2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 14
$1,100 Eight-Handed Turbo NLH (Freeze-Out)
Entries:  94
Prize Pool:  $94,000
August 6, 2019

In a 94-player turbo no-limit hold’em event that lasted a few minutes longer than six hours, Sam Panzica won in a heads-up ICM chop with Mohammed Tarkmani to add his first Seminole Hard Rock trophy to his already impressive resume.

While this is first SHRPO title, Panzica has more than $4.35 million in career live tournament earnings, including two WPT titles.

Panzica was at the top of the leaderboard for most of the final table, but the key moment came when there were four players left, and Jake Schwartz shoved the small blind with , only to run into Panzica’s in the big blind. The best hand held up for Panzica to double up into a huge chip lead, and Schwartz was knocked down to just six big blinds. Schwartz would be eliminated a short while later in fourth place.

Carlos Guerrero was eliminated in third place a short while later by Mohammed Tarkmani, and that still left Panzica with a nearly 2-to-1 chip lead. Tarkmani and Panzica quickly agreed to chop the remaining prizepool according to ICM, and as chipleader, Panzica was declared the champion.

Panzica was in a great mood for the entire final table, and was clearly enjoying the turbo format with 15-minute levels. Panzica said, “You can’t beat it, you know?”

Final Results:

1st:  Sam Panzica  –  $23,962
2nd:  Mohammed Tarkmani  –  $21,038
3rd:  Carlos Guerrero  –  $12,200
4th:  Jake Schwartz  –  $8,580
5th:  Xavier Sitruk  –  $6,270
6th:  Donaldson Brown  –  $4,765
7th:  Stoyan Obreshkov  –  $3,775
8th:  Raj Vohra  –  $3,120
9th:  Chris Hunichen  –  $2,700
10th:  Tomas Geleziunas  –  $2,700
11th:  James Rann  –  $2,445
12th:  Manny Tarich  –  $2,445