Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ’N’ Roll Poker Open”
Event 9: $570 Deeper Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed
November 20-24, 2014
Total Entries: 1,250
Total Prize Pool: $625,000
Recap
Brazilian Rafael Reis wins the $500,000 Guaranteed $570 Deeper Stack No Limit Hold’em event and takes home $91,416 in a six-way chop. He bested a field of 1,250 entrants to take the lion’s share of the prize pool, the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ’N’ Roll Poker Open” trophy, and the 16×20 custom framed photograph provided by IMPDI.
“I love it! It’s a perfect place with great service,” he said about the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood. “I like this tournament because of the deep stack and find that there’s more skilled players.”
With 1,250 entrants, the half-million dollar guarantee was covered with ease. The total prize pool of $625,000 was doled out to the final 120 players. Six starting flights each played 14 levels and propelled 290 players into Day 2. Scott Efron was the chip leader with 429,000 chips and he held on to finish in 35th place ($2,406).
This two day tournament spilled over into a third day when they were unable to reach a conclusion after more than 13 hours of play on Day 2. Seven players remained to bag up chips and return for Day 3. On the last hand of the night, Reis doubled up in a cooler hand against 2006 WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold. Reis had pocket Aces to beat Gold’s pocket Kings. That put Reis in the chip lead and left Gold as the short stack. “I like to play against [Gold] because he understands everything I do,” said Reis.
Day 3 saw Bradley Young put his tournament life on the line in the first five minutes of play with Ace-8, running into Patrick Hughes’ pocket Tens. The Tens held and Young hit the rail in 7th place, gifting Gold’s short stack with a $6,000 pay bump that turned into a $21,000 pay bump when the deal was done.
Another notable making this final table was 2010 EPT PCA winner Harrison Gimbel. He was the last player eliminated on Day 2 when his pocket 5s lost a race to Jamie Gold’s Big Slick.
Rafael Reis has been coming here from Brazil to play poker since 2009, but relocated to Orlando earlier this year. He has a rental property business in Brazil, but manages to play poker about four days a week. He’s going to be here through the series and plans to play the $2 Million Guaranteed Championship event starting on Saturday.
Final Table Results
1st – Rafael Reis $91,416
2nd – Patrick Hughes $69,420
3rd – Alan Franco $60,938
4th – Tan Nguyen $51,969
5th – Stuart Paterson $49,402
6th – Jamie Gold $43,107
7th – Bradley Young $21,563
8th – Harrison Gimbel $15,938
9th – David Hass $11,406
10th – Natacha Goureau $7,438