Pedro Catinchi Falls Two Chips Shy of a Chip-and-a-Chair Victory as Ben Boston Wins Event 1 in a Six-Way Deal

2019 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 1
$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guarantee
Entries: 4,699
Prize Pool: $1,579,640
November 20-24, 2018

Event 1 Champion - Ben Boston — Event 1 Champion Ben Boston

The 2019 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open got off to a fantastic start with 4,699 entries in Event 1, and on Monday afternoon, the final six players agreed to split the remaining prizepool based on the ICM values of their chip stacks.

Ben Boston had the most chips and was declared the winner, earning the title and the trophy, along with $133,918.

“It feels great,” said Boston. “I’ve toyed around with tournaments a little bit over the years, but I never really took them seriously. I’m a cash game player.”

Boston hasn’t been to Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood in quite a few years, and the property has changed a lot since then, culminating in the grand opening of the new Guitar Hotel, which just opened last month.

But something about this event got Boston’s attention, and he flew in from Los Angeles to play it.

“I wasn’t expecting to win anything,” said Boston. “It’s a $400 coin flip into a field of almost 5,000 people. Of course I thought I was torching the $400. But why not?”

Final Six Players Chopped Event 1 — The final six players who chopped the remaining prizepool, clockwise from top left: Song O., John Two-Bears, Brian Mancilla, Pedro Catinchi, champion Ben Boston, and Ronald Campillo.

Thanks to their deal, the final six players all earned at least $114,000 each, which is 285x their $400 buy-in.

The biggest story from this event was the amazing comeback of Pedro Catinchi, who was knocked down to a single chip — just 1/4 of the big blind — before the dinner break on Day 2. But Catinchi managed to climb out of that hole, and when Day 2 came to an end with 13 players remaining, Catinchi bagged up the chip lead.

It took another three hours of play on Monday afternoon to get from 13 players down to six, and after playing six-handed for a while, that’s when they agreed to a deal.

At that point, Catinchi was just two chips behind Boston for the lead — 1/6 of a big blind. While Catinchi doesn’t get the full worst-to-first credit that would have come with a victory, it’s still an epic comeback, and an incredible ending to the first event of the 2019 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open.

Final Table Results:

1st: Ben Boston – $133,918 + RRPO Trophy
2nd: Pedro Catinchi – $133,776
3rd: Song O. – $128,869
4th: Ronald Campillo – $119,432
5th: Brian Mancilla – $116,143
6th: John Two-Bears – $114,897
7th: Richard Leger – $39,605
8th: Stuart Hankin – $27,625
9th: Leif Force – $16,440

Download – Event 1 results (PDF)