The festival of poker that is the finale of the World Poker Tour’s Season XV schedule has begun in Southeast Florida. Two days are in the books for the 2017 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, the first event of a trilogy of poker tournaments over the next ten days, with popular poker professional Matt Affleck atop the standings.
As expected, the players flocked to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL, for the start of the tournament on Friday. The $3500 buy in event was a true free-for-all – no limit to re-entry if you got your money to the cage before the start of Level 9 – as the chips, cards and cash were flowing over the tournament floor. By the time that registration had closed for the Showdown, 1207 entries had been received to build a prize pool of $3.862 million. 151 players would earn a share of that bounty, with the eventual champion taking home $661,283 and a seat in the WPT Tournament of Champions for their efforts.
The carnage from Day 1 was stunning to see. Of those 1207 entries, only 476 players would remain standing to see Day 2 play on Saturday. Leading the way when the cards hit the air were Alejandro Duque, who sat on 320,600 in chips and was only one of two players over the 300K mark along with Dantonio Brown (317K). Kelly Minkin (280,700), who won a 275K pot late in the final level, filled out the show slot as the attention turned towards Saturday’s action.
With so many players remaining, it was going to be difficult for the field to get to the final 151 that would earn a min-cash for their stay in the Showdown. Just like Friday, however, the players were more than willing to get their chips in action. By the time the tournament took a break for dinner, the tournament clock read 156 players remaining, making the time out for sustenance even more stressful for those in danger of elimination. Coming back after the break, WPT announcer and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton was one of those casualties, his Big Slick failing to run down Bryn Kenney’s pocket Queens to bring the tournament to 152 players.
At this point, one of the stranger things occurred. As tournament director Tony Burns announced that all tables would pause to begin hand-for-hand play, several all-in situations developed that had to be played out one-by-one. One of those participants who were all in – Fermin Micheo – came out on the wrong side of the equation, however, to finish in 152nd place and pop the money bubble without one hand of hand-for-hand play taking place.
With a min-cash of $5002 guaranteed in their pockets, several of the participants looked to attempt to build up their stacks or head to the cage to get their money. Blake Bohn and Dermot Blain would show up at the cage to collect their minimum cash payday, while Minkin would find a new opponent to fight it out with atop the standings. Minkin only seemed to increase her stack as the day wore on, building up to a high point of 1.22 million after the money bubble popped, while Ankush Mandavia, but they were both surpassed by Affleck in the final level.
Affleck had avoided the attention of many in the Seminole Hard Rock tournament room, but once he passed the million-chip mark it became difficult to miss him. On the final hand of the night, Bob Bounahra put out a raise from under the gun only to see Garrett Greer three bet him from middle position. Affleck would simply call from the button and, after Bounahra also called, a seemingly innocent 7-4-2 flop hit the felt. Bounahra checked his option and saw Greer fire out 95K. Affleck once again just called and, after Bounahra folded, another seven came. Greer and Affleck eyed each other suspiciously but checked as a Queen finished off the board. Greer put his final 300K or so in chips at risk by moving all in and, after deliberating the situation for a couple of minutes, Affleck made the call. Greer had found one of his cards on the river as he turned up his K-Q, but Affleck out-pipped him with the A-Q (Big Chick) to win the hand with his better kicker. As Greer headed to the cage, Affleck added to the monster stack of chips he’ll have to begin Day 3 with on Sunday.
1. Matt Affleck, 1.849 million
2. Eric Beller, 1.155 million
3. Phil Hui, 1.12 million
4. Ubaid Habib, 1.061 million
5. Robert Mizrachi, 1.038 million
6. Dietrich Fast, 1.02 million
7. Brandon Caputo, 1.004 million
8. Chad Eveslage, 930,000
9. Kelly Minkin, 873,000
10. Lance Howard, 849,000
The remainder of the 66 players in the field will present some potential challenges to these players. Erik Seidel, Daniel Strelitz (who can make some inroads into pushing his name into contention for the WPT Player of the Year award should he win the tournament), Dan Colman, Jason Mercier and Mandavia are all well stacked and looking to make their move to the top.
Play resumes at noon at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and should conclude with about 30 players remaining. The final table for the Showdown isn’t scheduled until April 5, so tournament officials are either drawing out the conclusion of the tournament or building in a day off for those who make the final table. For those who are out of the tournament – or would enjoy a day of mulit-tabling – the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale, the $10,000 tournament on the triumvirate of events offered by the WPT, will begin today. It is going to be hectic on the tables in the Seminole Hard Rock this afternoon as the WPT wraps up its Season XV schedule!
