2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event 21
$360 No-Limit Hold’em 
Entries: 156
Prize Pool: $50,000
April 17, 2018

After grinding tournaments and cash games at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood for several years, local pro Matthew Zarcadoolas took home his first-ever Hard Rock trophy in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Zarcadoolas was the chip leader and got the better end of a heads-up chop with Elias Nassif in the $360 no-limit hold’em. He defeated 156 entries and took home $11,500 as part of the deal.

For the poker pro that was born and raised in Hollywood, Florida, the trophy means a lot to him.

“I’ve been wanting to get a trophy here for so long,” said Zarcadoolas. “It feels so good to finally get a trophy here.”

Zarcadoolas came into the final table with the chip lead and never let up. With very little resistance and never being on a short stack, it was a dream final table for him.

“I came in as the chip leader and it was smooth sailing most of the way,” said Zarcadoolas. “I really didn’t have too much adversity facing me. Everything went my way.”

The final two players agreed to a deal heads-up, so there was no winning hand for Zarcadoolas to have in his winner photo. Instead, he went with the five-seven offsuit, which was the hand that put him in the lead for good.

“There were like five limpers and I was in the big blind with five-seven off-suit,” said Zarcadoolas. “I flopped two pair and then I turned a full house where another guy had top pair and another guy had an open-ended straight flush draw. We all got the chips in the middle and I knocked out two players to get us down to three-handed.”

Dean Baranowski made his second consecutive final table in this event. He finished ninth for $1,329 just a day after finishing runner-up in the $570 no-limit hold’em. Dan Heimiller, who was one of the players eliminated in the massive pot with Zarcadoolas’ five-seven, finished in fifth and just missed out on his second Hard Rock trophy.

The 156-entry field paid out the top 21 spots and here are the results:

1st: Matthew Zarcadoolas – $11,500*
2nd: Elias Nassif – $10,497*
3rd: Gregory Baird – $5,130
4th: Joseph Duchman – $3,123
5th: Dan Heimiller – $2,410
6th: Norman Zapcynski – $1,998
7th: Arkadiy Tsinis – $1,730
8th: Mario De La Puente – $1,525
9th: Dean Baranowski – $1,329
10th: Kevin Blewitt – $1,150
11th: Raymond Roberty – $1,150
12th: Nadya Magnus – $1,150
13th: Luis Mantilla – $975
14th: Raminder Singh – $975
15th: Nashaat Antonius – $975
16th: Sharon Bachar – $810
17th: Andrew MacDonald – $810
18th: Paul Balzano – $810
19th: Ariel Rosello Quintana – $651
20th: Dimitry Agrachov – $651
21st: Marc Sacheli – $651

*Indicates adjusted payouts for heads-up deal