2017 Seminole Hard Rock WSOP Circuit
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 8
$1,125 No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 180
Prize Pool: $180,000
September 27-28, 2017

Event 8 had one of the biggest buy-ins on the Seminole Hard Rock WSOP Circuit schedule and the $1,125 buy-in tournament brought out the big names. The deep stacks and slow structure gave them plenty of play and in the end, it was Ryan McAllister taking home second career WSOP ring along with nearly $50,000.

The single re-entry event featured a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool and the 180 entries clearly surpassed that number to put $180,000 up for grabs. We had bracelet winners, Circuit champs, and Seminole Hard Rock Poker regulars all mixing it up but only 41 of them survived to return for Day 2.

It took several hours on Day 2 to whittle those players down towards the money bubble with 18 getting paid. SHRP team member Loni Harwood knocked out Marie Harrell with jacks beating aces at the same time AJ Kelsall was going out on another table. Those two eliminations dropped the tournament from 20 players to the money with 18 remaining without a single round of hand-for-hand play.

The levels increased to an hour long and players were in no hurry to hit the payout desk. Five-time WSOPC champ Kurt Jewell was an early victim on the last two tables followed by two-time winner Spencer Champlin and former November Niners Josh Beckley.

Beckley went out as part of a double elimination as they neared the final table bubble. He was knocked out in 11th place at the same time returning Day 2 leader Farid Jattin was exiting in tenth place to start the final table nine-handed.

Four-time ring winner Mark Fink was a quick exit from the final table and the remaining eight settled in for a long battle. They went back and forth for more than two hours with no eliminations, while starting final table leader Yaniv Shushman’s chips migrated across the table to SHRP regular Erik Christensen.

SHRP team member Loni Harwood broke the stalemate but not in a way she wanted. She went off the final table in seventh place and the action did not slow down from that point forward. She was followed by Shushan in sixth, Cero Zuccarello in fifth, and Jeffrey Trudeau Jr in fourth.

There was a slight delay in the quick pace because of a break but Alex Rocha hit the rail soon after they returned. McAllister began to establish a huge lead with his knockouts of Shushan and Trudeau and he held 2.1 million of the 2.7 million chips in play heads-up.

Christensen needed to make moves to get back in the match but the final hand saw him getting all in with an open-ended straight draw versus McAllister’s already made nut flush. It was a quick end to a tournament could have dragged on with the great structure.

McAllister earned his second ring in as many months but almost didn’t have a chance to get this far.

“I got lucky yesterday,” McAllister said. “I was all in with threes versus eights and got lucky to stay in the game.”

McAllister is a professional player from South Carolina and he picked up his first WSOPC ring in August. Our WSOP counterparts tell us that McAllister is close to a lock for the WSOP National Championship in the early stages of the circuit series.

McAllister earned $48,600 to go along with his new jewerly and set himself up for a big run in the Main Event starting tomorrow.

1st: Ryan McAllister – $48,600
2nd: Erik Christensen – $30,035
3rd: Alex Rocha – $21,620
4th: Jeffrey Trudeau Jr – $15,845
5th: Cero Zuccarello – $11,819
6th: Yaniv Shushan – $8,969
7th: Loni Harwood – $6,923
8th: Chad Eveslage – $5,431
9th: Mark Fink – $4,331
10th: Farid Jattin – $3,508
11th: Spencer Champlin – $3,508
12th: Josh Beckley – $3,508
13th: Kindah Sakkal – $2,887
14th: Harold Mahaffey – $2,887
15th: Martin Markov – $2,887
16th: Emil Ekvardt – $2,414
17th: Kurt Jewell – $2,414
18th: Richard Rice – $2,414