$5,250 SHRPO Championship $3 Million Guaranteed | Payouts | Live Stream Level 29: 60,000/120,000 with a 20,000 ante Players Remaining: 5 of 887
Hand #130: Matt Berkey raised to 250,000 preflop under the gun, and Martin Kozlov reraised to 1 million on the big blind. Berkey folded his cards.
Hand #131: Dylan Drazen raised to 250,000 preflop on the cutoff, and Michael Aron called on the button. Matt Berkey also called on the big blind, and the three players saw a flop dealt . Aron bet 300,000, Berkey check-folded, and Drazen check-raised all in. Aron tanked on the all-in decision, but decided to fold.
Hand #132: Martin Kozlov raised to 250,000 preflop on the button, and everyone else folded.
Hand #133: Matt Berkey raised to 250,000 preflop on the button, and Dylan Drazen called on the big blind. The flop was dealt , and Berkey bet 300,000. Dylan called before the turn fell , and Berkey bet 650,000. Drazen folded his cards.
Hand #134: Matt Berkey raised to 250,000 on the button, and Dylan Drazen called on the big blind. Berkey folded his cards.
$10,000 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $500,000 guaranteed | Payouts Level 13: 1,000/2,000/300 Players Remaining: 22 of 118
A short-stacked Joseph Cheong moved all in under the gun for 12,700 and Isaac Haxton called from the hijack. The rest of the players folded and the cards were turned up.
Haxton: Cheong:
Cheong held the granddaddy of all hands and it earned him a double after the board ran out a clean .
Haxton was left with 27,000 after the hand, but he busted a short time later. Likewise, Dan Colman has also been eliminated from the tournament.
Joseph Cheong – 30,000 (15 bb) Ike Haxton – Eliminated Dan Colman – Eliminated
$10,000 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $500,000 guaranteed | Payouts Level 13: 1,000/2,000/300 Players Remaining: 23 of 118
Zach Smiley (right) Shannon Shorr (middle) Erik Seidel (left)
Marvin Rettenmaier opened to 4,500 from early position. Taylor Paur called, and Zach Smiley moved all in for 5,000 from the small blind. Shannon Shorr called from the big blind, as did Rettenmaier and Paur.
The flop came it checked to Paur who bet 5,300, Rettenmaier and Shorr folded. Paur turned over and was ahead of Smiley’s until the board ran out , giving Smiley the winning full house on the river.
2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood, FL Event 18 $250 Deepstack Turbo (Re-Entry) $25,000 Guaranteed Entries: 120 Prize Pool: $25,200 August 15, 2017
Alexander Haber
It took less than eight hours for Event 18: $250 Deep Stack Turbo to finish up, and it happened when the final four players agreed to an even chop. Alex Haber, Allan Bieler, Georges Boyadjian and Zoltan Czinkota each locked up $4,136 with the official Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Deep Stack Turbo title going to Haber.
Prior to the win, Haber had $261,435 in live tournament earnings including a career-high $71,280 for finishing third in the 2014 LAPT Panama Main Event.
Back in April, he finished runner-up in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Event #25: $1,100 NLH Turbo for $21,718. With the latest score, Haber inches closer towards Emile John Schiff on Jamaica’s all-time money list.
Event 18 drew a tough field of 120 entries. The prize pool narrowly eclipsed the $25,000 guarantee topping out at $25,200.
Final Results 1st: Alex Haber – $4,136* 2nd: Allan Bieler – $4,136* 3rd: Georges Boyadjian – $4,136* 4th: Zotlan Czinkota – $4,136* 5th: Hugh Cullen – $1,336 6th: Elias Nassif – $1,109 7th: Mark Nahama – $958 8th: Jorge Martinez – $844 9th: Robert Engle – $743 10th: Brendon Rubie – $655 11th: John Gorsuch – $655 12th: Trent Smith – $655 13th: Bryan Hurdle – $567 14th: Michael Kopjanski – $567 15th: Jon Lancar – $567
2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida $2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Entries: 395 Prize Pool: $1,000,000 August 13-15, 2017
The $2,650 Big 4 Freeze-out drew a talented field of players all vying for the $1 million guaranteed prize pool. After three long days, Alex Foxen won the title along with $204,600 despite some late trouble. Foxen was down to less than two big blinds with 20 players remaining, but he never gave up. He ran his stack back up, made the final table, and took over from there.
