2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open 
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event #8
$360 Big Stack Black Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guarantee
Entries: 226
Prize Pool: $45,200
August 6, 2018

Christiane Valade of Montreal, Canada was visiting South Florida with her husband and her two daughters, and when she woke up this morning, she had no plans to play this event. She didn’t even know this event was taking place today.

She had never been to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino before, but she visited the website this morning, and saw that there was a $360 Big Stack Black Chip Bounty event starting at noon. So she decided to play.

Her husband and daughters went to Orlando to spend the day at Universal Studios, while Valade came to SHRPO. I don’t know how much fun her family at the theme park, but it’ll be tough to top Valade’s day here. (She texted them updates throughout the day,

Valade was second in chips with 45 players remaining, and was seemingly among the chipleaders for the entire rest of the way. She was the first player to a million in chips, and she was still over a million when the 10-handed final table began, giving her nearly twice as many chips as anybody else.

Fast forward to the final few players, and Valade’s key pot came when she and her opponent got it all in after a flop of , but Valade’s (pair of kings) was behind her opponent’s (two pair).

But another fell on the turn to give Valade a higher two pair, and she won the pot to retake the chip lead.

A few hands later, they agreed to a chop with the following approximate chip counts:

Christiane Valade  –  1,600,000
Truyen Nguyen  –  1,200,000
Joe Villacci  –  500,000

As the chipleader, Valade was the winner, earning $8,556 and the SHRPO trophy, more than enough to justify missing a day at a theme park.

Final Table Results:

1st:  Christiane Valade  –  $8,556 + Trophy
2nd:  Truyen Nguyen  –  $8,042
3rd:  Joe Villacci  –  $6,168
4th:  Andre Bryan  –  $2,818
5th:  Carlos Torres Vazquez  –  $2,176
6th:  John Caputo  –  $1,803
7th:  Justin Carey  –  $1,537
8th:  Jose Rivera Vega  –  $1,311
9th:  Richard Davis  –  $1,065

• Download: Final Results (PDF)