Monday was another busy day in the Seminole Ballroom with four RRPO trophies awarded plus two starting flights of the $250,000 GTD Event 9.
The biggest payouts were from a bonus day of poker in Event 1. They were unable to reach a champion on Day 2 of the tournament and 13 players returned on Monday to play it out. The final table ended in a six-way deal that saw Ben Boston book the win along with $133,918. “Chip and a Chair” Pedro Catinchi finished second as all six players banked a six-digit payday.
Event 1 final table results:
1st: Ben Boston – $133,918 + RRPO Trophy *
2nd: Pedro Catinchi – $133,776 *
3rd: Song O. – $128,869 *
4th: Ronald Campillo – $119,432 *
5th: Brian Mancilla – $116,143 *
6th: John Two-Bears – $114,897 *
7th: Richard Leger – $39,605
8th: Stuart Hankin – $27,625
9th: Leif Force – $16,440
* – denotes results of six-way deal
The Purple Chip Bounty tournament had the biggest buy-in of the preliminary events and it drew a tough crowd of 111 entries. Only eight of them moved on to Day 2 with Zhi Cheng Wu leading. He knocked out the first six players on Day 2 but fell behind Schahin Ghiai late and had to settle for second place (along with $3,000 in bounties from Day 2 alone).
Ghiai took home $34,105 for the win and his first career SHRP trophy.
Event 8 final table results:
1st: Schahin Ghiai – $34,105 + RRPO Trophy
2nd: Zhi Cheng Wu – $21,015
3rd: Tomas Soderstrom – $12,595
4th: Moshe Shabat – $8,215
5th: Albert Daher – $6,335
6th: Ronny Beda – $5,200
7th: Carlos Guerrero – $4,405
8th: Padraig O’Neill – $3,835
9th: Rami Hahitti – $3,415
The full slate of non-Hold’em games continued on Monday with a $400 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha 8 game. Another great turnout with a tough field. Gabriel Ramos made another final table in another Omaha tournament but fell short of his sixth career SHRP title.
That honor went to Michael Daud after a heads-up deal with Rene Herrera. He earned $9,015 along with the RRPO trophy while Herrera banked $7,175 for second place.
Event 10 final table results:
1st: Michael Daud – $9,015 + RRPO Trophy *
2nd: Rene Herrera – $7,175 *
3rd: Craig Chait – $4,395
4th: Robert Wachtel – $3,095
5th: Erik Nomberg – $2,260
6th: Gabriel Ramos – $1,720
7th: John Creed – $1,360
8th: Brenda Nelson – $1,125
9th: Carlos Guerrero – $970
* – denotes results of heads-up deal
The surprising result happened in the early morning hours. The $150 Big Stack is always a popular tournament on the schedule. A lower buy-in with big prizes and the 6 pm start time is great for the casual grinder.
The surprise came at the end with our Event 11 champ; our winner of the event has a single score bigger than the entire Event 11 prize pool.
John Gorsuch has been known in the South Florida poker scene for years but joined the big stage this summer when he won the WSOP Millionaire Maker for $1.3 million. He played Event 11 while his friend was grinding Flight B of Event 9 then went ahead and won the entire thing.
Gorsuch had a huge chip lead with six players remaining. They decided on a deal that awarded Gorsuch $8,000 along with the $3,500 WPT RRPO Championship that was added to first place.
“I’ve been playing here [at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood] since 2013,” said Gorsuch. “So it’s good to get it, to finally capture a Hard Rock trophy.”
Event 11 final table results:
1st: John Gorsuch – $8,000 + $3,500 Championship Seat *
2nd: Steven Westerholt – $6,000 *
3rd: Eric Kolodny – $6,000 *
4th: Tuan Phan – $4,646 *
5th: Louis Lee IV – $4,546 *
6th: Theophilus Lawson – $4,134 *
7th: Francky Dumornay – $1,904
8th: Alfredo Fernandez – $1,527
9th: Jeff Rodriguez – $1,151
* – denotes results of six-way deal
Images courtesy of Eric Harkins and Image Masters. If you would like to purchase any prints of your pictures, you can check out his booth in the hallway or visit the Image Masters website.