2015 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ’n’ Roll Poker Open”
$350 Big Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guarantee

November 29th, 2015

Total Entries:  170
Total Prizepool:  $51,000

Recap:

Raminder Singh was on a roller coaster all night long going from chip leader to nearly out of the tournament but he saved the best for last taking down the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock n’ Roll Poker Open” Event 9 title and acheived the rare feat of winning two championships in one series.

The Event 9 final started off with Alberto Silva holding the lead with 460,000 chips but had Raminder Singh and Jason Gooch right behind him at 441,000 setting up a terrific showdown for the remaining ten players.

It started off quickly as Steve Zaritsky quickly fell on the first hand in 10th place.  Alberto Silva then sent Mike Graffeo to the rail in 9th place and Jason Gooch quickly followed it up eliminating David Brightman in 8th place.

The eliminations then slowed down but the action didn’t.  Raminder Singh won a huge pot from Adam Bienstock who was eliminated shortly afterward in 7th place leaving Singh in the lead.  But that lead would not last long as Singh dropped hands to Silva and Marc Sacheli leaving him as one of the short stacks.  Lou Stadler’s short stack would not hold up and was taken out in 6th place and Sacheli would not enjoy his double-up long as Silva picked him off knocking him out in 5th place putting Silva over the million chip mark and out in front.

Then Joseph Duchman got in the act with two double ups to vault himself into second place behind Silva.  But Raminder Singh was not to be outdone and with relentless pressure got back into the tournament and eliminated Jason Gooch in 4th place.

A hotly contested three-way battle then ensued with Raminder Singh taking out Joseph Duchman in third setting up a showdown with Alberto Silva and Silva holding the lead.

But the heads-up match would be dominated by Silva.  Silva hit two pair on the river with all of his chips in the middle to take a dominant lead and then cracked Silva’s A-7 with an A-6 to win the title.

After Singh’s second win of the series, he talked about his wild ride through the final table.  “I doubled up a guy and I was short stacked but I kept the aggression on and showed some big hands and took advantage of it later.  Three-handed we decided to play it out and heads-up I picked up a couple good hands with two pair and the A-6 and I’m quite happy about it.”

He was also quick to give credit to his family for helping him get the opportunity to play a relaxed and focused game. “This is a break from business and I got a free pass from my wife and 7-year old daughter to play and that plays a big part because I was able to play without much pressure from their support.  That’s been very helpful to me.”

Finally, Raminder was quick to thank the team at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.  “It’s always amazing and especially with Tony Burns running this tournament it’s really great now.  Lately there’s a big change for good the way you’re running tournaments and the support staff has been really great.  I love playing here in this ballroom!”

Congratulations to our Event 9 Champion – Raminder Singh!

Results:
1st:  Raminder Singh (Delray Beach, FL) – $15,298
2nd: Alberto Silva (Buenos Aires, FL)- $8,415
3rd: Joseph Duchman (Miami Beach, FL) – $4,845
4th: Jason Gooch (Ruston, LA) – $4,080
5th: Mark Sacheli (Miami, FL) – $3,060
6th: Lou Stadler (Miami, FL)- $2,550
7th: Adam Bienstock (Engelwood, NJ) – $2,040
8th: David Brightman (Mountain View, CA) – $1,530
9th: Mike Graffeo (Fort Mill, SC) – $1,148
10th: Steve Zaritsky (Tierra Verde, FL) – $1,020