Ray Piccin Tops a Field of 3,389 to Win $291,087

The biggest event of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Showdown leading up to the $10 million main event was Event 7, a $560 No-Limit Hold’em tournament with a $1 million guarantee. As has been the trend here all series, the field smashed the guarantee, creating a prizepool just shy of $1.7 million.

The tournament needed to attract 2,000 players to reach the guarantee; it attracted 3,389. They started in six flights spread across three days, and then it took another two full days to play down to a winner.

The last player standing was Ray Piccin, who overcame a tough final table and a big chip deficit at the start of heads-up play to win $291,087 and a Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown guitar-shaped trophy.

The final day of action began with 19 players remaining, and it took a while to reach the nine-handed final table. Day 2 chipleader Bryan Campanello held his position at the top of the leaderboard, but the final table didn’t work out as well for him, as we went up and down a bit before finding himself down to just 10 big blinds.

With five players remaining in Hand #48, Campanello open-shoved with Jh8h, but he found himself involved in a three-way preflop all-in situation against Jon Cohen’s AhKd and the AdAs of Darren Rabinowitz. The best hand held up, eliminating the start-of-day chipleader (Campanello) and catapulting Rabinowitz up the leaderboard.

Unfortunately for Darren Rabinowitz, this would be as close as he would get to the trophy.
Unfortunately for Darren Rabinowitz, this would be as close as he would get to the trophy.

That started a big rush for Rabinowitz, who won several big pots to control nearly half the chips in play with four players left. The biggest pot in that span was a cooler worth 38 million when he flopped a set of queens against chipleader Neville Darrell’s set of sixes, and they got it all in with full houses on the river.

With three players remaining, Rabinowitz seemed to be in complete control with 78% of the chips in play at one point, with Piccin and Darrell effectively tied for the shortest stack. Rabinowitz made a few casual offers for striking a deal, but Piccin didn’t seem interested. As it turned out, Piccin was right not to deal.

In Hand #126, the two short stacks got it all in for a race situation with Piccin’s 7h7s against Darrell’s Ad8c. The loser would either be crippled or eliminated, and the winner would still face a 3-to-1 chip deficit against Rabinowitz.

The board came low, and the pocket sevens held up for Piccin to win; Darrell received $124,630 for third place.

Once heads-up play began, it turned into the Piccin show, as he steadily wore down the chip stack of Rabinowitz over the next 26 hands to effectively tie it up in Hand #152. Thirty-four hands later, Piccin won it all in Hand #186.

Rabinowitz was below 20 big bilnds when he limp-shoved with Ad2d, and Piccin called with KcJh.

The board came Kd6h2cJs4c, and Piccin won the trophy, the title, and $291,087 with two pair, kings and jacks.

It was the biggest score of Piccin’s live tournament career, more than 100 times his previous high, and 519 times more than the buy-in of $560.

Ray Piccin

Congratulations to Ray Piccin!

1st:  Ray Piccin  –  $291,087
2nd:  Darren Rabinowitz  –  $190,125
3rd:  Neville Darrell  –  $124,630
4th:  Jon Cohen  –  $104,635
5th:  Bryan Campanello  –  $85,150
6th:  Ben Zamani  –  $66,935
7th:  Johnny Miller  –  $49,140
8th:  Wendy Freedman  –  $33,045
9th:  Sam Barnhart  –  $23,725