2018 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open 
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event 19
$1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo       
Entries: 88
Prize Pool: $88,000
November 27, 2018

Yesterday, Will Givens had a healthy stack at the final table of the $5,000 no-limit hold’em single-day final table. He busted in eighth after David Peters took most of his stack, picking off Givens’ triple barrel bluff with just second pair.

Less than 24 hours later, Givens redeemed himself. He took down the $1,100 no-limit hold’em turbo event to earn the trophy and $28,380. He defeated Alexander Gofman heads-up to topple the 88-entry field.

From the moment cards got in the air, it seemed like Givens was destined to take it down.

“I ran hot most of the day,” said Givens. “The second hand of the day I doubled up and I was just like ‘Alright, if you get there again, don’t mess it up.’ And it feels good that I got there again because usually when you mess up, you don’t get that opportunity. So it just feels amazing.”

Despite missing out on a six-figure score in yesterday’s event, Givens is just happy that he plugged a leak in his game after one of the world’s best exposed it.

“It’s a big difference with the $143,000 yesterday, but still, I’m just happy that I learned my lesson,” said Givens.

Having ran so hot early in the day, Givens came into the final table with a huge chip lead. And with everybody else so short, it wasn’t long before Givens was heads-up with Gofman for all of the proverbial marbles.

“Literally no joke. I sit down, play a few hands, looked up and we were four-handed,” joked Givens. “It was just a turbo that went fast. It was meant to be.”

With a faster structures, the average stack size shrank quickly and made for mostly preflop push/fold spots. With Givens’ extensive online poker background, the push/fold part of his game is one of his strong suits.

“I just know my shove ranges and call ranges,” said the Denver native. “I made a huge laydown against one person who jammed for 35 percent of my stack. Normally, people will call there, but it just wasn’t worth it because more chips saved are better than chips earned.”

Despite playing the tournament in the Hard Rock ballroom, Givens had flashbacks of his online tournament grind.

“Actually, back in the day, I used to ship a lot of turbos,” said Givens. “It was like I was back at home online back in the day.”

The 88-entry field paid out the top 11 spots, but a double knockout on the bubble allowed Marc MacDonnell and Paul Domb to chop the 11th place payout.

Results:

1st: Will Givens – $28,380
2nd: Alexander Gofman – $17,160
3rd: Patrick Quinn – $10,670
4th: Stephen Song – $7,216
5th: Anthony Utnage – $5,500
6th: Jake Embres – $4,400
7th: James Baune – $3,652
8th: Alberto Rodriguez – $3,080
9th: Darryll Fish – $2,838
10th: Maria Feshchenko – $2,640
11th: Marc MacDonnell – $1,232
12th: Paul Domb – $1,232