$400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $100,000 Guarantee | Structure Level 11: 800/1,600 with a 1,600 ante Flight A Players Remaining: 103 of 330
A series of raises between Carlos Bermudez in the big blind and his opponent in the small blind culminated with the latter all in for about 48,000 with against Bermudez holding .
The board ran out clean for Bermudez to score the elimination.
$400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $100,000 Guarantee | Structure Level 10: 600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante Flight A Players Remaining: 114 of 330
Scott Zakheim raised in middle position, David Oshry three-bet all in for about 10,000 from the hijack, and Zakheim called.
Zakheim: Oshry:
The board came , giving Zakheim a pair of aces to eliminate Oshry.
Scott Zakheim – 47,000 (39 bb) David Oshry – Eliminated
With about 120 players remaining from the Flight A field of 330 entries, the average stack is about 55,000 (46 big blinds).
$400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $100,000 Guarantee | Structure Level 9: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante Flight A Players Remaining: 144 of 330
Flight A of the 2024 Fun in the Sun opening event drew 330 entries, surpassing the $100,000 guarantee with one more starting flight to come this evening.
The Flight A field will play down to 42 players. As a reminder, players must bag chips in order to cash and advance to Day 2.
We closed out the year with our last major series in the Grand Ballroom and the 2024 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open was success from start to finish. We came out of the gates with the $2,000,000 opener and wrapped things up with an exciting finish to the WPT RRPO Championship.
Another fantastic, successful series that saw us award more prize money than any other RRPO series in our history (for reference, this is our 13th running of the series).
As with every series, we had some notable wins but extraordinary people.
Dylan Smith won the WPT RRPO Championship on the final day of the series on the live-stream stage against a tough lineup. He earned $662,200 and put his name on the Mike Sexton Champions Cup a few months after finishing fifth in the WPT Poker Showdown Championship.
Phil Hui won his ninth major SHRP title in the $600 Eight-Game Mix to move into a tie with Matt Bretzfield on the all-time wins list. Then Bretzfield won the $400 Deep Stack to move ahead of Hui with ten.
Of course, Hui did it again a few days later, winning the $600 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw, his second of the series and his tenth overall for a four-way tie that included David Shmuel.
But then Shmuel went ahead and captured the $600 Limit Omaha 8 tournament to move up into a tie for second.
A lot of words to say that we had movement on our all-time wins list:
Raminder Singh – 13 wins Michael Newman – 11 wins David Shmuel – 11 wins Yuval Bronshtein – 10 wins Matt Bretzfield – 10 wins Phil Hui – 10 wins John Holley – 8 wins Brian Altman – 7 wins David Prociak – 7 wins Gabriel Ramos – 7 wins Scott Baumstein – 7 wins
Scott Baumstien won his seventh trophy, while Ryan Hoenig and Zhen Cai earned their fourth. David Oshry and Edward Leonard joined Hui as players who won two titles in this series.
2024 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Event 42 Champion Brandon Wilson
Brandon Wilson extended one of the most impressive win streaks. He took the top spot in the $25K RRPO High Roller on our last day in the Grand Ballroom for his fifth Hollywood title.
This was the third High Roller win for Wilson in three consecutive series:
Another fun two weeks in the Grand Ballroom and we appreciate all the support. None of these massive series would be possible without our incredible players, both local and those who travel into town.
2024 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 29 $3,500 WPT RRPO Championship $3,000,000 Guaranteed Entries: 1,435 Prize Pool: $4,592,000 November 29 – December 4, 2024
WPT Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Champion Dylan Smith
The 2024 WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Championship began a few days ago and drew 1,435 entries, producing a prize pool of $4,592,000. Taking it down was Dylan Smith, winning outright for $662,200.
Smith, 33, is a local and has outstanding results at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood. His score today marked his fourth six-figure score inside these walls, most recently finishing fifth in the Championship event at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown back in May. It’s also his second SHRP major series trophy victory, having previously won a $10K PLO event during the 2023 LHPO.
“Exhausted, for sure. It’s mentally taxing,” said a relieved Smith after his triumph. “I’m super excited, obviously. I’m really happy I was able to redeem myself (after Showdown).”
Smith’s path to victory in the 2024 WPT RRPO Championship was relatively lowkey throughout the tournament, starting Day 2 in the middle of the pack (140th of the returning 485 players). His smooth sailing continued on Day 2 as he finished 19th in chips of the remaining 90 players. From there he finished 5th in chips after Day 3 with 16 players remaining and entered the six-handed WPT Final Table third in chips.
Smith’s key hand at the final table came five-handed in a confrontation with Landon Tice. Smith picked up pocket aces in the big blind and three-bet Tice’s opening raise, which Tice then four-bet. Smith went all in and Tice called with ace-king. The board ran out nondescript and Smith vaulted to more than 100 big blinds, sitting comfortably while the remaining players fell around him. Only one elimination at the final table matters when all is said and done, and Smith scored it.
Smith began heads-up play down about 2-to-1 to Matthew Beinner, but still had 49 big blinds to work with. He pulled ahead after flopping an open-ended straight draw, turning top pair, and rivering a straight and closed it out about 40 minutes later. Smith moved all in with seven-six suited and Beinner made a final stand with queen-jack. Smith flopped two pair and it held up to clinch the victory.
“I felt very locked in the entire day. I was intensely focused. Matt is a phenomenal player, and I really felt like I had to be on my A-game to beat him.”
Congrats to Dylan Smith!
Dylan Smith and Seminole Hard Rock Poker Tournament Manager Jason Heidenthal