2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 1
$400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  3,687
Prize Pool:  $1,216,710
March 24-27, 2022

Event 1 of the 2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown was the $400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) multi-flight opening event. There were six starting flights, drawing a total of 3,687 entries and creating a prize pool of $1,216,710, more than doubling the guarantee. There were 372 players who made the money, but all eyes were on making the final table.

Once it was reached, only one hand was played before the remaining eight players agreed to look at the numbers. After a little while of working out the details, an eight-handed deal was reached. James Collins was the chip leader at the time, making him the official champion of Event 1 for $130,682.

“I loved the tournament,” said Collins afterward. “It’s a tough tournament to win because it’s a lot of bingo playing in the beginning. It’s hard to survive.”

It took Collins a few flights to bag a stack initially, but when he did, he found himself with a solid stack of 60 big blinds and coming back in 40th of the remaining 372.

“(Day 2 was) Slow. A lot of folding, then a couple of good hands. That got me up to a good stack,” said Collins of his Day 2. “Then up and down, up and down. Then I won a really big hand that got me up over seven million. From there I won another big hand and doubled up (to the chip lead).”

On that hand, Collins won a crucial race with pocket queens against ace-king, vaulting him into the chip lead with 10 players left. He added more to his stack by the time the final table was reached, putting him in pole position to make a deal he approved.

Collins lives in Palm Harbor and plays mainly in the Tampa area. It’s his second cash here at the Seminole Hard Rock, with the first coming in the 2021 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open in this same event.

Final Table Results

*denotes eight-handed deal