2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 15
$600 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  4,259
Prize Pool:  $2,214,680
March 31 – April 3, 2022

There was a massive field of 4,259 entries for Event 15 ($600 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em), and after six starting flights, Day 2, and then Day 3, Michael Nye and Juan Endara agreed to a heads-up deal. As chipleader, Nye was awarded the title, the trophy, and $328,683.

Primarily a cash game player who learned poker from his late father, this is by far the biggest tournament score of Nye’s career.

“I had my father with me the whole way,” said Nye, who kept his father’s old driver’s license next to his chip stack. “He loved poker, and that’s why he was on the final table with me.”

Nye began Day 3 as the chipleader with 14 players remaining, but his key hand came with six players left. (Click here for the details of this hand.)

“I got very lucky, blind vs. blind against Ian [O’Hara], who is a great player,” said Nye. “He was raising a lot. I was in the big blind, he was in the small blind. He raises again, I shove ace-jack, and he wakes up with ace-king. And I spiked a jack. That was the one lucky hand that really got me going.”

If it weren’t for that jack on the flop, Nye would have been eliminated in sixth place, but instead he doubled up to 83 big blinds. O’Hara, arguably the toughest player at the final table with more than $3.75 million in career tournament earnings, dropped to five big blinds, and was eliminated shortly after that in sixth place.

Nye has three daughters in college, so he figures the money he won can be put to good use. And he closed out his victory by thanking his wife.

“I’d like to thank my wife for going through the lifestyle of a poker wife.”

Final Results:

* Indicates the results of a heads-up deal.