The 2018 May Deep Stack Poker Series featured seven tournaments over 12 days with $660,000 in guaranteed prize pools. The series finished up on Memorial Day and it ended up paying out more than $1,000,000.
The spotlight tournament was the $1,650 buy-in Deepest Stack Main Event which pushed its $300,000 Guarantee to over $500,000. Chris Bolek, the 2014 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Champion, picked up the win at a tough final table.
It was another great series in the Poker Room and we need to thank all of our players for their continued support. You make us better.
2018 May Deep Stack Poker Series Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 7 $250 Holiday Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $30,000 Guaranteed Entries: 305 Prize Pool: $64,260 May 28, 2018
Andre Bryan
The last event on the May Deep Stack Poker Series pulled in a nice crowd and they played it down in a hurry. Andre Bryan dominated the last two tables to take home the last trophy of the series along with $11,048 and a $5,250 seat in the $3 Million Guarantee Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship.
The $250 buy-in tournament drew 306 entries to more than double the $30,000 guaranteed prize pool. The final number reached $64,260 and the last 39 players shared a piece of that money. The bubble burst shortly before dinner and they were down to a final table two hours later.
Bryan hit the final table with a huge chip lead and never stopped rolling, taking out one player after another.
“He couldn’t miss anything!” SHRP regular Howard Mash commented about Bryan.
The four final players decided to chop up the remaining prize money and Bryan took the lion’s share with his huge chip lead.
This is Bryan’s second tournament win in the room in as many months. He was the last player standing in the $130 Big Stack tournament on April 23rd and now he has another title.
Congrats to Bryan and the rest of the players who closed out the series on a high note.
Event 7 final table results:
1st: Andre Bryan – $11,048 + $5,250 SHRPO Championship seat * 2nd: Andrew Thompson – $9,342 * 3rd: Pavlos Kasselouris – $6,605 * 4th: Howard Mash – $6,065 * 5th: Yigal Hen – $3,081 6th: Daniel Linares – $2,551 7th: Philip Consolo – $2,143 8th: Joel Harwood – $1,761 9th: Jonathan Cohen – $1,404 * – denotes results of four-way deal
2018 May Deep Stack Poker Series Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Main Event $1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed Entries: 349 Prize Pool: $523,500 May 24-28, 2018
Chris Bolek, May Deep Stack Poker Series Main Event champion
The May Deep Stack Poker Series began nearly two weeks ago and it rolled into Memorial Day weekend with the $300,000 Guarantee Main Event. It drew traveling pros and local favorites to the game and it was 2014 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Champion Chris Bolek taking top honors after a heads-up deal with fellow pro TK Miles saw them each walk away with $94,544.
The $1,650 buy-in Main Event drew 349 entries and seven of them joined before the start of Day 2. They combined to push the prize pool up to $523,500 with the last 44 players getting paid.
Event 1 winner Jose Reyes began Day 2 with the chip lead followed by Miles in second and Bolek returned to a top ten stack. Poker pro Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler made a last minute stop in South Florida for the Main Event but was unable to bag. However, his traveling companion and defending WPTDeepStacks Tampa champ Rex Clinkscales was able to advance.
We had 83 players in the poker room for the restart and the tournament progressed at a steady pace thanks to the 60-minute blind levels. They hit the money bubble three hours into the day and it was Bolek taking care of bursting the bubble after 20 minutes of hand-for-hand play.
Notable among those cashing include Jerry Wong and Ronald Young. Wong was one of the last to buy-in when he was a Day 2 entrant and he rode his ten big blinds to a 39th place finish. Young was here on a freeroll after winning the May Big Stack Special. Part of his win included a seat in the Main Event and he went all the way to 19th place.
The Main Event final table included some of the toughest players we get in our games. Besides Bolek and Miles, we had two-time WSOP bracelet winner/five-time WSOP Circuit champ Loni Harwood, former SHRP event winner Josias Santos, and poker coach/pro Ryan Ganquitti.
The clock was paused for Day 2 when the clock hit 3am and the seven remaining players returned for an extra day of final table poker.
Day 3 saw them play nearly four hours before the first player was eliminated. Joshua Zur was eliminated in seventh place and was quickly followed by Gianquitti. It took a bad beat to send Harwood out in fifth place and Santos dropped out in fourth place. A short-stacked Steve Duncker tried to battle back but fell short in third place.
“It was a tough table,” Bolek commented about his competition. “I just tried to stay in it and not bust myself.”
Bolek and Miles immediately began talking about a deal to chop up the remaining prize pool. Bolek held only 75,000 more than Miles and they split the money right down the middle with each earning $94,544. Bolek took the title and trophy home as a result of his chip lead and he adds more SHRP hardware to his mantle.
Both players were happy to lock down a big payday as they prepare for the summer in Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker.
“Historically, one of my worst months for poker is May,” Bolek said. “It’s definitely nice to get a nice win and basically going into the summer on a freeroll.”
“It takes some edge off.”
Congratulations to Bolek on the title and thanks to a very talented group of players taking part in the Deep Stack Poker Series Main Event.
Main Event final table results:
1st: Chris Bolek – $94,544 * 2nd: TK Miles – $94,544 * 3rd: Steve Duncker – $50,078 4th: Josias Santos – $32,431 5th: Loni Harwood – $24,997 6th: Ryan Gianquitti – $20,678 7th: Joshua Zur – $17,354 8th: David Nowling – $14,213 9th: John Miller – $11,119 * – denotes results of heads-up deal
$250 Holiday Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $30,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 21: 10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante Players Remaining: 10 of 306
The Holiday Special final table is ready to go after they reached ten players in quick order. Andre Bryan got there holding a huge lead with Andrew Thompson in second. SHRP regular Joel Harwood, Howard Mash, Philip Consolo, and Yigal Hen were among the rest of the crew.
They will keep playing until we have the last champion of the series and that player will also walk away with a $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship seat.
Seat 1: Jon Culver – 300,000 Seat 2: Daniel Linares – 270,000 Seat 3: Charles Thurman – 155,000 Seat 4: Howard Mash – 675,000 Seat 5: Andrew Thompson – 1,175,000 Seat 6: Joel Harwood – 580,000 Seat 7: Philip Consolo – 530,000 Seat 8: Yigal Hen – 450,000 Seat 9: Pavlos Kasselouris – 565,000 Seat 10: Andre Bryan – 1,430,000
$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 30: 75,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante Players Remaining: 2 of 349
Chris Bolek
The knockout of Steve Duncker propelled Chris Bolek to a slight lead and they never played a hand of heads-up. Bolek and TK Miles agreed to split the remaining prize pool right down the middle and Bolek took the win with the small chip advantage.
Chris Bolek – 8,750,000 TK Miles – 8,675,000
1st: Chris Bolek – $94,544 2nd: TK Miles – $94,544
$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 30: 75,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante Players Remaining: 2 of 349
Steve Duncker
Chris Bolek opened to 300,000 from the button and Steve Duncker moved all in once again. TK Miles folded his big blind and Bolek thought for a moment before calling.
Bolek: Duncker:
Duncker needed to hold to double up but Bolek paired the flop. The turn was no help and Duncker’s comeback was cut short after the river.
$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 30: 75,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante Players Remaining: 3 of 349
The Main Event final table is back underway and Steve Duncker went into shove mode. He pushed four of the first five hands to virtually double up without a showdown taking down some early raises.
$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Returning to Level 30: 75,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante Players Remaining: 3 of 349
The three remaining players are on a 40-minute dinner break. TK Miles moved ahead over the last 15 minutes of the level and will return with the lead.
Seat 1: TK Miles – 9,550,000 (64 bb) Seat 2: Chris Bolek – 6,225,000 (42 bb) Seat 3: Steve Duncker – 1,675,000 (11 bb)
$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 29: 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 ante Players Remaining: 4 of 349
Chris Bolek is putting some distance between himself and the other three players. He holds nearly half of the chips in play at the four-handed table and Steve Duncker dropped to the bottom after his disappearance from the table.
flop. The 
turn was no help and Duncker’s comeback was cut short after the 
river.
board to exit in fourth place.