“I lost a big hand and I actually think I made a pretty big mistake,” he recalled. “I was down to 12,000 (blinds at 10,000/20,000) but I was back to 550,000 after one orbit.”
Foxen didn’t stop there. He finished Day 2 with a ticket to the final table, returned with the third biggest stack, and turned that into a six-figure payday.
The $2,650 buy-in tournament drew 395 players to the freeze-out tournament and only 69 of them were around when Day 1 came to a close. The starting Day 2 leader was Seminole Hard Rock regular Nigel Murray but he did not factor in the latter parts of the tournament. The field made into the money early in Day 2 with 52 players earning a piece of the seven-digit prize pool.
Jason Koon grabbed the lead late in Day 2 as the reigning Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Champion made a big run towards his second major SHRPO title. Several players took the lead as the night grew late and it was Jack Duong locking up the biggest final table stack as Day 2 came to a close.
The final table gathered on Day 3 in the Hard Rock Live Arena to play down to a winner in front of the Poker Night in America live-stream camera with more than $200,000 set aside for the winner.
Local favorite Jacquelyn Scott, the 2015 World Series of Poker Ladies Champion, was an early exit from the final table and she was followed by Tom Thomas not far behind. Darryl Ronconi went out next in a huge three-way all-in pot that sent him out and put Charles Gomez into the lead.
Local favorite Jacquelyn Scott, the 2015 World Series of Poker Ladies Champion, was an early exit from the final table and she was followed by Tom Thomas not far behind. Darryl Ronconi went out next in a huge three-way all-in pot that sent him out and put Charles Gomez into the lead.
That hand also put Duong on the short stack and he went out in fifth place followed by former SHRP winner Paul Balzano. That left newcomer Gomez up against Koon and Foxen, two of the most experienced players to start the final table, but he held his own.
Those three players took turns exchanging the lead and it was Koon who was first to fall. He went out to Foxen when his big slick could not hold against Foxen’s ace-queen. Foxen took a big lead into heads-up play and it ended quickly when Gomez ran into Foxen’s turned flush.
Gomez earned $143,340 for his runner-up finish, adding to his $8,000 in career results coming into the day, and he fought a tough battle. Foxen continued a hot run of results that includes three World Series of Poker final tables this summer.
“I feel like I’m playing the best I ever have,” Foxen said. “And I hope to keep it going.”
“I’ve been putting a lot of work into the game for a long time and that’s made a big difference in my game.” Foxen continued.
The Big 4 Freeze-out drew a field of great players and produced some great action. The entire final table was a great representation of the quality of play we expect during the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.
Congratulations to Alex Rosen for the win and thanks to our players for a great event.
Final table results:
1st: Alex Foxen – $204,600 2nd: Charles Gomez – $143,340 3rd: Jason Koon – $92,150 4th: Paul Balzano – $61,550 5th: Jack Duong – $47,350 6th: Faraz Jaka – $39,250 7th: Darryl Ronconi – $32,950 8th: Tom Thomas – $26,700 9th: Jacquelyn Scott – $20,460
$5,250 SHRPO Championship $3 Million Guaranteed | Payouts | Live Stream Upcoming Level 29: 60,000/120,000 with a 20,000 ante Players Remaining: 5 of 887
Seat 1: Dylan Drazen – 5,365,000 (48 bb) Seat 3: Michael Aron – 3,895,000 (32 bb) Seat 5: Martin Kozlov – 4,305,000 (36 bb) Seat 7: Matt Berkey – 8,330,000 (69 bb) Seat 8: Yi Chi Li – 4,745,000 (40 bb)
$5,250 SHRPO Championship $3 Million Guaranteed | Payouts | Live Stream Level 28: 50,000/100,000 with a 15,000 ante Players Remaining: 5 of 887
Hand #123: Matt Berkey raised to 225,000 from the button, Yi Chi Li called from the small blind, Dylan Drazen three-bet from the big blind, and both Berkey and Li folded.
Hand #124: Matt Berkey raised to 225,000 from the cutoff and won the pot uncontested.
