2018 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 7
$1,100 No-Limit Hold’em
Entries: 170
Prize Pool: $164,900
November 18, 2018
Raminder Singh’s trophy case is full of trophies from poker tournaments he has won. From looking at his results, he owns nearly two dozen of them.
In the early hours of Monday morning, he earned another one in the $1,100 no-limit hold’em. In a heads-up chop with Travis Jackson, Singh came out on top of the 170-entry field and earned $37,706 for his efforts, along with the hardware.
Some players love trophies to show off to their friends and family. They validate their skill on the felt. Singh has another motivation for taking the trophies back to his South Florida home.
They are to continually push his daughter to be a better athelete.
“My daughter, Sonya, she’s into ice skating and she wins a lot of trophies too,” said Singh. “She wins some in ice skating and I win some in poker. This is to inspire her. When I take a new trophy home, she is quite inspired to win more in ice skating and do well. That is a great inspiration as a dad.”
Singh is a family man through and through. His mile-long list of victories, including a WSOP Circuit ring from a main event victory, all come from South Florida. He rarely leaves the area, let alone the state to play a poker tournament.
Every single victory he has to his name have all come in South Florida. With multiple businesses to run and two kids to raise, he sticks to local tournaments in order to be there for his family.
In the last six weeks alone, he’s won three tournaments before his victory at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood.
“Those are all amateur trophies, I call it,” said Singh. ” I call myself a true amateur in the Slum Donkey Poker Community.”
Singh is part of a larger group of poker players that formed the Slum Donkey Poker Community. They share hand histories and results with each other. Singh is an amateur by definition, but his skills rival most pros.
“I’m one of the decent amateurs,” said Singh. “I’ll describe it like that, but I enjoy poker in my free time.”
Singh expertly navigated the final table. He came into the unofficial final table near the top of chips, bunched together with a few other big stacks.
He opted to get a feel for the table before really turning up the pressure.
“I tried to sit back and take some time as a decent stack,” said the Delray Beach native. “And try to observe the final table. There were players combined from various tables. Later on, when I had a good handle on the play of the various players, I decided to change my game and play accordingly.”
As the table got shorter, Singh started to accumulate chips at a rapid pace. He was the chip leader three-handed when chop talks arose. They were nixed by the short stack, Lucas Braga, who ended up busting in third and left Singh heads-up with Jackson.
After looking at the ICM numbers, the two players agreed to a chop. Singh had the larger stack and got the slightly bigger payout, giving him credit for the win.
He noted that he doesn’t usually chop, but there were events on Monday’s schedule that he wanted to be rested to play.
The 170-entry field paid the top 24 spots. Here are the full results:
1st: Raminder Singh – $37,706*
2nd: Travis Jackson – $34,311*
3rd: Lucas Braga – $16,910
4th: Sherrie Williams – $10,290
5th: David Jackson – $7,940
6th: Edward McNamara – $6,580
7th: Ann Coffen – $5,689
8th: Jason Budish – $4,978
9th: Derek Bowers – $4,434
10th: Gavin O’Rourke – $3,694
11th: Guy Naimi – $3,694
12th: Vitor Coelho – $3,694
13th: Hiren Dharani – $3,125
14th: Hyndi Khomutetsky – $3,125
15th: Dovid Goldfischer – $3,125
16th: Kathryn Lindsey – $2,597
17th: Sukhjinder Hare – $2,597
18th: Chris Moorman – $2,597
19th: Roberto Bendeck – $2,102
20th: Paul Domb – $2,102
21st: Jordan Joeckel – $2,102
22nd: Scott Wright – $1,608
* Reflects adjusted payouts from a deal