2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event 1
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries: 3,030
Prize Pool: $1,515,000
April 5-9, 2018

The 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown opened its schedule in the new Hard Rock Event Center with a huge multi-day tournament. Event 1 drew more than 3,000 entries with Steven Bennett accounting for only one of them, but that was all he needed to win nearly $190,000 for his second SHRP title.

“This is amazing and I’m shocked,” Bennett said of his win. “I’m kind of speechless.”

The tournament drew 3,030 entries over six starting flights to push the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool over $1,500,000 by the time registration closed. The tournament paid out the last 300 players and they made the money early on Day 2 after 574 returned.

The field played down to the final table and paused action in the early hours. The last ten players took a ten hours break and returned to play it down on the bonus third day.

Six of the final ten players were already SHRP major title winners including WSOP bracelet winner Peter Eicchardt who began the final day with the chip lead. Michael Ortiz, Rafael Fernandes, and Schuyler Thornton were three quick eliminations and they were followed by former November Niner Jerry Wong.

Wong spent some time as the leader but lost some unlucky hands to go out in seventh place. The six remaining players went through two tough hours of play until luck ran out for the short-stacked Nicholas Mahabee.

Bennett took charge during that time and a did a lot of damage to Eichhardt’s chip stack. Eichhardt battled but ran his pair into the bigger pair of Josias Santos to exit in fifth place.

The four remaining players agreed to a deal that would divide up the remaining prize pool. Bennett had a big lead, more than eight million better than the second biggest stack, and earned the Event 1 crown.

Bennett cashed in for $186,308 after his perfect run through the tournament and now has another Seminole Hard Rock Poker trophy.

“I just ran great for three days and I ran pretty pure,” Bennett said later. “I was flopping great and didn’t get too many big hands preflop. But when I did, I got action.”

“You always think about these things, making it here, but it almost never happens,” he continued. “To build such a huge chip lead was good and I thought I played really solid.”

Congratulations to Steven on his Showdown title and thank you to the players for a great kickoff to the series.

Event 1 final table results:

1st: Steven Bennett – $186,308 *
2nd: Josias Santos – $169,966 *
3rd: Dominic Pacelli – $145,277 *
4th: Jack Shea – $133,663 *
5th: Peter Eichhardt – $76,129
6th: Nicholas Mahabee – $59,843
7th: Jerry Wong – $43,935
8th: Schuyler Thornton – $29,543
9th: Rafael Fernandes – $21,210
10th: Michael Ortiz – $13,635
* – denotes results of a four-way deal

• Download: Final Results (PDF)

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Event (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Players Remaining: 153 of 314

There was about 20,000 in the pot on the turn with the board reading . A player in middle position checked and Justin Liberto bet 9,200 to his direct left.

Liberto’s opponent called and the river was the . Middle position checked and Liberto moved all in for 26,000. His opponent immediately reaches for enough chips to call and then spends a couple minutes in the tank before releasing his hand.

Liberto mucked his hand and took the pot.

Justin Liberto – 66,000

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Event (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Flight A Entries: 314

Here’s a look at some notable chip counts from around the room:

Mike Wang – 112,000
Ralph Wong – 94,000
Angel Vu – 66,000
Jacob Bazeley – 45,000
John Dolan – 45,000
Justin Liberto – 45,000
Christian Harder – 38,000
Loni Harwood – 41,000
Sheddy Siddiqui – 34,000
Jake Schwartz – 30,000
Olivier Busquet – 23,000
Jesse Cohen – 22,000
Ankush Mandavia – 21,000
Zach Donovan – 19,000
Tony Dunst – 18,500

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 37: 250,000/500,000 with a 75,000 ante

After the elimination of Peter Eichhardt, the four remaining players began discussing a deal to chop up the remaining prize pool. They ran the ICM numbers and quickly agreed to a deal with the following counts:

Steven Bennett – 23,800,000
Josias Santos – 17,825,000
Dominic Pacelli – 10,875,000
Jack Shea – 8,175,000

Four-way deal payouts:

1st: Steven Bennett – $186,308
2nd: Josias Santos – $169,966
3rd: Dominic Pacelli – $145,277
4th: Jack Shea – $133,663

Steven Bennett took home the lion’s share of the money courtesy of his big chip lead and he earned his second SHRP major title to go along with his 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Big Stack Turbo win.

Tournament report to come soon.

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 37: 250,000/500,000 with a 75,000 ante
Players Remaining: 4 of 3,030

Peter Eichhardt began the final table with the chip lead but found himself the short stack after the second break. He open-shoved from the button for 5,900,000 and Josias Santos called in the big blind.

Santos:
Eichhardt:

Eichhartdt was in trouble and could not find a save as the board ran to send him to the payout desk in fifth place.

Josias Santos – 17,825,000 (36 bb)
Peter Eichhardt – Eliminated in 5th place ($76,129)

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 37: 250,000/500,000 with a 75,000 ante
Players Remaining: 5 of 3,030

Peter Eichhardt open-shoved from the button for 5,000,000 on the nose and it folded to chip leader Steven Bennett in the big blind. He thought for a few minutes and called to put Eichhardt at risk.

Bennett:
Eichhardt:

“Oh,” Bennett said. “I had too many chips.”

Eichhardt was ahead with the bigger pair and pulled a double up on the board.

Peter Eichhardt – 10,500,000 (21 bb)
Steven Bennett – 23,400,000 (47 bb)

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Event (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
End of Level 9: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Flight A Entries: 300

The players in the WPTDeepStacks event are heading on a 60-minute dinner break. Cards will be back in the air at around 7:30 p.m.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Event (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Flight A Entries: 294

On a flop of , Brett Bader checked from the small blind and Jesse Cohen bet 1,400 from the cutoff.

Bader called and they both checked the turn card. The came on the river and Bader led out for 3,200.

Cohen thought for a few moments and then called. Bader quickly tabled and Cohen mucked his hand.

Bader took the pot and has nearly tripled his starting stack with the dinner break just a few minutes away.

Brett Bader – 71,000
Jesse Cohen – 18,500

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Event (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Flight A Entries: 298

The big blind is all in for his last 9,000 and called by Angel Vu from the cutoff.

The big blind tabled and needed to get lucky against Vu’s .

The board ran out and Vu’s ace high kicker held to eliminate her opponent.

Angel Vu – 82,000

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 37: 250,000/500,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining: 5 of 3,030

After another two hours, we lost one player in the short-stacked Nicholas Mahabee and one big double up by Peter Eichhardt. But Eichhardt’s chips didn’t stick around long and he is now the shorter shack.

Seat 1: Josias Santos – 6,100,000 (12 bb)
Seat 3: Steven Bennett – 28,525,000 (57 bb)
Seat 4: Jack Shea – 8,300,000 (17 bb)
Seat 6: Peter Eichhardt – 4,350,000 (9 bb)
Seat 8: Dominic Pacelli – 13,325,000 (27 bb)

Remaining payouts:

1st: $260,252 + Trophy
2nd: $169,983
3rd: $111,428
4th: $93,551
5th: $76,129