Hard Rock Seminole Florida Poker Tournament

Valerie Cross

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Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Poker. Primary Menu Skip to content. November 2020 Daily Tournaments. October 26, 2020 @ 9:00AM by Seminole Hard Rock Staff. Daily Tournaments. December 2020; Tournament Series. Upcoming Events. 2020 Fun In The Sun; 2021 LHPO. LHPO Special Room Rates; Past Events. 2020 LHPO; 2019 RRPO; 2019 SHRPO; 2019 Showdown; Information. Acceptable Forms of ID; Buy Your Photos; Wire Transfer Instructions; Hotel Room Rates. 2021 LHPO Room Rates; Hard Rock Poker. Player of the Year. The lesson I learned from the three sessions at the Seminole Hard Rock – Hollywood poker room is that it’s certainly more likely to be profitable to play during the morning sessions midweek, if you can swing it. In the morning, the crowd skewed a LOT older (makes sense, midweek after all).

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  • The winner of the WPT® Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Package tournament will receive a VIP package to the 2020 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event running Friday, May 1, to Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The total value of each package will be $6,000 and includes.
  • Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood. 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood, Florida, USA Phone: 1-866-502-PLAY(7529). WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown.

It was a stacked final table in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown held at the Luxor HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday, May 30 with WPT Champions Club member James Carroll and Maria Ho coming in as the frontrunners, the only two players to start with over 100 big blinds.

Ho with over $3 million in live earnings was still looking for her first major title while Carroll already had a WPT title from winning the 2014 $7,500 Bay 101 Shooting Star for seven figures. Ho's bid for her first major career title would end in a third-place finish, while in the end, it would be the only two former WPT champs left to battle for another title in the $3,500 World Poker Tour Showdown Championship.

$3,500 World Poker Tour Showdown Championship Final Table Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize Money
1James CarrollUSA$715,175*
2Eric AfriatUSA$465,120
3Maria HoUSA$344,960
4Jerry WongUSA$257,815
5Ami AlibayCanada$194,610
6Chad EveslageUSA$148,380

*Includes entry to $15,000 Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Final Table Action

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One of the shorter stacks to start the day was former November Niner Jerry Wong, who found a lucky queen on the river to double early through Carroll with ace-queen versus ace-king., according to the WPT live updates.

Another short stack to start the day, two-time WPT champ Eric Afriat had to find some doubles in the early levels of play to avoid being the first player eliminated. He did so first when his ace-jack suited bested Ho's king-queen and after losing a flip to double up Chad Eveslage, Afriat was at risk again. This time he was behind, but he found an ace on the river with ace-queen to pull ahead of Carroll's pocket kings and stay alive.

'The first one felt good, but I’ve been through some super tough times for the past five years, so this feels good.”

The well-known Circuit grinder Eveslage rode the short stack for nearly 70 hands before losing a flip to Ho to hit the rail in sixth place for his largest career score at $148,380. Soon after, the only non-American finalist, Canada's Ami Alibay got his last 11 big blinds in with pocket nines and was at risk against Wong's pocket eights after Afriat folded jacks. The board ran out with four hearts though to give Wong a flush and end Alibay's tournament run in fifth.

Four-handed, the short stacks fought for their lives, Wong first doubling through Ho, who then doubled through Carroll both in blind versus blind confrontations. As Carroll's stack continued to swell as he applied pressure on his opponents, Wong slipped to eight big blinds and got them in flipping with ace-nine against Afriat's pocket fours, which held up.

The Hunt for the Title

The three-handed battle commenced with Ho trailing, but she found a double through Afriat by winning a big flip with pocket tens versus ace-queen. They couldn't shake Afriat, who found a call for his tournament life against Carroll's triple-barrel queen-high bluff with second pair to soar back into contention and close the gap for the chip lead.

As Afriat chipped up further, Ho treaded water and got her last 16 big blinds in with ace-five. Carroll looked her up with king-queen and made two pair on the turn to take down Ho's flopped pair of aces. She adds $344,960 to the $277k she earned in March for taking down the $25k LAPC High Roller. Ho now has over $3.7 million in earnings and more shots at a major title right around the corner with the WSOP freshly kicked off.

Afriat started the heads-up battle with a two-to-one chip lead over Carroll and the match went back and forth, with both players taking the lead multiple times. The third time Carroll took the lead from Afriat would be the last as he would close it out, winning a flip in the final hand by flopping trip kings with king-eight against Afriat's pocket sixes.

After just missing out on the televised WPT LAPC Main Event final table in March with a seventh-place finish, Carroll got to more than make up for it in this one. Compared to his first WPT victory which brought an even bigger payday, Carroll told WPT reporters: “This one is actually somewhat sweeter. The first one felt good, but I’ve been through some super tough times for the past five years, so this feels good.”

Carroll's win put him third in the WPT POY race and he'll have the chance to carry his momentum into the $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions that kicks off Saturday, June 1, entry for which was included in his prize money.

Hard Rock Seminole Florida Poker Tournament

Images courtesy of WPT.

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Poker in South Florida received a big boost this weekend as both the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino properties in Hollywood and Coconut Creek reopened their doors on Friday, June 12.

The properties, which have been closed since March 20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, opened under “Safe+Sound” guidelines, which include guests being required to wear a mask, temperature screenings, and a 50 percent max occupancy.

For poker players, the following precautions and procedures will be in place:

  • The poker room will run 25 of their 45 tables
  • Active tables will feature Plexiglass dividers
  • All games will be played max six-handed
  • Both players and staff will be required to wear masks
  • Cards and chips will be cleaned on a regular basis
  • Food not permitted in the poker room. Players can request a 60-minute dinner break.
  • One table or seat change allowed per session

Both Seminole properties have host prolific tournament series including Seminole Showdowns, World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit stops, and Moneymaker's Road to PSPC. The reopening come about three weeks after their sister property, Hard Rock Tampa, resumed their operations on May 21.

'Major tournament series for Seminole Hard Rock Poker have been well-established globally over the last 10 years,' the poker team at Seminole Gaming told PokerNews. 'When the time is right, these series will return with the same first-class experience that the players have come to know and love.'

The Hard Rock Tampa poker room, which opened under the same guidelines outlines above, saw an immediate demand as poker players not only flocked to the tables, but were willing to put their names on long waiting lists.

Hard Rock Seminole Florida Poker Tournament Results

'The opening of poker at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa went extremely well. It has been open for over three weeks and the tables remain full, with lists,' the Seminole poker team added. 'Much of the credit goes to Director of Poker Operations, Pablo Perez.'

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All Seminole Hard Rock properties have also been equipped with air purification and disinfecting systems

“The health and safety of our team members and guests has always been of upmost importance to our senior leadership team and Tribal Council,” Seminole Hard Rock said in a statement. “We want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to provide a safe environment for our team members and you, our loyal customers.”

It continued: “As information is changing rapidly and we are learning more daily about COVID-19 and how to stop the spread, we will continue to regularly update the Safe+Sound protocols based on facts and data provided by our partners, industry councils, as well as global and governmental agencies.”

For more information follow @SHRThePokerRoom on Twitter.

*Images courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock.

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