2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 39
$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  563
Prize Pool:  $563,000
August 8-9, 2022

Event 39 of the 2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was the $1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry). The tournament drew 563 entries, generating a prize pool of $563,000. Taking it down was Ivan Ruban, winning outright for $107,125.

“It feels good to win this tournament,” said Ruban afterward. “I hope to do it again soon.”

Ruban finished Day 1 on top of the chip counts by a healthy margin of 35 big blinds, leading the 17 players who returned on Day 2. He coasted to the final table, and once there stayed out of the way for the most part as players began to fall.

With four players remaining, Ruban picked up pocket aces in back-to-back hands, doubling up into a commanding chip lead thanks to a set-over-set showdown. He then added to it by eliminating Gary Gelman in fourth place moments later.

Ruban began heads-up play against 2013 SHRPO champion Blair Hinkle with nearly a 4:1 chip lead and closed it out after making a full house in a limped pot, earning the outright victory.

Ruban, a native of Moscow, Russia, recently moved to South Florida and has registered several cashes at the Seminole Hard Rock in those few months. This marks his second-largest live career tournament score and pushes him past the $420,000 mark in total live earnings according to the Hendon Mob poker database.

$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 563

Blair Hinkle limped on the button and Ivan Ruban checked his option in the big blind.

They checked to the turn of a board where Hinkle bet 225,000. Ruban check-raised to 675,000 and Hinkle called.

The river was the , Ruban shoved for effectively 1,700,000, and Hinkle thought for a bit before he called with for eights and fours.

Ruban tabled for a full house, fours full of eights, to win the pot and the $1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em event outright for $107,125.

Blair Hinkle, the original SHRPO champion, finished runner-up for $73,425.

$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 563

After a chop and a double, George Dolofan raised all in for 225,000 from the button. Ivan Ruban called in the small blind and Blair Hinkle called in the big blind.

They checked to the river of a board where Hinkle isolated the pot with a bet and showed for sevens and deuces, besting Dolofan’s .

Dolofan finished in third place for $48,500.

Ivan Ruban  –  8,900,000  (89 bb)
Blair Hinkle  –  2,350,000  (24 bb)
George Dolofan  –  Eliminated in 3rd Place  ($48,500)

$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 563

On the next hand after the set-over-set confrontation, Gary Gelman raised all in for about 1,600,000 from UTG/cutoff and Ivan Ruban called from the button. With a potential pay jump in play, George Dolofan folded his big blind with just 75,000 behind.

Gelman showed , but Ruban tabled for the second hand in a row.

The board ran out , safe for Ruban to eliminate Gelman in fourth place.

Ivan Ruban  –  7,850,000  (79 bb)
Gary Gelman  –  Eliminated in 4th Place  ($34,360)

$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 563

George Dolofan raised to 300,000 from UTG/cutoff, Ivan Ruban three-bet to 975,000 from the small blind, and Dolofan called.

The flop came down , Ruban continued for 425,000, Dolofan raised all in with a covering stack, and Ruban called all in for 2,425,000 with for a set of aces. Dolofan showed for a set of sixes.

The turn locked it up for Ruban with quad aces, rendering the river moot.

Ivan Ruban  –  7,000,000  (70 bb)
George Dolofan  –  275,000  (3 bb)

$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 563

George Dolofan  –  4,125,000  (41 bb)
Gary Gelman  –  2,650,000  (27 bb)
Blair Hinkle  –  2,250,000  (23 bb)
Ivan Ruban  –  2,225,000  (22 bb)

1st:  $107,125 + SHRPO trophy
2nd:  $73,425
3rd:  $48,500
4th:  $34,360

5th:  Kharlin Sued  –  $26,385
6th:  Nellie Park  –  $21,700
7th:  Kevin Naim  –  $18,000
8th:  Zoltan Czinkota  –  $14,325
9th:  Soheb Porbandarwala  –  $10,760

$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 563

Kharlin Sued raised all in for 805,000 from the cutoff and Blair Hinkle isolated the action from the small blind with a shove of his own.

Sued: 
Hinkle: 

The board ran out , no help to Sued, ending his tournment in fifth place.

Blair Hinkle  –  2,200,000  (28 bb)
Kharlin Sued  –  Eliminated in 5th Place  ($26,385)

$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 563

George Dolofan  –  4,990,000  (62 bb)
Blair Hinkle  –  2,165,000  (27 bb)
Ivan Ruban  –  1,805,000  (23 bb)
Gary Gelman  –  1,690,000  (21 bb)
Kharlin Sued  –  605,000  (8 bb)

1st:  $107,125 + SHRPO trophy
2nd:  $73,425
3rd:  $48,500
4th:  $34,360
5th:  $26,385

6th:  Nellie Park  –  $21,700
7th:  Kevin Naim  –  $18,000
8th:  Zoltan Czinkota  –  $14,325
9th:  Soheb Porbandarwala  –  $10,760

$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30:  30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 563

Nellie Park raised all in for 165,000 from under the gun, Kharlin Sued called on the button, George Dolofan reraised all in from the big blind for about 2,600,000, and Sued folded.

Park: 
Dolofan: 

The board came down , no help to Park, ending her tournament in sixth place.

George Dolofan  –  3,050,000  (51 bb)
Nellie Park  –  Eliminated in 6th Place  ($21,700)

$1,100 Big 4 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30:  30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 563

Kevin Naim raised all in for 705,000 from the cutoff and Kharlin Sued thought for a bit before he called from the big blind with a slightly covering stack.

Naim: 
Sued: 

The board came , giving Sued a set of nines to eliminate Naim in seventh place.

Kharlin Sued  –  1,600,000  (27 bb)
Kevin Naim  –  Eliminated in 7th Place  ($18,000)