Event 9, a $350 Pot Limit Omaha Double Stack tournament, might have been the best structured event we’ve seen thus far here at Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open”. The final total number of entrants was 48 with the prize pool being the $15,000 that was guaranteed for the tournament. With 16,000 in starting chips and 40 minute levels, patience was often rewarded and the stacks were so deep that when we were down to four players, the average stack had over 90 big blinds. Chip Tye was able to use this to his advantage. When there was four players left, he found himself all in for his last 30K. Surviving that hand, Tye would go on to win several key pots from eventual 4th place finisher Leon Benmargui and once Leon was eliminated, the three remaining players would decide to split the remaining money and gie the title and trophy to Chip.

Tye, a 50 year old self-proclaimed “Storage Wars” type of business man (he purchases storage lockers and resells the contents) has been playing poker for all of his adult life. Mainly an Omaha cash and tournament game player with the occasional foray into No Limit Hold ‘Em cash games, Tye said “I don’t like No Limit tournaments.” When asked what he was going to do with his winnings, Chip said “I am going to buy some more storage lockers.” Let’s hope the good run he had here continues there!

There was one key hand in the tournament and it was the one that would ultimately lead to the tournament’s conclusion.

With the blinds at 1.2K/2.4K, three of our four remaining players saw the flop with the lone holdout being Jonah Miller. The flop came and Leon Benmargui made a pot sized bet of 7.2K and was called by both Max Jones and Chip Tye. The turn was the and Benmargui again bet the pot, this time for a total of 28.8K. Jones got out of the way but Tye was not as easily convinced. Appearing hesitant, Chip grabbed a stack of chips and asked Leon how many chips behind he had. “Trying to figure out what this is going to cost me,” Chip said as he played with the calling chips in his right hand. Tapping the felt had with the chips, he pushed them reluctantly into the middle. The river was the and Benmargui pushed his last 50K into the center of the table.

“I call,” said Tye as he turned over for ten’s full of two’s. Leon proudly tabled his hand thinking he had won the pot and doubled up. He showed for two’s full of ten’s. He was shown that he was actually in second and that meant he was also eliminated in 4th place.

Once Leon was gone, the remaining three players decided to chop and split the prize money evenly. The final order of finish and payouts was as follows: