2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida $150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed Entries: 779 Prize Pool: $93,480
The last multi-day event on the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open schedule drew 779 entries to the $150 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament. It easily surpassed its $50,000 guaranteed prize pool and put $93,480 up for grabs. The last 45 players will earn some of that money with a min-cash earning $654 and the winner taking home $24,682 along with the trophy and custom-framed winner’s photo courtesy of Image Masters.
2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida $5,250 SHRPO Championship $3 Million Guaranteed Entries: 887 Prize Pool: $4,301,950 August 11-15, 2017
Martin Kozlov
After four days of poker, the final table of nine players emerged from a field of 887 in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship, and thanks to a quick play-down stretch on Day 3 the players returned on Tuesday with deep stacks for the final day of the event. That fact combined with 90 minute levels, made for an expectation of a long final table, and it played out true to form.
Martin Kozlov claimed the SHRPO Championship title, and $754,083 in prize money after more than 13 hours of play at the final table at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida. “The title means a lot because now I’m even with [Patrick] Mahoney (2016 Rock N Roll Poker Open Championship winner), he won one last time so now he has no more bragging rights. And the money is sweet, it ends a down-swing so I can’t complain,” said Kozlov right after the win, but he was also quick to thank his friends on the rail. “Yeah, I mean without my rail I would have tilted it all off for sure,” said Kozlov.
The first four levels of play saw one player fall per level. Joe Kuether was the first to fall in ninth place, but he just made his way over to the $1,100 event final table that he was also playing out on the The Big 4 television set. As the Poker Night in America cameras continued to roll, Englishman Luke Brereton hit the rail next in eighth place. Poker professional Adam Levy fell in seventh place during the next level, and the chip leader at the start of play, Aaron Mermelstein, took his leave in sixth place during the level after that.
The pace of play slowed down even more during the five-handed battle . “They had The Big 4, and after two or three hours all the tables of the other three were down to four or five players, and it took us six hours to lose two players. It was super slow, and you just had to play it one hand at a time. The structure was so good you could afford to take some beats, you could afford to lose some pots. Patience was the most important thing I guess,” said Kozlov about the slow start.
Matt Berkey and Dylan Drazen pulled away from the pack during the start of this stretch in play, and each of them took a turn with the chip lead. The three other final tables that were running as part of The Big 4 had now ended by this point of play, and you could feel a serious mood set in at the final table. Announcers Mario Ho and Joe Stapleton kept the atmosphere light as they commentated on the action for the die-hard rail birds that were still sweating the action. “It’s a great setup, yeah I loved it. With Joe and Maria commentating it was sweet,” said Kozlov when he was asked about the unique atmosphere on the television set of The Big 4.
Kozlov was the short stack at one point, but he doubled up once before the elimination of Micheal Aron in fifth place, and he doubled up again after Aron’s exit to storm to the top of the pack. “The thing that affects my mental state the most is if I’m getting downward momentum, if I’m getting upward momentum it just kind of clears my mind to focus on the strategy. So when things are going right I’m thinking more clearly about what to do strategy-wise, if things are going bad I’m just steaming,” said Kozlov about the big momentum shift and how it affected his mind-set. He continued, “Five handed I didn’t have many chips at all, and I was a bit tilted on break. I was talking to my wife, and I was like, ‘What am I going to do now. There’s not much left, I’m going to have to win a couple of all ins.’ And then I came back and won every all in, and now I’ve won the tournament.”
Yi Chi Li was down to just three big blinds when he was eliminated in fourth place, and Berkey eventually fell in third place after losing the largest pot of the tournament up to that point when Kozlov doubled up again during four-handed play. Kozlov had increased his chip lead to 16,325,000 at the start of the heads-up final against Drazen, who held 10,325,000.
Despite a double up for Drazen that brought the chip stacks close to even, Kozlov was in control of the chip lead for the entirety of the heads-up match. On the final hand, Kozlov raised to 600,000 on the button preflop, and Drazen called. The flop was dealt , Kozlov bet 400,000, and Drazen check-called.
The turn fell , and Kozlov bet 2.6 million. Drazen check-called before the river delivered the . Kozlov thought for a moment before moving all in, and Drazen tanked before check-calling all in.
Kozlov flipped over , and Drazen said, “It’s over,” before showing . Drazen was eliminated in second place, good for $528,322, and Kozlov won the 2017 SHRPO Championship. He took home $754,083 in prize money, and the SHRPO guitar pick trophy.
“I never played with [Dylan] until today in this tournament actually, and heads up was a struggle. We were just trading pots back and forth, I doubled him up, and I got lucky and made three-of-a-kind,” said Kozlov of the heads-up final.
Congratulations to the 2017 SHRPO Champion Martin Kozlov!
Final Table Results:
1st: Martin Kozlov – $754,083 2nd: Dylan Drazen – $528,322 3rd: Matt Berkey – $341,618 4th: Yi Chi Li – $252,481 5th: Michael Aron – $191,437 6th: Aaron Mermelstein – $152,547 7th: Adam Levy – $126,305 8th: Luke Brererton – $100,408 9th: Joe Kuether – $75,413
2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event #17 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Entries: 118 Prize Pool: $1,132,800 August 15, 2017
Champion Alexander Turyansky
The final five-figure buy-in of the 2017 SHRPO, Event #17: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em, attracted 118 entries and it took nearly 16 hours of play for Germany’s Alexander Turyansky to emerge victorious. For his efforts, he took home a $334,176 first-place prize. The win came just a day after he finished 17th in the SHRPO Championship for $40,094.
Prior to the win, Turyansky was perhaps best known for bubbling the 2015 World Series of Poker November Nine. The $756,897 he earned for finishing tenth that year comprised the vast majority of his $975,597 in tournament winnings before his SHRPO win. He’s now a poker millionaire and then some.
“I feel pretty good, just exhausted,” Turyansky said after the win. “It’s really nice to win a tournament on home turf. I’ve live in Coconut Creek, Florida for the past four and a half years.”
It was a long and grueling day from start to finish. Among those to take a shot on Tuesday only to leave empty handed were Dan Colman, Cate Hall, Nick Schulman, Erik Seidel, Tim West, Matt Glantz, and Isaac Haxton. Many of them fired multiple bullets.
However, once Jay Kovoor fell as the bubble boy – the result of his ace-king failing to overcome David Stamm’s pocket kings – the final 15 players were in the money. Mike Dentale, Dan Smith and Taylor Paur all fell in quick succession, each taking home $25,488.
After James Calderaro, Zach Smiley, and Shannon Shorr departed, the final table of nine was set. Sam Soveral was first to go after his ace-king was cracked by Stamm’s ace-eight courtesy of an eight-high flop. He was followed out the door by Darren Elias, who got it in with ace-jack only to have his chips chopped up by Noah Schwartz and Bryn Kenney, who shared Big Slick.
It was then Schwartz’s time to go after his threes lost a race to Turyansky’s ace-nine suits, and in the very next hand Mike Simkins bowed out in sixth after picking an ill-time to three-bet jam. Not long after, Gal Yifrach fell in fifth after getting it in with pocket fives against Turyansky’s ace-ten. His ultimate demise came in the form of an ace on the turn.
The WSOP Circuit’s most-decorated player, Valentin Vornicu, was the next to go after getting his short stack all in preflop holding ace-ten only to run it smack dab into the ace-jack of Kenney. The board ran out clean and Kenney’s kicker made the difference.
Three-handed play lasted into the morning hours before David Stamm fell to Turyansky, which set up a heads-up match between him and Kenney with the former holding a healthy 10-1 chip lead. The duo jostled back and forth for a while, but eventually Turyansky closed it out.
Final Results 1st: Alexander Turyansky – $334,176 2nd: Bryn Kenney – $206,736 3rd: David Stamm – $123,475 4th: Valentin Vornicu – $79,296 5th: Gal Yifrach – $60,038 6th: Mike Simkins – $49,843 7th: Noah Schwartz- $43,046 8th: Darren Elias – $37,949 9th: Sam Soverel – $33,418 10th: Shannon Shorr – $29,453 11th: Zach Smiley – $29,453 12th: James Calderaro – $29,453 13th: Taylor Paur – $25,488 14th: Dan Smith – $25,488 15th: Mike Dentale – $25,488
$10,000 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $500,000 guaranteed | Payouts Level 22: 8,000/16,000/2,000 Players Remaining: 2 of 118
Bryn Kenney moved all in from the small blind with and Alex Turyansky called with .
Kenney appeared primed for a double to extend heads up, until the board ran out and Turyansky spiked the eight on the turn to eliminate Kenney in second place.
Alex Turyansky – Winner ($334,176) Bryn Kenney – Eliminated in 2nd place ($206,736)
$10,000 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $500,000 guaranteed | Payouts Level 21: 6,000/12,000/2,000 Players Remaining: 2 of 118David Stamm eliminated in third place
Alex Turyansky opened to 28,000 from the button, David Stamm called from the big blind. The flop came Stamm checked, and Turyansky bet 30,000. Stamm three-bet to 120,000 and Turyansky called.
The turn brought the Stamm moved all in and Turyansky snap called with for two pair. Stamm turned over for an open ended straight draw.
The came on the river, and Turyansky filled up eliminating Stamm in third place.
Alex Turyansky – 1,370,000 David Stamm – Eliminated in 3rd place ($123,475)
, Kozlov bet 400,000, and Drazen check-called.
, and Kozlov bet 2.6 million. Drazen check-called before the river delivered the 
. Kozlov thought for a moment before moving all in, and Drazen tanked before check-calling all in.
, and Drazen said, “It’s over,” before showing 
. Drazen was eliminated in second place, good for $528,322, and Kozlov won the 2017 SHRPO Championship. He took home $754,083 in prize money, and the SHRPO guitar pick trophy.
and Alex Turyansky called with 
and Turyansky spiked the eight on the turn to eliminate Kenney in second place.
Turyansky turned over 
.
Stamm checked, and Turyansky bet 30,000. Stamm three-bet to 120,000 and Turyansky called.
Stamm moved all in and Turyansky snap called with 
for two pair. Stamm turned over 
came on the river, and Turyansky filled up eliminating Stamm in third place.