$200 + $40 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Turbo

No Limit Hold’em Turbo tournaments are built for those who like action in their poker game. The fast structure dictates faster play and a wider range of starting hands. Event 5 drew 89 entrants to the high octane game with a pace that was quick and constant.

It took less than seven hours of play, including a few short breaks, to go from the start to a winner. Several players took advantage of the three hours of re-entry time to build up the field size and $20,000 was up for grabs. Even with the number of entrants, the action was so fact that the tournament was never running on more than six tables at once and was down to five as registration closed.

The Turbo structure produced huge, multi-way pots with hands to be more likely gambling than to be ahead. Aces were crack, gutshots hit, but plenty of enjoyment from the players who enjoyed the structure.

The tournament was down to the final two tables in under four and a half hours and players could start thinking about making it into the money. The average chipstack hovered around 10 big blinds for the latter parts of the tournament making the pre-flop all-in move the most popular.

The final table began with Peter Striano holding a slight chiplead before he took out the first two at the final table. Striano knocked out Luke Doolittle in 9th place when his out raced and followed up by taking out Ariel Rosello in 8th when his held up against .

Nigel Murray was a one-time chipleader with two tables remaining but ran into some bad luck and big hands. He quadrupled up in one hand and then lost a battle of the blinds with Andrew Friel to get sent out of the tournament in 7th place. The final big hand of the tournament had Oneil McCalla, 2013 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Event 19 winner, moving all-in from the small blind with the best hand only to be out-flopped by Bill Erwin to be eliminated in 6th place.

The final five remaining players made a quick deal after McCalla’s knockout to evenly chop up the remaining prizepool money among themselvs. Striano was the leader but also the driving force for the deal with him picking up the official victory thanks to his significant chiplead at the time.

The 43 year old amateur plays in The Poker Room at Seminole Hard Rock occasionally, most recently when he chopped the Big Slick tournament on November 10th for $19,249. The win in Event 5 adds another $3,360 to his bankroll along with the trophy and Leaderboard Challenge points.

When asked what he would do with the money, he simply said “Give it to my wife.”

Event 5 Results: