOP Circuit champ Loni Harwood, former SHRP event winner Josias Santos, and poker coach/pro Ryan Ganquitti.

The clock was paused for Day 2 when the clock hit 3am and the seven remaining players returned for an extra day of final table poker.

Day 3 saw them play nearly four hours before the first player was eliminated. Joshua Zur was eliminated in seventh place and was quickly followed by Gianquitti. It took a bad beat to send Harwood out in fifth place and Santos dropped out in fourth place. A short-stacked Steve Duncker tried to battle back but fell short in third place.

“It was a tough table,” Bolek commented about his competition. “I just tried to stay in it and not bust myself.”

Bolek and Miles immediately began talking about a deal to chop up the remaining prize pool. Bolek held only 75,000 more than Miles and they split the money right down the middle with each earning $94,544. Bolek took the title and trophy home as a result of his chip lead and he adds more SHRP hardware to his mantle.

Both players were happy to lock down a big payday as they prepare for the summer in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker.

“Historically, one of my worst months for poker is May,” Bolek said. “It’s definitely nice to get a nice win and basically going into the summer on a freeroll.”

“It takes some edge off.”

Congratulations to Bolek on the title and thanks to a very talented group of players taking part in the Deep Stack Poker Series Main Event.

Main Event final table results:

1st: Chris Bolek – $94,544 *
2nd: TK Miles – $94,544 *
3rd: Steve Duncker – $50,078
4th: Josias Santos – $32,431
5th: Loni Harwood – $24,997
6th: Ryan Gianquitti – $20,678
7th: Joshua Zur – $17,354
8th: David Nowling – $14,213
9th: John Miller – $11,119
* – denotes results of heads-up deal

Complete Main Event results