Gutsy Bluff Helps Gediminas Uselis Claim WPT Rock 'N' Roll Open Title ($778,490)

Jon Sofen
Senior Editor U.S.
4 min read
Gediminas Uselis

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Lithuania's Gediminas Uselis pulled off a huge bluff and then won a heads-up cooler to ship the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open for $778,490 at Wednesday's final table.

The champ is barely a month removed from another huge victory when he took down the $1,600 buy-in Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) event at Venetian in Las Vegas for $325,428.

2021 WPT Seminole RRPO Final Table Results

PlacePlayerPrize
1Gediminas Uselis$778,490
2Jacob Ferro$573,605
3Harout Ghazarian$380,000
4Selahaddin Bedir$282,380
5Clayton Maguire$211,925
6Anshul Rai$170,835

Bluffing the Bluffer

Uselis entered the final table fourth in chips, but outplayed the opposition on Day 5. He won in two ways — hitting hands at the right time and pulling off some masterful bluffs, none more so than a crucial pot he scooped with four players remaining.

In the aforementioned hand, the eventual champ bluffed a bluffer to ship the craziest pot at the action-packed final table. According to updates from the event, Uselis raised to 600,000 preflop with A♥4♦, and Jacob Ferro, holding 9♣8♣ made the call, as did Selahaddin Bedir.

The flop came out 10♦5♠4♥ and all three players checked. On the 5♥ turn, Bedir bet out 850,000, Uselis called, and then Ferro went for the check-raise bluff to 2.1 million. Bedir folded and Uselis called to see the 9♦ on the river.

Ferro went from a stone-cold bluffing hand to hitting a pair on the river and he again led out for 1.5 million. Uselis used up two time extension chips before deciding to turn his small pair into a bluff. He raised to 6 million, leaving behind less than 200,000 chips. His opponent thought for a brief moment before mucking the best hand.

No Bluff Needed on Final Hand

WPT seminole poker open

Ferro would shake off the big pot he lost earlier and laddered up to reach heads-up play against his nemesis Uselis. On the final hand, a cooler put an end to the record 1,566-entry field in the $3,500 buy-in tournament that started on November 26 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Holding a sizable chip lead, Uselis picked up QxQx and put it all in preflop against the JxJx of Ferro. Both players flopped a set, but of course the queens were superior.

The sting of coming up just short of a WPT title was lessened by the $573,605 payout for second place. Uselis received $778,490 for becoming the newest WPT Champions Club member. His name will be added to the WPT Mike Sexton Champions Cup trophy.

Along with his big win, Uselis becomes Lithuania's sixth-most winningest live tournament player in history with just over $1,450,000 in cashes according to The Hendon Mob. Tony G tops the European nation with $8.8 million.

2021 Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open Results

The 2021 RRPO consisted of 31 events, which catered to a combined 15,088 entrants and awarded $13,202,120 in prize money.

*DateTournamentEntriesPrize PoolWinnerPrize*    
November 17-21Event #1: $400 Deep Stack NLH6,196$2,044,680Michael Laufer$160,734    
17-NovEvent #2: $400 Limit Omaha 8116$53,625Jay Kerbel$11,315    
17-NovEvent #3: $200 Double Green Chip Bounty158$17,380Gabriel Ramos$3,000    
18-NovEvent #4: $400 H.O.R.S.E.115$38,525Sal Pipitone$9,068    
18-NovEvent #5: $600 Double Black Chip Bounty158$82,950Dean Salisbury$8,000    
19-NovEvent #6: $400 Pot-Limit Omaha 8125$41,875John Binns$9,000    
20-NovEvent #7: $400 Omaha 8/Stud 893$31,155Barak Zaken$9,590    
21-NovEvent #8: $400 Deep Stack NLH510$204,000Robert Brandl$23,178    
November 21-22Event #9: $1,100 Deep Stack NLH189$183,330Jesse Lott$46,020    
November 22-24Event #10: $600 Deep Stack NLH972$505,440Loni Hui$85,355    
22-NovEvent #11: $400 Six-Max PLO144$48,240Long Nguyen$12,040    
November 22-24Event #12: $150 Big Stack NLH372$44,640Scott Murawa$8,165    
23-NovEvent #13: $400 Black Chip Bounty PLO107$25,145Nancy Birnbaum$7,460    
23-NovEvent #14: $400 Six-Max NLH100$33,500Philip Whitaker$6,095    
24-NovEvent #15: $200 Double Green Chip Bounty249$27,390Andrey Kolchkov$3,104    
25-NovEvent #16: $150 Holiday Triple Stack NLH259$31,080Rosario Simone$3,221    
November 26-December 1Event #17: $3,500 WPT RRPO Championship1,566$5,011,200Gediminas Uselis$778,490    
26-NovEvent #18: $150 Big Stack NLH289$34,680Dwayne Nyholt$5,622    
27-NovEvent #19: $600 Mixed Pot-Limit Omaha85$44,625Joseph Patalano$11,443    
27-NovEvent #20: $600 Double Black Chip Bounty Turbo123$40,590Brandon Wilson$11,415    
28-NovEvent #21: $400 Black Chip Bounty NLH390$91,650Maikel Cruz$14,718    
November 28-29Event #22: $1,700 Purple Chip Bounty NLH275$275,000Luke Brereton$62,220    
28-NovEvent #23: $600 Deep Stack Turbo NLH58$30,740Mike Graffeo$8,855    
29-NovEvent #24: $1,100 Deep Stack NLH337$326,890Vinny Giuliano$68,840    
November 29-December 1Event #25: $150 Big Stack NLH1,258$150,960Alik Stinyakovsky$27,770    
November 29-30Event #26: $25,500 High Roller102$2,519,400Ali Imsirovic$695,355    
29-NovEvent #27: $400 Black Chip Bounty NLH150$35,230Micha Hoedemaker$7,685    
November 29-30Event #28: $2,200 Deep Stack PLO123$246,000Fred Goldberg$71,075    
30-NovEvent #29: $400 Seniors 50+170$56,950Zoltan Czinkota$11,045    
30-NovEvent #30: $5,000 Eight-Max NLH167$793,250Duff Charette$206,345    
30-NovEvent #31: $1,100 Deep Stack Turbo NLH132$132,000Lewe Thiesen$35,130    

*Images courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock and World Poker Tour (WPT).

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Jon Sofen
Senior Editor U.S.

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