$260 +$40 No Limit Hold’em

One hand can make all the difference in a poker tournament. Whether it is losing on a two outer to get eliminated or winning a huge pot when you need it most, it is part of the beauty of the game of poker. Norbert Kara had one of those hands today in Event 4 at the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” and fortunately for him it was one that led to him eventually winning the tournament when the five remaining players decided to make a deal. Having a significant chip advantage, the other four players gave Kara more money to get the deal done and he took home the trophy as well.

Full Results For Event 4

Paul Stanechewski had to be feeling good when he saw an ace hit the turn on a , especially since he was holding K-Q for the nuts, a Broadway straight. He was up against Lawrence Cone. Paul had to be feeling even better when Cone moved all in. He of course made the call and found out that he did not have the hand locked up since Lawrence had pocket tens for a set. The board pairing on the river would be the death knell for Stanechewski and much to his dismay that is precisely what happened when the dealer put out a second Ace. Paul got up in a hurry, visibly frustrated, put his jacket on and headed off wondering what could have been.

Racing is a key part of final tables in tournaments and it was no different today. A key race took place when Roberto Berrocal and Georges Boyadjian got it all in pre-flop with Berrocal holding A-K and Georges holding pocket Queens. The flop came with an Ace and when Boyadjian was unable to hit on the turn or river, an excited Berrocal stood up, clapped his hands twice and said “Yes” loudly three times.

We would see another all in and call minutes later when Zoltan Czintoka would move all in on a flop and was called by Oneal Doward. Zoltan held for top pair and Doward had for an open ended straight draw. The turn was the and the river was the and Zoltan more than doubled to approximately 140K. Zoltan would continue his hot run when he got it all in with against Lawrence Cone’s pocket 9’s and hit an Ace to double up yet again, crippling Cone in the process.

The key hand of the tournament would then take place when five people saw the flop in an unraised pot. The flop came and Lawrence Cone moved all in for his last 22.5K. Avraham Kalmis called. The dealer did not see that Norbert Kara still had cards and said “go ahead and turn them over guys”. Cone did that, revealing but Kalmis quickly pointed out that Kara had cards. Since those two were not all in yet, the floor told the dealer to proceed. Kara called the 22.5K bet as well.

The turn was the and Kalmis moved all in. He was snap called by Kara who had flopped a set of 3’s. Kalmis was drawing dead with . Cone still had a shot if he could hit a flush but the river was the and Kara had eliminated two players in one fell swoop. Since Kalmis had more chips he would finish in 7th place with Cone finishing in 8th.

One part of the luck involved with poker is getting hands at the right time and avoiding getting them at the wrong time. Georges Boyadjian would learn this the hard way when he picked up at the worst possible time as he ran into pocket aces of Edwin Vasconcelos. The board ran out and Georges was eliminated in 6th place which was good for $1,710. This was Boyadjian’s 2nd final table finish this week at the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open”which moves him to the top of the Leaderboard Promotion.

Soon after Boyadjian’s elimination play was scheduled to end for the day. At that point, the five remaining players decided to make a deal that would give Norbert Kara, the commanding chip leader $7,000 and split the remaining money ($4,916 apiece) between the remaining four players. A thrilled Kara posed with his newly acquired trophy, telling us that he was originally from Hungary and now lived in Tampa, Florida. “I’ve been playing poker for 6-7 years,” he told us. “This is one of my biggest scores live.”

When asked what he would do with the money, Kara joked “I’m going to put it back into the poker economy.” For now, he can enjoy it though. Congratulations on your victory Norbert!