Championship: Televised Final Table Ready to Go

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 30: 50,000/100,000/15,000 Ante

Ralph Notaro04222015SHRPOShowdownFinal103

The final day of the 2015 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship is about to get underway with just six players left with a chance to take home the top $1,000,000 prize.

The Championship started on April 16 and drew 1,476 entrants competing for the $5,000,000 prize pool. That number was whittled down until we have our final table set to go. Griffin Paul will start the final day with the chip lead with Andre Crooks his nearest competitor. Joe Ebanks, Brian Green, Ryan Rivers, and Shawn Nguyen round out the rest of the final table.

The average stack is 74 big blinds and it will be a long grind for the table with the added pressure of a live audience and the WPT cameras. Cards are scheduled to be in the air at 4pm and we’ll be here all day with live updates.

Final table mini-bios

Final table lineup:
Seat 1: Griffin Paul – 14,290,000 (143 bb)
Seat 2: Joe Ebanks – 6,585,000 (66 bb)
Seat 3: Ryan Rivers – 4,170,000 (42 bb)
Seat 4: Shawn Nguyen – 3,615,000 (36 bb)
Seat 5: Brian Green – 5,205,000 (52 bb)
Seat 6: Andre Crooks -10,350,000 (104 bb)

Final table payouts:
1st: $1,000,000
2nd: $615,000
3rd: $383,000
4th: $323,500
5th: $269,000
6th: $217,500

Championship: Final Table Profiles

The 2015 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship is down to just six players after three starting flights and five total days. The tournament stared with 1,476 and here’s a little look at the only players remaining with a shot at the $1,000,000 first place prize.

HR-SHO EV13F Table 2-S9_0680_1 Griffin PaulSeat 1: Griffin Paul – 14,290,000 (143 bb)

From Calabasas, CA with over $74,000 in career tournament earnings and his biggest coming in the 2014 WSOP Main Event for $25,746. Paul has two career WSOP cashes and one WPT cash. He lists his special talent as “country line dancer”.

 


HR-SHO EV13F Table 1-S7_0714 Joe Ebanks

Seat 2: Joe Ebanks – 6,585,000 (66 bb)

From Lubbock, TX with nearly $2.4 million in career tournament earnings and his biggest cash earned for winning the $10,000 WSOP 6-Handed Championship for $1,158,481. Ebanks has tournament cashes in 17 different countries. (US, Uruaguay, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Romania, Monaco, Aruba, France, Bahamas, Austria, Costa Rica, Estonia, Germany, Portugal, Panama, and Brazil)


HR-SHO EV13F Table 1-S4_0679 Ryan Rivers

Seat 3: Ryan Rivers – 4,170,000 (42 bb)

From Belleville, ON with over $200,000 in career tournament earnings and most of it coming from a 3rd place finish at the PokerStars Canada Cup in 2014. He has one WSOP cash and his first WPT cash came in this event last year. Rivers plans to help his mother retire with this result.


HR-SHO EV13F Table 1-S3_0721 Shawn Nguyen

Seat 4: Shawn Nguyen – 3,615,000 (36 bb)

From West Palm Beach, FL with $28,000 in career tournament earnings making this his biggest cash by far. Primarily a cash game player with one WSOP to his credit, this is his first big buy-in tournament and he lists his special skills as talking and tilting people.


HR-SHO EV13F Table 2-S1_0689_1 Brian Green

Seat 5: Brian Green – 5,205,000 (52 bb)

From Arlington, TX with nearly $800,000 in career tournament earnings including a 2nd place finish in the $5,000 WSOP Limit Hold’em event in 2012. He has one WPT final table with four WPT cashes along with 11 career WSOP cashes.

 


HR-SHO EV13F Table 1-S1_0695 Andre Crooks

Seat 6: Andre Crooks – 10,350,000 (104 bb)

From Lake Worth, FL with over $75,000 in career tournament earnings and the biggest coming from a 2nd place finish during the 2013 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $1,100 No Limit Hold’em event. Crook’s most recent cash was here two weeks ago in Event 4 and a 4th place finish.

Event 20 Recap

2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guarantee

April 21st, 2015

Total Entries:  184
Total Prize Pool:  $38,640

Event 20 Champion Alex Boytan
Event 20 Champion
Alex Boytan

Recap:

The players on the final table in Event 20 seemed determined to make sure that they were the last table to play in the ballroom for this year’s Poker Showdown and they did not disappoint.   A final table filled with twists, turns, table chatter and a man with nine lives took this table to the 3:30 AM mark with Alex Boytan finally making a deal with Howie Hershkovich and winning the title.

