2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Charity Series of Poker $330 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
There are 127 players in the Charity Series of Poker field as the first level of play comes to a close. Familiar Faces in the field include celebrities Sasha Barrese, Mekhi Phifer, Omar Benson Miller and Jennifer Tilly. Some of the biggest names in poker are also in the field, including Scotty Nguyen, Phil Laak, Will Failla, and the organizer of this CSOP event Matt Stout.
2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Charity Series of Poker $330 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Cards are now in the air for the Charity Series of Poker event. Blinds begin at 25-50 for the first 15-minute level of the night. Players start play with stacks of 10,000. Shuffle up and deal!
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is proud to host the Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) once again this summer. The company was founded to organize and promote charity poker tournament benefiting many great organizations.
This year’s event at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open will benefit Habitat for Humanity International and Habitat for Humanity of Broward County.
The tournament has a $300 buy-in and unlimited re-entries until 9pm. There will plenty of action and many opportunities to give to this worthy cause while having a lot of fun playing poker.
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has added more the $20,000 worth of prizes for the top finishers including a $5,250 seat into the $5,000,000 Guaranteed Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, a 6-night Hard Rock Punta Cana Poker Package, and other great awards. This tournament provides players with a chance to give something back to a worthy cause all while having a great time.
There will also be a $1,000 bonus for the player with the most re-entries and another $1,000 bonus for the chip leader when registration/re-enty closes courtesy of the Charity Series of Poker.
CSOP Tournament Added Prizes:
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.
2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guarantee
April 21st, 2015
Total Entries: 184
Total Prize Pool: $38,640
Recap:
The players on the final table in Event 20 seemed determined to make sure that they were the last table to play in the ballroom for this year’s Poker Showdown and they did not disappoint. A final table filled with twists, turns, table chatter and a man with nine lives took this table to the 3:30 AM mark with Alex Boytan finally making a deal with Howie Hershkovich and winning the title.
Following the eliminations of Jose Navarete in 9th, Allan Bieler in 8th and Gregory Marcus in 7th, the action slowed considerably for the final six players.
But then in rapid-fire fashion just minutes apart, Kenny Bhakta was out in 6th followed by Tony Burns in 5th. Then the knockdown-dragout conflict that seemed like it had no end was on.
Alex Boytan, Gil Morgenstern, Howie Hershkovich and Dave Albertson got to know each other very well over the next two hours. Despite the fact that the blinds were threatening to put all the players in jeopardy, they could not come an agreement and continued to trade chips. Boytan eventually got most of the chips in play but couldn’t clear the table.
Albertson kept stunning the table as he was continally winning all-in after all-in whether ahead or behind. All the while, Albertson kept up some testy table chatter with Boytan telling him he would not knock him out and he was going to come back and win the tournament.
At 3 AM, Boytan managed to finish off Morgenstern in 4th place as he hit a queen-high flush off a flop leaving Morgenstern’s pair of sevens in the rear view mirror and the players played on three-handed. Amazingly, after Albertson was down to just 35,000 chips he kept coming from behind and winning all-ins shrinking Boytan’s stack. But it was not meant to be as Hershkovich finally stopped Albertson’s streak coming from behind himself with 
against Albertson’s 
.
Boytan now found himself in a position where only a couple of blinds separated him and Hershrovich. Hershkovich offered a deal to split the money evenly forgoing the title and after some convincing, Boytan accepted and the championship trophy was his.
Congratulations to our Event 20 Champion – Alex Boytan!
1st – Alex Boytan – $9,468
2nd – Howie Hershkovich – $9,467
3rd – Dave Albertson – $4,444
4th – Gil Morgenstern – $3,130
5th – Tony Burns – $2,415
6th – Kenny Bhakta – $1,835
7th – Gregory Marcus- $1,430
8th – Allan Bieler$1,063
9th – Jose Navarrete – $753
$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 27: 20,000/40,000/5,000 Ante
After the dramatic hand that ended Dave Albertson’s night and left Howie Hershkovich only a few thousand chips behind the leader, Alex Boytan finally relented and agreed to an even split of the money and claimed the Event 20 title.
The contentious night was brought to an end with Boytan taking the title and earning $9,468 and Hershkovich finishing in 2nd place for just a dollar less at $9,467.
Congratulations to our Event 20 Champion – Alex Boytan!
$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 27: 20,000/40,000/5,000 Ante
Dave Albertson just wouldn’t go down. It turned out having the best hand pre-flop was the key to his defeat.
Albertson was in with against Howie Hershkovich’s . Albertson survived the 
flop but the 
hit on the turn. The 
came on the river and Albertson was out after dodging bullets all night.
Dave Albertson finishes 3rd for $4,444.
$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 26: 15,000/30,000/5,000 Ante
The dam has finally broke on the final four as Gil Morgenstern has gone to the payout window.
Alex Boytan and Morgenstern got it all-in (minus 5,000 chips) pre-flop and after a 
flop the other 5,000 was put in the middle. The cards were turned up with Boytan flopping a queen-high flush holding 
. Morgenstern could only turn over his 
and got no help close out his tournament.
Gil Morgenstern exits Event 20 in 4th place for $3,130.
$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 26: 15,000/30,000/5,000 Ante
We are still at four players left in Event 20. Here are the counts as we start Level 26:
Alex Boytan: 700,000
Gil Morgenstern: 485,000
Howie Hershkovich: 425,000
Dave Albertson: 220,000
$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 24: 10,000/20,000/3,000 Ante
Dave Albertson has refused to fall tonight.
Albertson has staved off elimination twice against Alex Boytan and Howie Hershrovich to stay alive here in Event 20. Albertson just doubled up through Hershrovich with his queens holding up against Hershrovich’s sevens.
He and Boytan have added some verbal sparring going to this final table with Boytan stating he would be the one to end Albertson’s night. Albertson has stood up to the fire and let him know – “Not today.”
Four players still remain here in Event 20 as we near Level 25 with a top prize of $11,980 on the line.
$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 23: 8,000/16,000/2,000 Ante
Back-to-back hands have taken two players out of Event 20.
Kenny Bhakta went down first as he pushed his stack in and Dave Albertson decided to try to take him out and called.
Bhakta showed 
against Albertson’s 
. Albertson managed to run out a flush after a board of 
ending Bhakta’s night in 6th place.
Immediately after that, Tony Burns also pushed his stack and was called by Howie Hershkovich. Burns tuned up 
and was racing against Hershkovich’s 
.
Burns could find no help as the board ran out 
and was gone in 5th place.
Burns takes home $2,415 for the 5th place finish and Bhakta wins $1,835 for 6th.
$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 21: 6,000/12,000/2,000 Ante
After a long string of moving small amounts of chips around to different players, two hands changed that in a hurry. Gregory Marcus doubled up Tony Burns when his 
lost to 
and a flopped set.
He waited out a few hands and announced all-in for 77,000 in the dark while the dealer was still shuffling. He found someone willing to play along with 
which was way ahead of his 
. Not a bad random hand he could have received but only had one live card.
Marcus was on his way to the payout desk even as the board was running out 
. He collected $1,430 for his efforts.
