Even before the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open kicked off, there were some big awards paid out in the Poker Room. We held a freeroll for our top cash players during from July with more than $65,000 in prizes up for grabs including a $30,000 PokerStars Platinum Pass to their Players No Limit Hold’em Championship in January.

The tournament was open to the first 235 players who logged at least 100 hours of play form the month of July. The top twenty players earned a prize:

1st place – $30,000 PokerStars Platinum Pass, a $5,250 entry into the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a three-night stay with a $200 food comp to Kuro
2nd place – $5,250 entry into the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a $2,650 entry into Big 4 event
3rd place – $5,250 entry into the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a $1,100 entry into Big 4 event
4th through 6th place – $2,650 entry into SHRPO High Roller satellite
7th through 10th place – $1,100 entry into Big 4 event on August 8
11th through 20th place – $570 entry into SHRPO Championship mega satellite on August 9

The tournament quickly played down to the final table but slowed when the really big prizes were in play. Grant Lasseter and Vasile Ionut Merisescu reached heads-up play and battled it out for nearly 90 minutes. Both held the lead at different points before Merisescu finished with all the chips to win the big first place package.

For his victory, Merisescu earned the PokerStars Platinum Pass which includes a $25,000 entry into their 2019 Players NL Hold’em Championship along with a six-night stay at the Atlantic Resort and $2,000 for travel expenses. He also won a seat into our Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship plus a three-night stay and Kuro comps.

Results:

1st: Vasile Ionut Merisescu
2nd: Grant Lasseter
3rd: John Dignan
4th: Matthew Milton
5th: Rolando Sacremento
6th: Matthew Kuba
7th: Brian Caits
8th: Michael Amrich
9th: Peter Fellows
10th: Nicholas Avena
11th: Faisal Ahmed
12th: Jonah Miller
13th: Zachary Mullennix
14th: Nissim Dahan
15th: Albert Palma
16th: Phillip Joffey
17th: Jonathan Pilger
18th: Mark Nahama
19th: Chad Vetstein
20th: Mario Atroce