Following the eliminations of Jose Navarete in 9th, Allan Bieler in 8th and Gregory Marcus in 7th, the action slowed considerably for the final six players.

But then in rapid-fire fashion just minutes apart, Kenny Bhakta was out in 6th followed by Tony Burns in 5th.  Then the knockdown-dragout conflict that seemed like it had no end was on.

Alex Boytan, Gil Morgenstern, Howie Hershkovich and Dave Albertson got to know each other very well over the next two hours.  Despite the fact that the blinds were threatening to put all the players in jeopardy, they could not come an agreement and continued to trade chips.  Boytan eventually got most of the chips in play but couldn’t clear the table.

Albertson kept stunning the table as he was continally winning all-in after all-in whether ahead or behind.  All the while, Albertson kept up some testy table chatter with Boytan telling him he would not knock him out and he was going to come back and win the tournament.

At 3 AM, Boytan managed to finish off Morgenstern in 4th place as he hit a queen-high flush off a flop leaving Morgenstern’s pair of sevens in the rear view mirror and the players played on three-handed.  Amazingly, after Albertson was down to just 35,000 chips he kept coming from behind and winning all-ins shrinking Boytan’s stack.  But it was not meant to be as Hershkovich finally stopped Albertson’s streak coming from behind himself with Ad5d against Albertson’s AsKd.

Boytan now found himself in a position where only a couple of blinds separated him and Hershrovich.  Hershkovich offered a deal to split the money evenly forgoing the title and after some convincing, Boytan accepted and the championship trophy was his.

Congratulations to our Event 20 Champion – Alex Boytan!

1st – Alex Boytan –  $9,468
2nd – Howie Hershkovich – $9,467
3rd –  Dave Albertson – $4,444
4th – Gil Morgenstern – $3,130
5th – Tony Burns – $2,415
6th – Kenny Bhakta – $1,835
7th – Gregory Marcus- $1,430
8th – Allan Bieler$1,063
9th – Jose Navarrete – $753

Event 17 Recap

2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guarantee

April 19 – 21st, 2015

Total Entries:  652
Total Prize Pool:  $78,240

Event 17 Champion Emil Soffer
Event 17 Champion
Emil Soffer

Recap:

There was no question when the dust settled in Event 17 who deserved to win this title as Emil Soffer played outstanding poker on Day 2 to capture the trophy.

The story early on was Ross Lebo. Lebo had been on cruise control most of the way to the final table. At one point, he held over 2.6 million chips with three tables remaining and was on cruise control to the final table. But along the way Josias Santos and Soffer started doing some damage of their own. But in the major confrontations they had with two tables left, Soffer had mostly gotten the best of Santos.

Two fast eliminations with eleven players remaining got Event 17 to the final table with Brandon Pinkerton going out first. And just when Lebo had slipped to 1.1 million, he came from behind on two consecutive hands eliminating Ravi Shanmugam in 8th and Michael Corbett in 7th. But Lebo could not keep the momentum going. Jamie Gomez started to assert himself and took most of Lebo’s chips before finally ending his night in 5th. Then things got a little strange.

Louis Leo IV had survived a couple of all-ins leaving Sean Yu as the short stack and Gomez had taken the lead away from Soffer. Despite Yu’s position, he insisted during a chop discussion that he should be declared the champion. His bold attempt to convince the other players to end the touranemnt didn’t work out and play continued.

Gomez and Soffer hooked up in a key hand which turned out to the be the difference in the tournament with Soffer barely getting the best of it after a great call putting him back in the lead. After a few more hands, the players agreed to discuss a chop after the end of the next hand. Ironically, the hand ended up putting Yu and Soffer against each other. Yu had decided to press as hard as possible to double up and put himself all-in on the turn. Had Soffer lost the hand, his chip lead would have been in jeopardy. But Soffer picked off Yu’s semi-bluff and sent him out in 5th place.

After the conclusion of the hand, the remaining four players agreed to the chop leaving Soffer the winner following the key hands he’d won against Gomez and Yu.

“I took some chances with 4-5 suited, 7-8 suited and got the cards and it paid off. I thought he (Yu) was bluffing and I had the high pair with the low kicker. It was not an all-in for me so nothing hurt – go for it. It’s a great feeling to win – very nice. I love coming here!”

