2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event 21: $300 Charity Series of Poker Event (Re-Entry)
Entries: 167
Prize Pool: $18,050
August 12, 2016

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood FL was proud to host another Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) event during the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.

This year’s big event was a benefit for the Maximum Hope Foundation created by actor Brad Garrett. The three-time Emmy winner started the foundation to help families in need of medical financial help and was happy to bring his message to South Florida.

“This is our first event outside of Nevada,” Garrett commented. “Thanks to Hard Rock Hollywood FL and CSOP for doing this.”

Garrett entertained friends and players at the pre-game party held at the L Bar and ushered everyone to the tournament area.

Once there, players sat down to play out the tournament and they had a great time. Garrett continued to entertain the crowd and they made a lot of money for the Maximum Hope Foundation. They were joined by Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Tilly and raised nearly $20,000 for a great cause.

The tournament drew 167 entrants with $140 going to the charity and $140 going into the prize pool. The last nine players all earned a piece of the money but the important part went to the Maximum Hope Foundation.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker team members Matt Stout and Chance Kornuth finished in the top two spots with Kornuth taking home the tite. Finishing in third place was 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open CSOP champ Nick Yunis.

It was a fun evening to help raise money for the worthy cause.

Results:

1st: Chance Kornuth – $5,000
2nd: Matt Stout – $2,500
3rd: Nick Yunis – $2,000
4th: Tom Douherty – $1,500
5th: Nick Sortal – $1,250
6th: Mohammad Farah – $1,100
7th: Linda Tate – $1,000
8th: Kyle Bowker – $900
9th: Tommie Bates – $800

Download Final Results (PDF)

Championship Structure Sheet

$300 No Limit Hold’em Charity Series of Poker (Re-Entry)

Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Chance Kornuth won the Charity Series of Poker event early Saturday morning at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL. The event, which benefited the Maximum Hope Foundation, drew 167 players generating a prize pool  of $16,050. Kornuth earned $5,000 as well as the token SHRP guitar pick trophy for the victory.

A full report will be posted Saturday.

2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #19: $1,650 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em
Total Entries: 64
Total Prizepool: $96,000

Ari Engel is the champion of Event 19 at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. Engel emerged victorious from the 64-player bracket, winning the trophy and the top prize of $28,800 in a three-way deal.

The champ is a 32-year-old professional poker player who makes his home in Toronto, Ontario. His list of tournament results is an impressive one, littered with cashes all over the world and a total of more than $3.5 million in earnings. This victory is the third of his career in the heads-up format.

Engel’s path to victory included a first-round win against Raul Doutreleau, which set the stage for a Round of 32 match against WPT Champion Amir Babakhani. He handled Babakhani with relative ease, moving on to what would be a difficult encounter with November Niner Jerry Wong. Wong won the first match in the best-of-three, but Engel rattled off the next two to punch his ticket into the quarterfinals.

The final eight players returned today for Day 2, and Engel was matched up against John Dollinger for a spot in the semis. For the second consecutive round, Engel dropped the first match, so he needed to win two in a row once again. And he did so, thanks to a pair of tough spots for Dollinger. The second matche ended when both players flopped a straight, with Engel’s Broadway having the best of it. On the last hand of the third match, Engel flopped two pair with king-jack, and Dollinger put his tournament life on the line with an overpair of aces. The turn and river were both blank, and Engel was through to the final four.

His semifinal opponent was another WPT Champion — a two-time winner, in fact. Jonathan Little is an avid student and teacher of the game, and it took three tough matches for Engel to advance through him. As it turned out, it would be the last match for Engel in this event.

While the other semifinal match was still in progress, Engel dropped by the table and offered to split the money with whichever of the two won that match. Alex Foxen and Aaron Mermelstein both agreed, and they ended up chopping up their own match, as well.

Engel was already posing for photos with his new trophy as the other match finished up, adding yet another piece of hardware to his mantel.

Results
1st: Ari Engel – $28,800 + trophy
2nd: Alex Foxen – $19,200
3rd: Aaron Mermelstein – $19,200
4th: Jonathan Little – $9,600
5th: George Lusby – $4,800
6th: Corey Dodd – $4,800
7th: Timothy Tenpas – $4,800
8th: John Dollinger – $4,800

Download Final Results (PDF)

2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open 
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #20
$1,100 No Limit Hold’em Turbo 
Total Entries: 147
Total Prizepool: $147,000

Jake Schwartz is a well-known high-stakes professional poker player with over $1.1 million in career tournament earnings, but a live title has eluded him for his entire poker playing career.

