2023 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 33
$2,200 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  227
Prizepool:  $454,000
August 3-4, 2023

On Friday afternoon, Mike Vanier outlasted a field of 227 entries to win the $2,200 Deep Stack event, earning $105,570 and his first major poker trophy.

“This is my first win other than a small local tournament,” said Vanier, “so it really feels good to get the monkey off my back.”

Vanier has been on a pretty great run for the past year or so, and it seemed like only a matter of time before he won a big event.

“I finally got over the hump last summer,” said Vanier, “and it seems like I’ve been making it to the final couple of tables in almost every tournament I’ve played, so it’s going good right now.”

Since last summer, Vanier has earned more than $1.4 million in live tournaments, with three top-three finishes in major events — WPT Venetian Las Vegas (2nd for $595,000), WPT Choctaw (3rd for $192,000), and the Aria Poker Classic (2nd for $392,704).

“Sometimes I just didn’t have a chance short-handed, and sometimes I just played awful,” said Vanier. “So I’ve been working on my short-handed game, and I got there this time.”

As for this event, with a lot of top pros showing up for the $5,300 SHRPO Championship that started today, a lot of them entered this event, which started yesterday.

“I was pretty shocked how tough the field was from beginning to end,” said Vanier.

Vanier started the final table third in chips, but got knocked down by a bad beat early when he had Luke Brereton all in preflop with pocket nines against Vanier’s pocket kings.

“I got kings in versus nines,” said Vanier, “but he flopped a nine on me.”

Vanier bounced back when he shoved into the of chipleader Ky Nguyen in the big blind.

“He flopped a flush draw, but I rivered a nine to win the pot and that pretty much gave me the chip lead again,” said Vanier. “Then I just applied pressure after that.”

Vanier scored the next knockout by eliminating Justin Zaki in seventh place to increase his lead, and he never looked back on his way to victory.

With his first trophy secured and the monkey off his back, you can expect to see Vanier take a seat in the SHRPO Championship.

“I don’t know if I’ll buy in today,” said Vanier. “I might just go relax, and then buy in as many times as needed to hopefully bag tomorrow.”

Results: