The 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship (SHRPO) concluded late last night after a long heads-up battle between Omar Zazay and Brian Phillis. Zazay came out on top, notching just his second recorded live tournament win and perhaps more importantly, his first million dollar payday.
This was the third year for the SHRPO and, as described in previous articles, it has been a downward trend for the tournament. For its debut in 2013, tournament organizers went out on a limb and guaranteed a $10 million prize pool for the $5,250 buy-in tourney. They weren’t disappointed, as 2,384 players registered, creating a prize pool of nearly $12 million. The next year, the Seminoles weren’t so fortunate. With several competing tournaments on the calendar at the same time, the SHRPO couldn’t draw as big of a crowd and ended up with a $2.5 million overlay. A guarantee was a guarantee, though, so the prize pool was set at $10 million.
This year was a little different. The guarantee was cut in half to $5 million and the tournament was changed to a freezeout rather than a re-buy event. After house fees and dealer tokes were taken out of the buy-in, about 1,031 players were needed to hit the guarantee. Only 907 signed up, so once again, there was an overlay – this time it was just over $600,000.
That said, it was still a well-regarded tournament (and what player wouldn’t love an overlay). Zazay told SHRPO reporters, “It was amazing. It was a great set-up. The Hard Rock did a great job setting up a big event like this. It was a huge success. All the players are happy and everyone that played got their money’s worth and I hope they do it again. Congrats to the Hard Rock – they did an amazing job.”
Zazay was part of an interesting final table. Brian Phillis, the aforementioned runner-up, is a local poker dealer who seems to be quite popular amongst the players. Then there was Larry Mocchia, a regular cash game player at the Seminole Hard Rock who decided to test his skills in a satellite on a whim and not only ended up qualifying, but turned it into a $220,000 payday. Also at the final table was Paul Volpe, one of the hottest players on the tournament circuit and one of the leaders on the Global Poker Index. The man most people were probably watching, though, was defending SHRPO champ, Dan Colman. His win last year was part of an incredible tournament run that saw him win over $22 million in 2014, including the WSOP Big One for One Drop (and while that was worth over $15 million alone, that means he still won $7 million in other tournaments).
In the end, though, it was Omar Zazay who took the million dollar first prize, finally beating Phillis after more than 100 hands with A-6 over A-5.
Afterwards, he told SHRPO live reporters that he knew he was in for a tough time when it got near the end. “Getting down three-handed with Dan Colman was definitely a sticky situation,” he said. “I had him on my right so I had a little edge on him. I was trying to do the best I could against him and not give him chips so he could use them against me. I picked my spots well. The heads-up was a lot going on. I know I really wanted this title so I tried my best to win. I think he had me at almost a 3 to 1 chip advantage. I just took it one hand at a time and slowly edged my way to the win.”
Zazay added, “It’s an amazing feeling. This is very huge for me. It been a lot of hard work. I played a lot of poker and come up short lots of times and feel like I can do better so it’s good to accomplish a big title under my belt.”
2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship – Final Table Results
1. Omar Zazay – $1,000,000
2. Brian Phillis – $575,000
3. Dan Colman – $310,000
4. Larry Mocchia – $220,000
5. Randy Pfeifer – $180,000
6. Joseph Couden – $150,000
7. Vladislav Mezheritsky – $125,000
8. Paul Volpe – $100,000
9. Rick Alvarado – $75,000