That all changed on Friday night.

He bested a field of 147 players to take down the $1,100 No Limit Hold’em Turbo event. He took home his first trophy along with adding $42,628 to his career earnings.

“It’s kind of embarrassing, but this is my first live win.” said Schwartz after the tournament. “So it’s cool and I’ll take it in this high variance turbo .”

The turbo format pushed the action throughout the day and in about five hours the 147 was down to the unofficial final table of 10. It’s a format that favors players who are well-versed in short stack poker.

Schwartz doesn’t generally prefer the turbo formats, but used his poker prowess to outlast the competition.

“It’s actually probably a disadvantage for me,” said the 25-year-old poker professional. “I’m not that familiar with turbos, but I’m a poker player and I know how to play them. I know push/fold better than a lot of people, so I figure that probably propelled me to victory.”

About two hours after the players redrew for seats at the unofficial, 10-handed final table, Schwartz had amassed all the chips in play and earned the title.

It wasn’t an easy road for Schwartz en route to his victory. He bested a final table that featured SHRPO Team member Cate Hall, Darren Rabinowitz, Joe Kuether, and Ben Heath. Schwartz defeated Dermot Blain heads-up to finish off the final table.

The timing was good for Schwartz as well. He had been on a cold stretch of cards in the previous preliminary events and hadn’t picked up a cash in the series before today.

The extra cash in his pocket helps both of his bank account and his future buy-ins, since he is expecting to play the “Big 4 events” which start up on Saturday with the $5 million guaranteed main event.

Schwartz is a New York native, but recently moved down to the South Florida area, and considers the Seminole Hard Rock his new poker home.

“I live like 10 minutes from here now,” said Schwartz. “So technically this is like my home casino. So it’s nice to win one at my home casino.”

After everything was over and the photos were taken, Schwartz just wants the public to know how much he loves his grandmother.

“I want to give a shout-out to my grandman, Gagi,” said Schwartz. “She’s my favorite person.”

Here is a look at the final table results:

1st: Jake Schwartz – $42,628
2nd: Dermot Blain – $24,990
3rd: Alexander Khanas – $14,700
4th: Gregory Marcus – $11,760
5th: Ben Heath – $8,820
6th: Darren Rabinowitz – $7,350
7th: Anthony Lombard – $5,880
8th: Cate Hall – $4,410
9th: Staffan Lind – $3,308
10th: Joe Kuether – $2,940

Download Final Results (PDF)

$1,650 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em
Players Remaining: 3
Level 4: 150/300

Early in this heads-up match, finalist Ari Engel dropped by the table to offer Alex Foxen and Aaron Mermelstein a deal. He proposed that they forgo the best-of-three final, regardless of who his opponent would be, and chop the first- and second-place money evenly. Both potential opponents agreed to the deal, and Engel was declared the winner. All that was left was to decide with whom he’d be chopping.

In the Mermelstein/Foxen semifinal, Mermelstein had recovered from the early chip disadvantage to take a lead of his own, and he was eventually able to win the second game outright.

With the score tied at one game apiece, the two men decided to chop up their own shares of the remaining prize money and call it a night. Foxen officially gets credit for a runner-up finish, though he and Mermelstein each received the same payout.

Here’s the official results from the deal:
1st: Ari Engel – $28,800 + trophy
2nd: Alex Foxen – $19,200
3rd: Aaron Mermelstein – $19,200

A recap of Engel’s victory will be published shortly.

$300 No Limit Hold’em Charity Series of Poker (Re-Entry)
Level 9: 500/1,000 with a 100 ante
Players Remaining: 63 of 167

Late registration has closed for the $300 CSOP and there are officially 167 entries in the event. It generated a prizepool of $16,050 with the top 9 spots earning a cash.

Here is a look at the payouts for the final nine players:

1st: $5,000
2nd: $2,500
3rd: $2,000
4th: 1,500
5th: $1,250
6th: $1,100
7th: $1,000
8th: $900
9th: $800

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em Turbo
Level 29: 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 1 of 147

Jake Schwartz moved all in on the button and Dermot Blain quickly called from the big blind. Blain was the player at risk and all in for about 600,000.

Schwartz showed and was in the lead against Blain’s . The board ran out and Schwartz dragged the pot with aces and tens.

Blain is eliminated in second place and took home $24,990, while Schwartz took the title and the $42,628 first place money.

Jake Schwartz – $1,100 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Champion
Dermot Blain – Eliminated