Vittorio Maraone and Nick Shkolnik Top Field of 2,923 At SHR
The big reentry events at Seminole Hard Rock in Florida are fast becoming some of the most anticipated on the poker calendar, and the $570 Reentry at Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown was no different. This time, players fired in 2,923 entries over the course of six starting flights, creating a prize pool of $1,461,500 that cruised past the guarantee of $1 million.
Vittorio Maraone, who had but a single cash for $1,144 in his recorded live poker endeavors, emerged as the unlikely champion, taking home $212,532 after a heads-up deal with Nick Shkolnik. The latter received $206,530, with the former also pocketing a seat in a 14-player freeroll that will award two World Poker Tour seats for the big upcoming events at SHR.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vittorio Maraone | $212,532* |
| 2 | Nick Shkolnik | $206,530* |
| 3 | Alex Rocha | $107,961 |
| 4 | William Kopp | $91,781 |
| 5 | Teddy Conner | $76,144 |
| 6 | Kazu Oshima | $60,652 |
| 7 | Will Underdown | $45,307 |
| 8 | John Dubois | $30,692 |
| 9 | Thomas Gari | $21,923 |
| 10 | Jessica Dawley | $14,615 |
Reflects heads-up deal
The massive field paid out to 250th place. Harrison Gimbel, Josh Beckley, Mukul Pahuja, Jake Bazeley, Christian Harder, Asher Conniff, Matt Waxman and Olivier Busquet were some of the star players making runs into the money but coming up short of the final table.
When Mark Dube was eliminated in 11th after losing a race to John Dubois with sevens against A♠K♠, the final table was set. According to the live updates, Alex Rocha and his $1.6 million in cashes led the way, but he had just 46 big blinds and it was a tightly bunched group overall with Maraone and Shkolnik not far behind.
Things broke Shkolnik's way when he got in a three-way all in with J♦J♣ against the K♠K♣ of a short-stacked Jessica Dawley and the A♠Q♥ of Thomas Gari. A jack-high flight sent the pot Shkolnik's way and notched him the first two eliminations.
Shkolnik followed that up with another knockout, this time of Dubois. Each player flopped top pair on a board of Q♥J♥A♦6♠J♣, but Shkolnik's king kicker trumped Dubois, whose ten didn't even play. They got stacks in on the river and Shkolnik surged into the chip lead.
Not to be outdone, Rocha picked up an ace-king of his own and used it to send away Will Underdown in seventh. The latter got his 11 big blinds in preflop with ace-queen and managed to find a queen on the flop. However, it was followed in short order by a king on the river.
After Shkolnik busted Kazu Oshima with tens against threes, Maraone got things in gear. At 125,000/250,000/25,000, Maraone raised from the small blind and called the shove of Teddy Conner, who had 6 million in the big blind.
Maraone: 4♦4♥
Conner: A♦7♥
The key flip went Maraone's way as the board ran out 10♣3♦2♠6♠K♠, moving him up past 15 million in chips.
At that point, the final four players engaged in the first discussions of a deal, but nothing would ultimately be hammered out.
Rocha was the shortest stack left but that changed when his fives held up against the A♣3♦ of William Kopp, reducing Kopp to just a couple of big blinds. Maraone eliminated him shortly thereafter.
Rocha still trailed his two opponents, but that changed when he and Maraone saw a 9♦5♠4♠ flop. Rocha held jacks and Maraone couldn't get away from 9♠6♣, doubling his opponent up so that they were almost even around 65 big blinds. However, it wouldn't wind up mattering. Rocha got a bluff picked off by Maraone and then got in an open-ended straight draw against Maraone's two pair and missed for his remaining chips.
Both Shkolnik and Maraone were amenable to another discussion at that point, and they didn't need much time to make a deal that secured each player over $200,000.
Photo courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock
