2021 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 33
$50,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em
Entries:  29
Prize Pool:  $1,406,500
August 5-6, 2021

In most parts of the country, Zhuang Ruan isn’t old enough to set foot on a casino gaming floor. Luckily for the 20-year-old poker pro, you only need to be 18 to play poker at Seminole Hard Rock properties.

Even at that age, most card players are still learning the game, getting their feet wet and deciding how seriously to take it.

Ruan, on the other hand, defeated a 29-entry field comprised of some of poker’s best players. He defeated Dan Smith, who is fifth on poker’s all-time money list with north of $37 million in live earnings, to win the $50,000 Super High Roller Friday evening, earning $562,600 in the process.

“It feels pretty good,” said Ruan with a laugh.

Aside from one of the high-stakes end bosses Ruan bested heads-up, the field also featured crushers like Alex Foxen, Nick Petrangelo, Ali Imsirovic, Elio Fox and David Peters, who was eliminated on the bubble in sixth place.

Despite his age, Ruan has already played very high-stakes. He starting playing poker during his high school years in 2016 for play money and eventually started grinding the smallest stakes available online two years later. He quickly rose up from the $1 buy-in cash games all the way up to $100-$200 pot-limit Omaha in just a couple of years.

“I started at $1NL. Half a cent-one cent [blinds] and eventually worked my way up,” said Ruan. “I actually switched to PLO and made it to the $100-$200 games.”

During his brief stint in college, Ruan started playing tournaments and it wasn’t long before he was beating high-stakes tournaments as well.

“I took six months off from poker to try and go to college,” said Ruan. “But after that I found tournaments, so I started playing that… And then I was playing high-stakes MTT’s. And now I’m here.”

Since he doesn’t turn 21 for another several months, he won’t be able to play in most American tournaments until 2022, but his poker resume is already filled with victories.

He won an $1,100 pot-limit Omaha event at the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, finished third in a $2,200 pot-limit Omaha a few months later at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown and took down the $5,000 no-limit hold’em during the World Poker Tour series at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa.

His win on Friday was just his fourth cash, but three of them were outright wins.

Coming into Friday, six players remained, but only five would leave with a payday of at least $112,520. David Peters was eliminated by Dan Smith on the bubble.

Smith dominated much of the early portion of the final table before Ruan made a run late and overtook him for the chip lead during three-handed play.

After eliminating eliminating Cary Katz in third place, Ruan held a small chip lead heading into heads-up play. After failed negotiations regarding a possible deal, Smith went on a rush of cards and opened a more than 2-to-1 lead.

But as the blinds got larger, Ruan got a shove through on the turn to pull the chip counts back to even, and then regained it for good when he made a good river call with fourth pair.

“It was just like a heads-up sit n’ go,” said Ruan. “I used to play those back in the day, so I’m familiar with the swingy-ness of heads-up.”

Once Smith was on the short stack, Ruan was able to flop trip jacks and get three streets of value, including a river shove, against Smith’s A-Q, which turned top pair to secure the biggest payday of his life.

Results:

1st: Zhuang Ruan – $562,600
2nd: Dan Smith – $351,625
3rd: Cary Katz – $225,040
4th: Giuseppe Iadesernia – $154,715
5th: Sean Perry – $112,520

$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 20:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 29

Dan Smith limped in on the button and Zhuang Ruan checked his option in the big blind.

The flop was and Ruan led for 125,000. Smith called and the turn was the .

Ruan bet again, this time 250,000 and Smith called. The river was the .

Ruan shoved all in for effectively Smith’s remaining 585,000. Smith mulled over his decision for a while before eventually committing the chips.

Ruan showed , good for trip jacks, and he won the pot against Smith’s .

Zhuang Ruan – Super High Roller Champion
Dan Smith – Eliminated in 2nd Place

$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 20:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 29

Zhang Ruan won a pot by shoving the turn and getting a fold to Dan Smith to get the heads-up match back to even.

A few hands later, with about 300,000 in the middle on a completed board of , Ruan checked and Smith bet 250,000.

Ruan tanked for about a minute before tossing in a chip, indicating a call.

“Jack-six,” said Smith, as he briefly tabled his hand.

Ruan showed , good for fourth pair and won the pot to take back the chip lead.

Zhang Ruan – 2,350,000 (47 bb)
Dan Smith – 1,300,000 (26 bb)

$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 19:  20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 29

Dan Smith raised on the button and Zhuang Ruan called out of the big blind.

The flop was and Ruan checked. Smith bet 70,000 and Ruan called.

The turn was the and Ruan led out for 110,000. Smith called. The river was the and Ruan led again, this time for 400,000.

Smith mulled it over for quite some time before moving all in. Ruan quickly folded his hand.

“That was like a James Bond board right there,” said Smith after the hand. “Straight flush versus quads or something.”

Dan Smith – 2,655,000 (66 bb)
Zhuang Ruan – 975,000 (24 bb)

$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 19:  20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 29

With about 400,000 in the pot on a board of , Dan Smith checked and Zhuang Ruan bet 250,000. Smith called.

The river was the and both players checked. Smith showed and Ruan tossed his hand into the muck.

A few hands later, in a limped pot, Smith checked a flop of and Ruan bet 40,000.

Smith check-raised to 140,000 and Ruan called. The turn was the and Smith checked. Ruan bet 100,000 and Smith called. Both players checked the river.

Smith showed and Ruan mucked.

Dan Smith – 2,625,000 (65 bb)
Zhuang Ruan – 1,000,000 (25 bb)

$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 29

Cary Katz moved all in on the button for 210,000 and Zhuang Ruan called out of the small blind. Dan Smith folded his big blind, leaving Katz heads-up for his tournament life.

Katz showed and was in a dominating spot against Ruan’s .

The flop changed that as it came , moving Ruan into the lead with a pair of eights.

“Yeah. I wasn’t feeling that one,” lamented Katz.

The turn was the and the river was the . Katz was eliminated in third place for $225,040 and Ruan will start heads-up play with a slight chip advantage against Dan Smith.

Zhuang Ruan – 1,850,000 (62 bb)
Cary Katz – Eliminated

$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 29

Zhuang Ruan raised on the button to 60,000 and Cary Katz defended his big blind.

The flop was and Katz checked. Ruan bet 45,000 and Katz called. Both players checked the turn and the came on the river.

Katz bet 30,000 and Ruan raised to 175,000. Katz mulled it over for a couple minutes before calling.

Katz showed , but Ruan tabled and won the pot with a bigger kicker. Ruan dragged the pot and overtook Dan Smith for the chip lead.

Zhuang Ruan – 1,650,000 (55 bb)
Cary Katz – 200,000 (7 bb)

$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 29

Cary Katz moved all in from the cutoff for 390,000 and Giuseppe Iadesernia called out of the small blind.

Katz showed and was in the lead against Iadesernia’s .

The flop was and Iadesernia moved into the lead with top pair. The turn was the , keeping Iadesernia in the lead, but the came on the river and Katz won the pot.

The dealer counted down both stacks and verified that Iadesernia actually had the bigger stack, covering Katz by just 10,000. He was eliminated by Zhuang Ruan the next hand.

Iadesernia earned $154,715 for his fourth place finish.

Cary Katz – 840,000 (28 bb)
Giuseppe Iadesernia – Eliminated

$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 17:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 29

Giuseppe Iadesernia limped in from under the gun and Dan Smith moved all in on the button. Zhuang Ruan called out of the big blind for 425,000 and Iadesernia folded.

Ruan tabled and was in the lead against Smith’s .

The board ran out and Ruan doubled through the chip leader.

Zhuang Ruan – 950,000 (38 bb)
Dan Smith – 1,895,000 (75 bb)

$50,000 Super High Roller (Single Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 17:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 29

Sean Perry moved all in for 50,000 from under the gun and was called by Cary Katz in the small blind. Zhuang Ruan moved all in from the big blind for about 450,000 and Katz quickly folded, leaving Ruan heads-up with Perry.

Perry showed and was up against Ruan’s .

The board came and Perry drilled a gutshot straight on the river to triple up and stay alive.

Unfortunately for Perry, the next hand he was in the big blind and got all in with 7-7 against Dan Smith’s K-J. Smith flopped a jack and eliminated Perry in fifth place for $112,520.

Dan Smith – 1,450,000 (58 bb)
Sean Perry – Eliminated In 5th ($112,520)