The 2018 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” threw a $1,000,000 Guarantee opening event and it was so big it took an extra day to complete.
On Monday, there were 16 players still in contention of the 4,558 entries and 676 Day 2 returners and there was a lot of money still up for grabs.
The last two tables quickly played down to a final table and they did the long grind once it was ten-handed. They broke the stalemate when Rick Boyle exited in tenth place followed by David Maslowski in ninth. Trung Pham took the lead when he made a huge double through Maslowski and held until James Lloyd was eliminated in eighth place.
The last seven players agreed to an ICM deal to divide up the remaining prize pool with Pham earning the lion’s share with the lead. He picked up $123,364 and four other players earned six-digit paydays as well.
Event 1 final table results:
1st: Trung Pham – $123,364 *
2nd: Devond Marshall – $109,854 *
3rd: Kharlin Sued – $106,611 *
4th: Carlos Loving – $102,888 *
5th: David Laufer – $101,146 *
6th: Pavlos Kasselouris – $72,443 *
7th: Lorell Pascual – $68,787 *
8th: James Lloyd – $25,927
9th: David Maslowski – $15,725
10th: Rick Boyle – $10,563
* – denotes results of seven-way deal
It’s been quite a run for Pham in recent weeks. This big tournament victory comes on the heels of winning his second WSOP Circuit rings two weeks ago. He is sticking around and getting ready for the WPT RRPO Championship starting on Friday.
Event 9 was our only one-day trophy event on the schedule and it was another in a string of successful non-hold’em games. The Pot Limit Omaha 8 game had 89 entries and SHRP regular Shawn Nguyen dominated late to cruise to the tournament win for $8,471.
Event 9 results:
1st: Shawn Nguyen – $8,471
2nd: Walter Buss – $5,073
3rd: Barak Zaken – $3,204
4th: Alexander Lakhov – $2,069
5th: Mitchell Menes – $1,602
6th: Jason Reep – $1,268
7th: Matthew Bianchini – $1,068
8th: Mitchell Smith – $935
9th: Leif Force – $847
10th: Jeff Gershowitz – $774
11th: Donald Maloney Jr. – $721
12th: Robert Wachtel – $668
Event 8 is our last multi-day event before the Championship and the first two of four starting flights ran on Monday. The $570 buy-in tournament features a $250,000 Guarantee and exactly 300 entries were entered into the game between Flights A and B.
Of the 42 players advancing to Day 2 on Wednesday, Matt Edge bagged the biggest stack for the overnight chip lead. He’s coming off a successful campaign from our last big series where he won nearly $200,000 for the SHRPO Event 1 title and followed that up with a third-place finish in the Pot Limit Omaha 8 tournament.