Escalator VII Series
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 2
$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guarantee
Entries:  1,592
Prize Pool:  $331,136
February 15-19, 2023

Event 2 of the Escalator VII Series was a multi-flight $250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry). Across six starting flights, a field of 1,592 entries generated a prize pool of $331,136, crushing the $200,000 guarantee.

A six-way deal was reached at the final table, and as the chip leader it was Ernesto Alvarez who was the official winner for $30,673.

“It’s incredible,” said Alvarez afterward. “This is the biggest tournament that I’ve won, and I fired one bullet. I can’t be more grateful. I played with a bunch of great guys, and we all decided to chop, and I can’t be happier. I’ve got my adrenaline rush right now, I don’t even know what to say.”

Alvarez began the day with just 67,000 in chips at the 2,000/4,000/4,000 level, sitting with 17 big blinds and in 175th place of the returning 200 players, but navigated his way through flawlessly en route to his victory. Alvarez primarily plays cash games here at the Seminole Hard Rock, but will jump in tournaments from time to time.

“I’m mostly a cash game player. I play $1-$2 here all the time, and here and there I fire tournaments if it’s a good deal, like this one. $250 isn’t going to hurt, so I’m like let’s get in there, and look where we ended up. I couldn’t be happier.”

*denotes six-way deal

$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 34:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 1,592

The remaining six players decided to run the numbers and quickly reached a deal.

Here were their chip counts at the time:

Ernesto Alvarez  –  7,950,000  (27 bb)
David Vurgait  –  6,250,000  (21 bb)
Charlemagne Benjamin  –  6,100,000  (20 bb)
Quan Phui  –  5,800,000  (19 bb)
Eric Kolodny  –  3,350,000  (11 bb)
Cangir Elcin  –  2,375,000  (8 bb)

Here were the resulting payouts:

Ernesto Alvarez  –  $30,673
David Vurgait  –  $28,374
Charlemagne Benjamin  –  $27,902
Quan Phui  –  $27,542
Eric Kolodny  –  $22,096
Cangir Elcin  –  $20,048

As the chip leader, Ernesto Alvarez was the official Event 2 champion of the Escalator VII Series for $30,673.

A recap of the event will be written later tonight.

$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 34:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 1,592

Steven Carswell raised all in for 875,000 from the hijack and Quan Phui isolated the action with a shove of his own from the cutoff.

Carswell: 
Phui: 

The flop was , giving Carswell the lead with aces and fives.

The turn was the , keeping Carswell ahead.

The river was the , drawing a roar from the table as Phui made a set of queens to eliminate Carswell in seventh place.

Quan Phui  –  5,800,000  (19 bb)
Steven Carswell  –  Eliminated in 7th Place  ($9,215)

$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 34:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 1,592

Seat 1:  David Vurgait  –  6,375,000  (21 bb)
Seat 2:  Eric Kolodny  –  4,000,000  (13 bb)
Seat 3:  Charlemagne Benjamin  –  6,100,000  (20 bb)
Seat 4:  Cangir Elcin  –  2,375,000  (8 bb)
Seat 6:  Steven Carswell  –  875,000  (3 bb)
Seat 8:  Quan Phui  –  4,175,000  (14 bb)
Seat 9:  Ernesto Alvarez  –  7,950,000  (27 bb)

With seven players remaining, the average stack is about 4,550,000  (15 bb).

1st:  $52,600 + Trophy
2nd:  $35,100
3rd:  $25,025
4th:  $18,645
5th:  $13,990
6th:  $11,275
7th:  $9,215

$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 33:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 1,592

Adi Amit raised to 750,000 from the cutoff, Ernesto Alvarez reraised all in from the big blind for about 4,100,000 from the big blind and Amit called all in for about 3,700,000.

Amit: 
Alvarez: 

The board came , no help to Amit, ending his tournament in eighth place.

Ernesto Alvarez  –  8,075,000  (32 bb)
Adi Amit  –  Eliminated in 8th Place  ($7,190)

$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 33:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  8 of 1,592

Charlemagne Benjamin raised all in for 1,150,000 from middle position, Steven Carswell called in the cutoff, Ernesto Alvarez reraised all in from the big blind with a bigger stack and Carswell folded face up after about 10 seconds.

Benjamin: 
Alvarez: 

The board ran out , giving Benjamin a pair of kings to triple up.

Charlemagne Benjamin  –  3,825,000  (15 bb)
Ernesto Alvarez  –  4,700,000  (19 bb)
Steven Carswell  –  1,450,000  (6 bb)

$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 33:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  8 of 1,592

David Vurgait raised to 600,000 from middle position and Jozsef Szivos called in the big blind.

The flop was and Szivos checked to Vurgait who continued for 400,000. Szivos raised all in for 1,300,000 and Vuragit called with for the nut straight, leading Szivos’ .

The turn gave Szivos outs to a flush and full house, but the river was the to eliminate Szivos in ninth place.

David Vurgait  –  6,775,000  (27 bb)
Jozsef Szivos  –  Eliminated in 9th Place  ($5,458)

$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 ante
Players Remaining:  9 of 1,592

Seat 1:  David Vurgait  –  4,500,000  (23 bb)
Seat 2:  Eric Kolodny  –  5,225,000  (26 bb)
Seat 3:  Charlemagne Benjamin  –  2,200,000  (11 bb)
Seat 4:  Cangir Elcin  –  4,125,000  (21 bb)
Seat 5:  Adi Amit  –  5,400,000  (27 bb)
Seat 6:  Steven Carswell  –  2,800,000  (14 bb)
Seat 7:  Jozsef Szivos  –  2,400,000  (12 bb)
Seat 8:  Quan Phui  –  2,300,000  (12 bb)
Seat 9:  Ernesto Alvarez  –  2,900,000  (15 bb)

1st:  $52,600 + Trophy
2nd:  $35,100
3rd:  $25,025
4th:  $18,645
5th:  $13,990
6th:  $11,275
7th:  $9,215
8th:  $7,190
9th:  $5,458

$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 ante
Players Remaining:  9 of 1,592

Adi Amit raised to effectively 2,050,000 from the small blind and Frank Naranjo thought for a little while before he called all in for that amount.

Amit: 
Naranjo: 

The board ran out , giving Amit a pair of kings to eliminate Naranjo on the final table bubble.

Adi Amit  –  5,400,000  (27 bb)
Frank Naranjo  –  Eliminated in 10th Place  ($5,458)

$250 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  75,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante
Players Remaining:  10 of 1,592

Adi Amit opened to 475,000 from under the gun, Steven Carswell reraised all in with a covering stack in the big blind and Amit called all in for 1,675,000.

Amit: 
Carswell: 

The board ran out , giving Amit aces and deuces to double through Carswell.

Adi Amit  –  3,575,000  (24 bb)
Steven Carswell  –  1,750,000  (12 bb)