Francois Zayas Turns $360 into Over $100K at Seminole Hard Rock
Seminole Hard Rock's latest monstrous reentry event, appropriately dubbed $360 Ultimate Reentry at Rock 'n' Roll Poker Open, ended Monday evening with a multi-way deal that saw seven players turn $360 into more than $50,000 after surviving a 3,570-entry field.
The most lucrative cut went to Miami resident Francois Zayas, who walked away from the negotiations with $107,793. His best cash coming into the event was just over $8,000.
“It was awesome,” Zayas told tournament reporters. “I ran good since Day 1 and today I ran like a god.”
Six of his competitors banked between $52,661 and $85,481.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francois Zayas | Miami Springs, FL | $107,973* |
| 2 | Daniel Taylor | Hensall, Canada | $85,481* |
| 3 | Song O | Tampa, FL | $85,146* |
| 4 | Benjamin Miner | Atlanta, GA | $75,070* |
| 5 | Brandon Ageloff | Coconut Creek, FL | $70,133* |
| 6 | Richard Trippensee Jr. | Sunrise, FL | $57,735* |
| 7 | Pasquale Caiazza | Davie, FL | $52,661* |
| 8 | Sam Wynder | Palm Springs, FL | $15,818 |
| 9 | Ruslan Dykshteyn | Hallandale Beach, FL | $11,205 |
*reflects seven-way deal
Originally, the tournament was set to award more than $200,000 to the first-place finisher, with 13 players surviving to make an unscheduled final day. Some players who narrowly missed the cut after late Day 2 bustouts included Hard Rock Ambassador Loni Harwood, Jonathan Hilton and Josh Beckley.
The final day began without a single player over 50 big blinds according to the live updates, but things moved quickly to a final table with start-of-day leader Daniel Taylor scoring some early knockouts en route to 10-handed play. Zayas, though, kept pace, and both players raced past 11 million at 60,000/120,000/20,000 when nobody else was above 6 million.
Final Table Action
After Tracy Potter busted his last few blinds to fall in 10th, Zayas and Taylor played a key pot that would propel Zayas to the top spot and secure him the eventual big payout. Zayas raised to 410,000 and got three callers to a 9♦3♦2♥ flop. Taylor bet out 505,000 from the big blind and Zayas made it 1.1 million. Taylor called and they went heads up to a 3♣ and then an 8♠, both of which checked through.
Zayas tabled Q♣Q♦ and took it with queens up, distancing himself from the pack.
Song O tried to put the pressure on by shoving for 2.5 million effective when Ruslan Dykshteyn raised on the button to 375,000 at 75,000/150,000/25,000, but Dykshteyn found the call button with A♣9♠ and had the lead against J♥10♠. Four bricks fell but a ten on the river doomed Dykshteyn.
Benjamin Miner then won a race to bust Sam Wynder, holding with 10♣10♦ against A♠J♦ during that same level.
That left seven players who all had very playable chip counts ranging from 3.7 million to Zayas' 13.9 million. They decided to make a deal based on those counts and Zayas, who said he only fired a single entry into the prize pool, claimed the lion's share of the money.
Photo courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock
