Three Players Secure Six-Figure Scores in 2018 SHRPO Opening Event
The 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) kicked off over the weekend, and on Monday, Event #1: $570 Deep Stack NLH wrapped up. The tournament easily passed its $1 million guarantee by attracting 3,064 runners, which created a $1,532,000 prize pool.
After five days, it was Matt Edge who walked away the victor, good for $196,150 after a three-way deal with John Miller and Jay Romano, who locked up $191,788 and $159,813 respectively.
“Day 1 was rough. I was down to 10K early,” Edge told SHRPO tournament reporters. “But I played steady and progressed through the day and was able to bag up a top ten stack at the end of the day.”
Prior to the win, Edge had $76,472 in tournaments earnings including a prior career best of $18,150 for finishing 15th in the 2015 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee $1,675 Main Event.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Edge | $196,150 + Trophy * |
| 2 | John Miller | $191,788 * |
| 3 | Jay Romano | $159,813 * |
| 4 | Andre Rakusa | $94,601 |
| 5 | Noam Muallem | $76,983 |
| 6 | Tom Nguyen | $60,514 |
| 7 | Don Vu | $44,428 |
| 8 | Jeffrey Trudeau | $29,874 |
| 9 | Domenico Albano | $21,448 |
| 10 | Ido Ashkenazi | $13,788 |
*Denotes three-way deal
Among the 300 players to get paid were Daniel Fuhs (13th - $9,958), Chad Eveslage (23rd - $6,385), Tony Utnage (100th - $2,298), Will “The Thrill” Failla (121st - $1,838), Dan Heimiller (154th - $1,409), and Nancy Birnbaum (275th - $1,057).
Final Table Action
In the first hand of the final table, Ido Ashkenazi jammed the button holding jack-ten and Tom Nguyen called from the small blind holding ace-seven. An ace hit the flop and that sent Ashkenazi out the door in 10th place for $13,788.
Domenico Albano was the next to go – the result of his queen-ten failing to overcome Jeff Trudeau’s king-ten – and then Trudeau followed him out the door when he got it in with pocket kings against Edge’s jacks. Trudeau was primed to double but a jack on the flop put an end to his run in eighth place.
Don Vu then had his ace-jack lose a race to Jay Romano’s pocket eights to fall in seventh, and Nguyen busted in sixth place shortly after losing a flip with pocket tens to Romano, who doubled with king-queen after rivering a straight.
Noah Muallem took his leave after running ace-nine into the ace-queen of Edge, and then Andre Rakusa was felled by the same man. It happened when Rakusa three-bet all in holding ace-jack and Edge, the original raiser, called with pocket kings. Rakusa failed to catch and headed to the payout desk in fourth place to collect $94,601.
At that point the final three players struck a deal based on their stack sizes, and as the chip leader Edge was declared the champion.
The SHRPO will continue for the next week with the $3 million GTD Championship Event taking place August 10-14.
Photos courtesy of SHRPO