Hand #125: Matt Berkey raised to 225,000 from under the gun, Michael Aron called from the small blind, and Martin Kozlov called from the big blind.
The flop fell and action checked to Berkey who took down the pot with a bet of 325,000.
Hand #126: Dylan Drazen raised to 225,000 from the cutoff, and Matt Berkey called from the big blind.
They checked to the turn of a board where Berkey bet 300,000. Drazen folded.
Hand #127: Matt Berkey limped from the small blind, and Yi Chi Li checked his option.
The flop came down and Berkey bet 175,000. Li called, the turn was the , and Berkey bet 350,000. Li called, the river was the , and both players checked.
Li won the pot with .
Hand #128: Matt Berkey raised to 225,000 from the button and received no action.
Hand #129: Dylan Drazen raised to 350,000 from the small blind, and Michael Aron called from the big blind.
The flop fell , and Drazen continued for 400,000. Aron called, the turn fell, and Drazen checked. Aron bet 600,000, Drazen check-raised to 1,500,000, and Aron tanked for about four minutes before he folded.
$25,500 Big 4 High Roller $2,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts | Live Stream Level 24: 75,000/150,000 with a 25,000 ante Players Remaining: 2 of 117
John Andress
In one of the first hands in the new level, John Andress opened the button with a raise to 300,000, and Mike Leah three-bet to 1,000,000 in the big blind. Andress four-bet shoved, and Leah’s surrender left him with less than 20 big blinds.
On what would be the final hand of the match, Leah limped the button, and Andress set him all in for what looked like 2,775,000 effective. Leah called, putting himself at risk on a coin flip.
Leah: Andress:
The board ran out blanks, coming to give the pot and the victory to Andress.
It was a remarkable effort and an incredible comeback from less than half a big blind on the money bubble. Andress earned $801,450 and an oversized guitar pick trophy for his mantel.
Leah was forced to settle for a runner-up finish worth $561,600.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship $3 Million Guaranteed | Payouts | Live Stream Level 28: 50,000/100,000 with a 15,000 ante Players Remaining: 5 of 887
Hand #115: Matt Berkey raised to 225,000 under the gun, and Martin Kozlov called on the big blind. The flop was dealt , and Berkey bet 275,000. Kozlov raised to 900,000, and Berkey folded.
Hand #116: Michael Aron raised to 200,000 preflop on the button, and Matt Berkey called on the big blind. The flop was dealt , and both players checked. The turn fell , Berkey bet 500,000, and Aron folded his cards.
Hand #117: Martin Kozlov raised to 210,000 preflop on the button, and Yi Chi Li called on the big blind. The flop was dealt , Kozlov bet 100,000, and Li folded.
Hand #118: Matt Berkey raised to 225,000 preflop on the button, and Dylan Drazen reraised all in from the big blind. Berkey tanked for a moment, and folded pocket deuces face-up on the table.
Hand #119: Matt Berkey raised to 225,000 on the cutoff, and Michael Aron called on the big blind. The flop was dealt , Berkey bet 275,000, and Aron folded.
Hand #120: Matt Berkey limped under the gun, Yi Chi Li raised to 225,000, and Martin reraised to 900,000. Berkey and Li both folded.
Hand #121: Dylan Drazen raised to 225,000 preflop on the cutoff, and Matt Berkey called on the big blind. The flop was dealt , Drazen bet 225,000, and Berkey folded.
Hand #122: Dylan Drazen raised to 250,000 preflop under the gun, and everyone folded.
. Aron bet 300,000, Berkey check-folded, and Drazen check-raised all in. Aron tanked on the all-in decision, but decided to fold.
, and Berkey bet 300,000. Dylan called before the turn fell 
, and Berkey bet 650,000. Drazen folded his cards.
and Valentin Vornicu called with 
.
and Schwartz hit his king, winning the classic race.
.
it checked to Paur who bet 5,300, Rettenmaier and Shorr folded. Paur turned over 
and was ahead of Smiley’s 
and action checked to Berkey who took down the pot with a bet of 325,000.
board where Berkey bet 300,000. Drazen folded.
, and Drazen continued for 400,000. Aron called, the 
to give the pot and the victory to Andress.
, and both players checked. The turn fell 
, Drazen bet 225,000, and Berkey folded.