Event 20: Building Fast

$1,100 Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 3: 75/150
Total Players: 97

Shannon Shorr (Tuscaloosa, AL)
Shannon Shorr (Tuscaloosa, AL)

The $1,100 Turbo is quickly climbing to a triple-digit field size and they’re all quietly grinding away in the smaller meeting room as the huge SHRPO Championship Mega satellite takes up most of the ballroom.

A lot of top players are in the game including Shannon Shorr, Joe McKeehen, Ryan Tepen, Harrison Gimble, and Andre Crooks. Both Shorr and McKeehen had a great chance to make it to the final matches in the Heads-Up event but Shorr lost a tough one to Jonathan Little and McKeehen’s match went well into the early morning hours.

Event 20: Sprinting to the Championship

$1,100 Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 1: 25/50

2016 SHRPO Event 1B chips

It’s the last day before the SHRPO $5 Million Guarantee Championship kicks off and we have two fun, fast tournaments to play out today. The first has a nice $1,100 buy-in with a turbo structure and freeze-out format.

Event 20 kicks off in a few minutes and will hustle its way along to a winner. The bigger buy-in means a smaller field, the no re-entry part will also limit it, and the fast-moving blinds will keep up the pressure.

Players begin with 12,000 starting stacks and the tournament runs 15-minute levels from start to finish. Late registration is open until the start of Level 13 at 4:15pm but players cannot re-enter if they bust out.

  • Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
  • Late registration available until start of Level 13
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 20 Structure Sheet

Event 20: Artem Maksimov Takes Home Turbo Title

2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #20
$570 No Limit Hold’em Turbo 
Total Entries: 69
Prizepool: $34,500

Artem Maksimov Wins $570 No Limit Hold'em Turbo
Artem Maksimov Wins $570 No Limit Hold’em Turbo

Nobody wants to be outdone by their friends.

A couple weeks after Aleksandr Shevelev took down the $250 No Limit Hold’em Turbo trophy, his good friend Artem Maksimov took home a turbo title of his own.

Maksimov came out on top of a field of 69 players to win $12,075 in the $570 No Limit Hold’em on Saturday night. Maksimov and Shevelev are friends from Russia and apparently have this turbo format figured out.

“Can you believe it?” said Siberia native. “It’s the first series we play here and then we both ship a tournament. It’s not the biggest one for me, but it’s good to win. I went for two bullets in the main, so this helps.”

Maksimov moved to the South Florida area four months ago and jumped into the cash games. When he was honing his skills on the other side of the Alantic, he played a fair amount of tournaments. But in most of his time in Florida has been spent in the Pot Limit Omaha cash games.

“I didn’t play tournaments for like six months before this series,” said Maksimov. “Back in the day, I used to play a lot of tournaments in Europe, but when I moved here I started playing mostly cash games. Mostly PLO, I don’t play a lot of no limit [hold’em].”

This is Maksimov’s biggest tournament score of his career, but he finds the title more valuable than the money.

“It’s not a lot of money to me to be honest,” he said. ” But I think the trophy is much better. It’s more important to me right now because I don’t have a lot of them.”

Here is a look at the results:

1st: Artem Maksimov – $12,075
2nd: Sean Irvin – $6,555
3rd: Victor Figueroa – $4,140
4th: Aleksandr Gorelik – $3,105
5th: Nicolas Mencia – $2,415
6th: John Dollinger – $2,070
7th: Josh Hillock – $1,725
8th: Jan Eric Schwippert – $1,380
9th: Jackduyph Duong – $1,035

Event 20 Final Results

Event 20: Prizepool and Payouts

$570 Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 15: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante
Players Remaining: 11 of 69

Registration has closed, and the numbers have been finalized. This turbo event drew a field of 69 entries generating a $34,500 prizepool. That money will be shared by the final 9 players thusly:

1st: $12,075
2nd: $6,555
3rd: $4,140
4th: $3,105
5th: $2,415
6th: $2,070
7th: $1,725
8th: $1,380
9th: $1,035

The winner also receives the green glass trophy for Event 20.

Event 20: 5pm Turbo Underway

$570 Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50

Tonight’s 5pm, $570 buy-in turbo event is underway. The 20th of 30 primary Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown events, the tournament sees its players begin with 12,000 chips and they’ll log 15-minute levels throughout. Late registration and unlimited re-entry are available until the start of Level 13 (until about 8:15 p.m.)

Here’s a closer look at the structure of play:

5PM: Event 20 – $570 Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

  • Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 13
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 20 Structure Sheet

The full prize pool will be posted shortly after registration closes.

Good luck, players!

CSOP Event Recap

2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Charity Series of Poker $300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

August 14th, 2015

Total Entries:  232
Total Prize Pool:  $64,960

Event 20 Champion David Somers

SHRPO EV20 Champion DSC_4490

The Charity Series of Poker event welcomed a record-breaking field of 232 players to the Seminole Hard Rock on Friday, August 14th and the tournament raised over $33,000 for the Habitat for Humanity charity. A collection of celebrities and the biggest stars in poker came out to have some fun and give back to charity. The contestants included actors Sasha Barrese, Mekhi Pfiffer, Omar Benson Miller, and Jennifer Tilly; as well as poker players Scotty Nguyen, Phil Laak, Will Failla, and the brainchild of the CSOP Matt Stout.

A cocktail party preceded the tournament at the L Bar, so the players were all in a good mood when cards got into the air at 7 p.m. The atmosphere was a lot of fun during the early, crazy stages of the event, and many players re-entered multiple times to help pump up the prize pool for charity. The final table of ten players was reached shortly before midnight, and then play got a little more serious despite the quickly escalating blind levels.

David Somers doubled up right before the final table began when he hit runner-runner kings with pocket queens in the hole on a K-9-4-K-K board. His opponent, Ashwin Sarin, held pocket fours, and that king on the river proved to be a pivotal card in the tournament.

Somers went on a rush at the final table as notables Jessica Dawley (7th place), Eddy Sabat (6th place), and Ken Aldridge (3rd place) were eliminated. Somers scored another fortuitous double up when his Ah10s found an ace on the river of a board dealt KhJd6dJcAc to top the pocket deuces held by Nick Yunis, who was the winner of last year’s charity event.

A few hands later it was all over. Yunis moved all in preflop for 625,000 and Somers called. The last two players then tabled their hands.

Somers: Jd5d
Yunis: 8h6c

Board: Jh5s4cAcJc

Yunis was eliminated on the hand in second place, good for $5,652, and he made a valiant effort to defend his title after winning this tournament one year ago. Somers won the CSOP event, and the 19-year-old took home $9,743 in addition to a seat in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event. Somers celebrated his tournament victory with CSOP founder Matt Stout after the win. The two grew up together in the same hometown.

After the tournament Somers was asked about his deep run in the tournament. “I came in a little above average at the final table. And then I just started playing standard strategy because the hands started coming. I got queens, kings, I was winning flips, I flopped a set with threes against kings. You gotta run good and I got lucky tonight.” He also offered his thoughts about the fun atmosphere of the tournament. “I’m a 19-year-old kid trying to make a name for myself and I was sitting around with Scotty Nguyen, Jennifer Tilly, and Phil Laak. It was a great atmoshpere. The cocktail hour before the tournament was a lot of fun too.” Somers was also happy to give back to charity. “I went to a Jesuit high school and now I go to a Jesuit college, and they really stress the importance of being men and women for others. So being able to give a few bucks to help out folks who aren’t as fortunate as I am is a great thing,” said Somers.

Congratulations to our Event 20 Champion – David Somers!

1st: David Somers – $9,743
2nd: Nick Yunis – $5,652
3rd: Ken Aldridge – $3,670
4th: Tom Thomas – $2,371
5th: Ashwin Sarin – $1,721
6th: Eddy Sabat – $1,462
7th: Jessica Dawley – $1,072
8th: William “Vito” Sturiano – $780
9th: Paul Hoover – $747
10th: Chris Weber – $682

In addition to the prize money listed above, the final table players in the CSOP event received these prizes from the Seminole Hard Rock.

1st Place: Seat into the $5,250 buy-in, $5 Million Guarantee Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship

2nd Place: Hard Rock Punta Cana 6 Night Poker Package – 6 nights at Hard Rock Punta Cana double occupancy. One Punta Cana Poker Classic Main Event Entry. Round trip transport to and from Punta Cana International Airport. Unlimited premium food and beverage (all-inclusive system). 24 hour premium room service. Event gift bag. $1,500 in Resorts Credits to be used towards spa, gold, tours and other activities. $1,000 travel money.

3rd Place: Hard Rock Resort Package (USA) – $2,000 trip to USA Hard Rock property plus $1,000 travel money.

4th Place: Quarterbacks of the Century Signed Jersey

5th Place: John Elway Signed Jersey

6th Place: Dan Marino Signed Jersey

7th Place: Hard Rock Goodie Bag – Samsonite Luggage (4 piece). Panasonic underwater camera. Candle Shaving Kit. Gucci Men’s Card Case. Hard Rock Leather Duffel.

8th Place: Florida Hard Rock Dinner and 1 Night Stay plus Slash Autographed Guitar – $500 guitar value and $325 value on hotel and dinner. Redeemable at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood or Tampa.

9th Place: Hard Rock Goodie Bag – Hard Rock Leather Duffel. Gucci Men’s Card Case. Panasonic underwater camera. Jawbone Jambox. Klipsch earbuds.

10th Place: Florida Hard Rock Dinner and 1 Night Stay plus Penn & Teller Autographed Guitar – $265 guitar value and $325 value on hotel and dinner. Redeemable at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood or Tampa.

CSOP: David Somers Wins CSOP Event ($9,743) – Nick Yunis Eliminated in Second Place ($5,652)

2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Charity Series of Poker $300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

SHRPO EV20 Champion DSC_4493

Nick Yunis moved all in preflop for 625,000 and David Somers (pictured above) called. The last two players then tabled their hands.

Somers: Jd5d
Yunis: 8h6c

Board: Jh5s4cAcJc

Yunis (pictured below) was eliminated on the hand in second place, good for $5,652. It should be noted that he made a valiant effort to defend his title after winning this tournament one year ago. David Somers wins the Charity Series of Poker event, and the 19-year-old took home $9,743 in addition to a seat in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event.

SHRPO EV20 Final Table S2 DSC_4450

The hand brought a fun night here at the Seminole Hard Rock to a close. There was a record field of 232 players, and more than $32,000 was raised for the Habitat For Humanity charity. A recap of the event and an interview with CSOP founder Matt Stout will be posted early tomorrow.