2021 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 1
$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 6,196
Prize Pool: $2,044,680
November 17 – 21, 2021
The 2021 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open kicked off the series with a $400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em tournament and our players turned it into the biggest field in Florida poker history. It began with 6,196 entries and ended with Michael Laufer holding the biggest stack to win the title along with $160,734 in a six-way final table deal.
That entry number was created over eight starting flights and the turnout topped the previous record that was set in this tournament five years ago. The 2016 RRPO put 5,018 entries into its opening tournament and it was unbeaten until this weekend.
The tournament featured a hefty $1,000,000 guarantee and the 6,196 entries more than doubled the prize pool up to $2,044,680. Another record.
The tournament saw 622 players return for Day 2 already in money and Laufer was firmly above average with 272,000. There were a lot of players in the hunt but Laufer spent a long day accumulating chips and came back for Day 3 among the leaders with only 12 players remaining.
“Day 2 was pretty good,” Laufer said.” “It’s a marathon and had to duck a lot of landmines.”
Three opponents were quickly eliminated after the restart to set the final table. Laufer was in the middle of the pack but that changed after he sent Courtney Rowe out in eighth place. His pocket kings were best against pocket eights for a huge pot the vaulted him into the lead.
“The cards fell the right way,” Lauger said. “I picked the right spots, the right steps.”
After Steven Miller was eliminated in seventh place, the six remaining players quickly came to an agreement to chop up the nearly $875,000 remaining in the prize pool.
Laufer earned $160,734 and the title with his chip lead followed by Alex Petrovic ($155,302), Amed de la Torre ($147,218), Isai Coelle ($139,973), Mali Cagatay ($138,561), and Aaron Valencia ($131,729).
The New Jersey-to-Florida transplant owns a recruiting company and enjoying his time playing our games. He plans to play the Championship next weekend after spending some time with his family.
“It’s the best place I know,” Laufer said of our events. “I don’t even have to go to Vegas. Hard Rock poker, great weather, great people.”
Congratulations Michael and good luck with the rest of the series. All the thanks to our players for your support and for making this tournament a massive success.
Final table results:
1st: Michael Laufer – $160,734 *
2nd: Aleks Petrovic – $155,302 *
3rd: Amed de la Torre – $147,218 *
4th: Isai Coello – $139,973 *
5th: Mali Cagatay – $138,561 *
6th: Aaron Valencia – $131,729 *
7th: Steven Miller – $47,027
8th: Courtney Rowe – $33,737
9th: Victor Carrera – $22,491
* – Denotes results of six-way deal