Congratulations to our Event 17 Champion – Emil Soffer!

Results:
1st – Emil Soffer (Miami, FL) – $15,394
2nd – Jamie Gomez (Miami Gardens, FL) – $11,468
3rd – Josias Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil) – $10,208
4th – Louis Leo IV (Coral Springs, FL) – $9,056
5th – Sean Yu (Los Angeles, CA) – $3,951
6th – Ross Lebo (Lehigh Acres, FL) – $3,169
7th – Michael Corbett (Fort Lauderdale, FL) – $2,425
8th – Ravi Shanmugam (San Jose, CA) -$1,721
9th – Brandon Pinkerton (Jupiter, FL) –  $1,252

Event 20: Alex Boytan Wins Championship ($9,468), Howie Hershkovich Finishes 2nd ($9,467)

$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 27: 20,000/40,000/5,000 Ante

After the dramatic hand that ended Dave Albertson’s night and left Howie Hershkovich only a few thousand chips behind the leader, Alex Boytan finally relented and agreed to an even split of the money and claimed the Event 20 title.

The contentious night was brought to an end with Boytan taking the title and earning $9,468 and Hershkovich finishing in 2nd place for just a dollar less at $9,467.

Congratulations to our Event 20 Champion – Alex Boytan!

Alex Boytan - Event 20 Champion ($9,468)
Alex Boytan – Event 20 Champion ($9,468)
Howie Hershkovich - 2nd Place ($9,467)
Howie Hershkovich – 2nd Place ($9,467)

Event 20: Dave Albertson Eliminated In 3rd Place ($4,444)

$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 27: 20,000/40,000/5,000 Ante

Dave Albertson just wouldn’t go down.  It turned out having the best hand pre-flop was the key to his defeat.

Albertson was in with AsKd against Howie Hershkovich’s Ad5d.  Albertson survived the 4s8s4c flop but the 5h hit on the turn.  The 3s came on the river and Albertson was out after dodging bullets all night.

Dave Albertson finishes 3rd for $4,444.

Dave Albertson - 3rd Place ($4,444)
Dave Albertson – 3rd Place ($4,444)

Event 20: Gil Morgenstern Eliminated in 4th Place ($3,130)

$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 26: 15,000/30,000/5,000 Ante

The dam has finally broke on the final four as Gil Morgenstern has gone to the payout window.

Alex Boytan and Morgenstern got it all-in (minus 5,000 chips) pre-flop and after a 5hTh4h flop the other 5,000 was put in the middle. The cards were turned up with Boytan flopping a queen-high flush holding QhJh.  Morgenstern could only turn over his 7d7h and got no help close out his tournament.

Gil Morgenstern exits Event 20 in 4th place for $3,130.

Gil Morgenstern - 4th Place ($3,130)
Gil Morgenstern – 4th Place ($3,130)

Event 20: “Not Today”

$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 24: 10,000/20,000/3,000 Ante

Dave Albertson has refused to fall tonight.

Albertson has staved off elimination twice against Alex Boytan and Howie Hershrovich to stay alive here in Event 20.  Albertson just doubled up through Hershrovich with his queens holding up against Hershrovich’s sevens.

He and Boytan have added some verbal sparring going to this final table with Boytan stating he would be the one to end Albertson’s night.  Albertson has stood up to the fire and let him know – “Not today.”

Four players still remain here in Event 20 as we near Level 25 with a top prize of $11,980 on the line.

Event 20: Tony Burns Eliminated in 5th, Kenny Bhakta Out in 6th

$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 23: 8,000/16,000/2,000 Ante

Back-to-back hands have taken two players out of Event 20.

Kenny Bhakta went down first as he pushed his stack in and Dave Albertson decided to try to take him out and called.

Bhakta showed KsQd against Albertson’s AhTh.  Albertson managed to run out a flush after a board of 8d6h3hJh3s ending Bhakta’s night in 6th place.

Immediately after that, Tony Burns also pushed his stack and was called by Howie Hershkovich.  Burns tuned up AcKd and was racing against Hershkovich’s TsTd.

Burns could find no help as the board ran out 5h6d6s3hJh and was gone in 5th place.

Burns takes home $2,415 for the 5th place finish and Bhakta wins $1,835 for 6th.

Tony Burns - 5th Place ($2,415)
Tony Burns – 5th Place ($2,415)