2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, FL 
Event 4
$360 Pot-Limit Omaha
Entries: 97 
Prize Pool: $29,100
April 7, 2018

There were two different times throughout the $360 Pot-Limit Omaha final table that chop negotiations took place. Seth Weinberg was the dissenting voice both times and ended up making the right decision to axe the deal negotiations.

By the end of the night, Weinberg accumulated every chip on the table and won his third Seminole Hard Rock title. He defeated 97 entries to earn $8,875 while overcoming a massive chip deficit both at the start of the final table and at the start of heads-up play.

“It feels really great,” said Weinberg. “Especially because I got to the final table 10-handed and I had less than three percent of the chips in play, like 2.8 percent. So, I honestly wasn’t expecting to get better than 10th place.”

Weinberg is no stranger to PLO. This is his third Seminole Hard Rock title, all of which came in the same poker variant. He won a $350 Pot-Limit Omaha six-max in 2012 and a $240 Pot-Limit Omaha in 2013.

Since then, he started working more and is running a bar program at the Fontainebleu Hotel in Miami. He came in on his day off and wasn’t interested in a chop.

“I like playing PLO a lot and I don’t get to play these tournaments too often,” said Weinberg. “So, instead of making deals, I just kind of went for it.”

With the lack of recent volume, the Missouri native may not be as sharp as he used to be, but he thought he had an edge in other aspects of the game outside of basic strategy theory.

“I think I have an edge with experience and just keeping a level head,” said Weinberg. “We saw a guy with a dominant chip lead just, you know, get really aggressive. He was playing his game and I was playing a different game. I think it worked out for me in the end.”

Weinberg battled Mehmet Akbas heads-up, who had been steamrolling the final table and had better than a 3-to-1 chip advantage when heads-up play started.

Akbas offered up a heads-up deal, Weinberg declined and about 10 minutes later, Weinberg was taking home the title.

“It’s always great to come up here on your day off and win a poker tournament,” said Weinberg.

The top 13 players finished in the money and here are a look at the results:

1st: Seth Weinberg – $8,875
2nd: Mehmet Akbas – $5,456
3rd: Gary Kosakowski – $3,347
4th: David Prociak – $2,183
5th: Phillip Wasserman – $1,702
6th: Richard Blanchar – $1,360
7th: Kyle Fleischmann – $1,157
8th: Gabriel Ramos – $1,004
9th: Michael Rosenberg – $888
10th: Brandon Duvdivani – $800
11th: Farid Dhanani – $800
12th: Carlos Guerrero – $800
13th: James Woodburn – $728