Daniel Swartz Wins the Hollywood Poker Open Columbus Main Event

Daniel Swartz Wins the Hollywood Poker Open Columbus Main Event

Daniel Swartz wins the Hollywood Poker Open Columbus Regional Main Event after beating Nick Pupillo in heads-up action to take the $70,560 first prize.

Daniel Swartz is the latest Hollywood Poker Open (HPO) champion after beating an in-form Nick Pupillo in heads-up action at the Hollywood Casino in Columbus.

Daniel Swartz Wins the Hollywood Poker Open Columbus Main Event
[Image Credit: PokerNews]
The penultimate event of the season saw 294 entrants stump up the $1,115 buy-in, thus contributing a $294,000 prize pool. The event carried a $100,000 guarantee, so no sweat for the HPO team.

The Hollywood Casino Columbus put on quite a show. There were 32 events with buy-ins ranging from $70 to $1,115, and Swartz walked away with a top prize of $70,560, and a seat in the $2,500 HPO Championship Main Event at the M Resort in Las Vegas.

When the final table was set, all eyes were on Pupillo. Only the former Borgata Poker Open winner Dean Schulz had won any tournament of note. Pupillo is in beast mode. The Mid-Stakes Poker Tour (MSPT) sponsored pro final tabled their recent main event in Battle Creek, finishing in sixth spot for $27,031, and he also won the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Main Event in Chicago for $120,537 recently. He currently leads the Global Poker Index (GPI) Challenger Cup Top 100, a leaderboard that ranks finishes in events with buy-ins lower than $2,000.

But as great as Pupillo’s form has been, he can’t win them all. This one was reserved for Swartz, and when the chips went in for the last time, his KJss out-kicked the Kc8h, to take the title, first prize, and seat at the HPO Championships.

The HPO Championships will bring the curtain down on what has been another great year for the fledgling tour. Live satellites begin on Thursday June 25, and the $2,500 Main Event begins on Friday June 26. Last year the British Pro Simon Deadman defeated 692 entrants to take the top prize of $351,097.

Dennis Tsai will go into those championships sitting at the top of the Season 3 HPO Leaderboard with 34 points. He has a slight lead over Jerry Zehr, sitting on 32 points, and four players all tie on 30 points (Kenneth Ervin, Doug Holland, Vadim Kleydman, and Jerry Wagner). Tsai made three final tables, and grabbed a side event victory in Charles Town. Zehr picked up a second and a third in the Lawrenceburg leg.

Final Table Results

1st. Daniel Swartz – $70,560

2nd. Nick Pupillo – $43,512

3rd. Iverson Snuffer – $29,400

4th. Ryan Austin – $20,874

5th. Stephen Siska – $16,170

6th. Jeff Russell – $13,230

7th. David Ross – $11,025

8th. Patrick Smith – $9,261

9th. Dean Schultz – $7,644