Event 6 drew the biggest field of the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” other than Event 1 and its eight starting days. A total of 211 entrants put up the $150 buy-in to create a $25,320 prizepool for the 27 players good enough to make it into the money.

It was a long process to play down to the final three tables but once there, the action picked up as the short stacks slid began to get their chips in the middle now that they were in the money. The bigger stacks were picking them off when they could to build their lead for a final table run.

One day wasn’t enough to crown a champion and the tournament was shutdown at 3am with 13 players still in the mix. The players bagged and tagged their chips before a 10-hour break. The returned at 3pm and the table dynamics were a little skewed thanks to the random table draw.

Andrew Frier began the final day with the chiplead (212,000) but the other five players at his table were all under 10 big blinds. The second table held the majority of the chips in play with five players holding six-digit stacks.

Even with the unbalanced tables, it was the big stack table that produced the first knockout when Joshua Smith put his chips in the middle with the lead but fell in 13th to an unlucky river. Frier’s table then did the rest of the heavy lifting, Homer Molina specifically, when there was a double elimination of Albert Palma and Philip Tyson.

The last 10 players combined to form the unofficial final table and there was immediate talk of making a deal. Nothing came of it and Mike Filipelli was out not long after in 10th place. Action really moved along after Filipelli’s elimination with Frier taking out both Ron Blankenship and Derrick Simon when his Big Slick caught on the flop.

There were two short-stacks remaining and they were quickly taken care of as Lawrence Cone dropped in 7th and Paul Stanechewski in 6th. The remaining stacks were close in relation to the blinds and talk of a deal was begun in earnest.

Frier was the chipleader and the driving force behind a fair deal for all. Tournament staff did the math on a chip chop and all were satisfied with how to divide up the top five spot. Frier was declared the winner followed by Homer Molina, Arthur Rodriguez, Norman Guigui, and Keith Wagner.

Frier is a local regular in The Poker Room at Seminole Hard Rock and plans to come back for more series action. When asked what he would do with the money, he response was simple. “Play more poker,” he commented, “and buy some groceries.”

It was a great tournament where players were given a big prize pool for a small buy-in with a great structure. There are still two more weeks left in the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” for players of all bankrolls to get their tournament fill.

Complete Event 6 results: