Jason Koon and ‘Mad’ Marvin Rettenmaier were amongst the big winners in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Big 4 in Florida with $7.5m in guarantees on the tables.
The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) Big 4 has become one of the live poker tournament highlights of the year, but the organisers need to get the whiteboard out because the $5,250 Main Event missed the guarantee for the third successive year.
The SHRPO first burst onto the scene in 2013 when Blair Hinkle defeated 2,384 entrants to capture the $1.7m first prize, and the $12m+ kitty easily surpassed the $10m guarantee. However, the Seminole’s lost that profit a year later when they missed the guarantee by $2.5m.
The tribe reacted by cutting the 2015 guarantee in half, but they still had to hand over close to $500,000 in added juice after the players failed to show in the numbers the tribe were foreseeing.
This year’s $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) Championship Freeze-Out carried a $5m Guarantee. It was part of the Big 4 – a quartet of the festival’s major events where the final tables played out simultaneously, filmed by Poker Night in America (PNIA), and broadcast across the world via Twitch.
847 entrants created a $4,446,750 prize pool (a shortfall of $553,250), and Jason Koon picked up his first major title of his career after beating his former roommate and Padawan, Seth Davies, in heads-up action.
Koon, who began the final table third in chips, banked $1m for the win. It was the first time he had earned a seven-figure score. The man with arms bigger than my neck has now made over $5.2m in live tournament earnings, and both of his biggest scores have come in 2016. In July he earned over $500,000 by winning a $25k Aria High Roller event.
Final Table Results
1. Jason Koon – $1,000,000
2. Seth Davies – $575,000
3. Timothy Burt – $310,000
4. Roman Valerstein – $220,000
5. Thomas Midena III – $180,000
6. Joe Serock – $150,000
7. Paul Balzano – $125,000
8. Ryan Fair – $100,000
9. Zo Karim – $75,000
‘Mad’ Marvin Rettenmaier Wins The High Roller
The $25,500 High Roller Re-Entry carried a $1m guarantee, and the arrival of 105 entrants spared further blushes. The last man seated was ‘Mad’ Marvin Rettenmaier. The German pro picked up $787,497 for his win, taking his calendar year earnings into seven-figures for the first time since his $2.5m haul back in 2012.
The victory is Rettenmaier’s third High Roller title. He won the $10,000 WPT Merit Cyprus Classic High Roller in 2013 for $182,205, and the €10,000 High Roller at EPT9 Prague for €365,300. The Seminole victory is his biggest score since that win in Cyprus three years ago.
Rettenmaier came into the final table 6/9 in chips. 2010 SHRPO Main Event final table member, Ray Qartomy held the chip lead until Rettenmaier eliminated him in third position AA>KK to set up a heads-up encounter with the 2014 SHRPO Main Event winner Dan Colman.
According to reports on the SHRPO blog, Rettenamier was in control of the heads-up match for most of the action despite losing the lead once during the fight. He has now earned over $6.2m in live tournament earnings.
Final Table Results
1. Marvin Rettenmaier – $787,497
2. Daniel Colman – $485,625
3. Ray Qartomy – $291,375
4. Nick Petrangelo – $190,313
5. Daniel Strelitz – $147,000
6. Barry Hutter – $120,750
7. Rainer Kempe – $102,375
8. Andjelko Andrejevic – $89,250
9. Francisco Picasso – $78,750
College Student Wins The $2,650 Freeze Out
A Princeton student took down the $2,650 NLHE Freeze-Out event marking his first live tournament cash of his life.
21-year old, Bradley Sindler, who defeated 594 entrants, is the first poker player I have ever heard credit watching poker on Twitch as his gateway drug.
Sindler came to the final table with a big chip lead, and eventually beat the Irish pro-Dermot Blain in heads-up action.
Final Table Results
1. Bradley Snider – $246,400
2. Dermot Blain – $147,800
2. Nicholas Immekus – $88,400
4. Koray Aldemir – $73,900
5. Jeffrey Chang – $61,600
6. Alex Wilson – $49,300
7. Dan Heimiller – $37,700
8. James Gilbert – $30,800
9. Jerry Wong – $25,575
Ruslan Dykshteyn Wins The $1,100 Re-Entry
Rounding off the Big 4 was an impressive win from the Florida-based pro-Ruslan Dykshteyn. Dykshteyn defeated 828 entrants, including a final table boasting the likes of Marsha Wolak, Aaron Massey, and Daniel Buzgon.
The Seminole Hard Rock is a home from home for Dykshteyn. In 2014, he was runner-up in a side event as part of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown earning close to $100,000. In the springtime, he won $184,705 by topping a field of 2,923 entrants in the $570 NLHE Deepstack event at the same venue beating Robert Mizrachi in heads-up action. Ruslan Dykshteyn is also a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) gold ring winner.
Final Table Results
1. Ruslan Dykshteyn – $151,100
2. Phillip Hui – $87,600
3. Marsha Wolak – $52,900
4. Jordan Joeckel – $45,300
5. Guy Smith – $37,800
6. Adam Krach – $30,200
7. Aaron Massey – $22,700
8. George Boyadjian – $18,900
9. Daniel Buzgon – $15,500
