$200 August Deep Stack Special $100,0000 Guaranteed | Structure Return to Level 13: 1,500/2,500 with a 2,500 ante Players Remaining: 21 of 163
Flight A: 52 Entries; 7 Advanced Flight B: 111 Entries; 14 Advanced Flight C: Thursday at 11 am Flight D: Thursday at 6 pm Flight E: Friday at 11 am Flight F: Friday at 6 pm Flight G: Saturday at 11 am Day 2: Sunday at noon
That’s a wrap on the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, one of the best series we run during the year, packed with 63 trophy events and more than its share of great memories.
McKeehen put his name on a very talented list of SHRPO Champions:
2013 – Blair Hinkle 2014 – Dan Colman 2015 – Omar Zazay 2016 – Jason Koon 2017 – Martin Kozlov 2018 – Brandon Eisen 2019 – Sean Winter 2021 – Dimitri Vorbe 2022 – Sergio Aido 2023 – Farid Jattin 2024 – Paul Snead 2025 – Jake Cody 2026 – Joe McKeehen
On the other end of the schedule, we kicked off the series with a $300 Quad Stack Slater Scoops tournament in the Grand Ballroom hosted by our friend Andy Slater. And boy did the players come out.
It seemed like every day we woke to a new record or milestone.
Early in the series, our all-time wins leader went back-to-back with Raminder Singh winning a $300 Bounty and $300 Deep Stack in consecutive days.
Not content with two titles, Singh won two more in the final week and became the first player in our history to win four trophies in a single series. Those wins plus 11 total cashes in the series earned Singh the top spot on our SHRPO Tournament Leaderboard.
But he wasn’t alone at the top of the leaderboard because Jean Laurent went on a win streak of his own. One day after Singh won his fourth title, Laurent won a $400 Deep Stack for his fourth of the series. He kept pace with Singh in the leaderboard chase but had to settle for second.
Yuval Bronshtein was late to the festivities, but he added two more trophies to his case to stay solidly in second on our all-time wins list.
Raminder Singh – 20 wins Yuval Bronshtein – 18 wins David Shmuel – 13 wins Matt Bretzfield – 12 wins Michael Newman – 12 wins Phil Hui – 12 wins
The SHRPO Championship capped our Big 4 tournament schedule while Justin Zaki won the $25K Big High Roller, Mehmet Siginc captured the $3,000 Big 4 Deep Stack title, and Jay Jay Wilson took home the $1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack trophy.
Loni Hui had a nice run during the series, winning her fourth major SHRP trophy in the $800 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 event and finishing third in the SHRPO Championship for a cool $250,000.
Hui was also part of one of the best records we’ve set; for the first time in our history, five women earned a title in a single series (four of them outright, take that haters) out of the 59 open events.
Melanie Hochman – $600 Mixed Triple Draw Esther Petiote – $400 Triple Stack Black Chip Bounty Loni Hui – $800 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 Maria Hernandez – $1K Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em Michelle Ceglarek – $400 Black Chip Bounty
Click to enlarge image
Thanks to everyone who came out to support the series; we appreciate you and hope to see you at the next one.
We have the Everglades Poker Open right around the corner and the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open in November.
We have a lot of things to get to now that we’ve wrapped up the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open and the first order of business is making the SHRPO Tournament Leaderboard official.
With 11 cashes during the series (out of 59 qualifying events!) including four titles, Raminder Singh stormed ahead early in the series and only improved over the two-week run. Our all-time wins leader earned a $10,400 seat in the WPT Championship plus $1,600 in cash and a special guitar trophy.
Jean Laurent was in contention the entire series with four wins of his own plus two other final tables. He locked up second place and also earned a $10,400 WPT Championship plus $1,600 in cash.
John Daly, Niko Gianno, and Sergiy Alariki rounded out the top five spots and won a $3,500 seat into the 2026 MSPT Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Championship in November plus $500 in cash.
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 43 $5,300 SHRPO Championship $3,000,000 Guaranteed Entries: 673 Prizepool: $3,262,704 August 7-11, 2026
SHRPO Champion Joe McKeehen (left) and Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood Poker Tournament Manager Jason Heidenthal
There were 673 entries in the five-day $5,300 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship, and after an incredible final table that played out very quickly and then very slowly, Joe McKeehen defeated David Greufe heads-up to win the title, the trophy, and $462,600.
“Down here in Florida, I don’t feel like I’ve ever done as well as I should have,” said McKeehen, who won the WSOP Main Event in 2015 and has more than $22 million in career live tournament earnings. “It feels like every time I get into the situation, I just can’t. This time around, I was very focused.”
McKeehen started the final table third in chips with 59 big blinds, behind chipleader David Greufe (130 big blinds) and Loni Hui (108 big blinds). This was the lineup:
Seat 1. Joe McKeehen – 4,400,000 (59 bb) Seat 2. Loni Hui – 8,125,000 (108 bb) Seat 3. Darren Rabinowitz – 1,275,000 (17 bb) Seat 4. Jose Nadal – 1,350,000 (18 bb) Seat 5. Frankie Rivera – 1,675,000 (22 bb) Seat 6. Dan Chalifour – 2,400,000 (32 bb) Seat 7. David Greufe – 9,725,000 (130 bb) Seat 8. Eddie Pak – 1,650,000 (22 bb) Seat 9. Robert-Andrei Burlacu – 2,075,000 (28 bb)
“The way the chips were distributed at the beginning was really weird,” said McKeehen. “You had two people with a lot. Me in third place, kind of in the middle, and everyone else was not that deep. So it was actually a really weird situation for me. I had to think about it a lot last night, especially when I saw the table draw with one of the biggest stacks [Hui] to my direct left. I had to figure out how to play it.”
Loni Hui (left) and her husband Phil Hui (background, right)
It was Loni Hui who took control of the final table early, notching three of the first four knockouts to take the lead with five players remaining.
“Honestly, I really didn’t do much at all until five-handed, when I caught a bluff for a lot of chips,” said McKeehen.
In that hand, Greufe bluffed the flop, turn, and river with ten high and no draws, and McKeehen check-called him down with a flopped top pair to win a huge pot worth 58 big blinds. (Click here for the full details on that hand.)
Greufe was able to bounce back from that hand, eliminating short stacks Frankie Rivera (fifth place) and Eddie Pak (fourth place). At that point, Hui and Greufe were once again the big stacks, with McKeehen pretty far behind.
“Even three-handed, the same two people had all the piles, and I just had a little more than I started with,” said McKeehen. “But I caught some cards and I won some big pots. It seemed every time the pot got really big, especially three-handed, I had the best hand. That was helpful.”
Two key hands came against Hui.
First, McKeehen check-called all three streets against Hui. Unlike Greufe in that earlier hand, Hui wasn’t bluffing and turned over , but McKeehen flopped trip queens with to win a pot worth 58 big blinds. That pot evened up McKeehen and Hui with 82 big blinds each, leaving Greufe in the lead with 106 big blinds. (Click here for the full details on that hand.)
A short while after that, Hui four-bet all in preflop with , but she ran into McKeehen’s . The best hand held up, and Hui was eliminated in third place. (Click here for the full details on that hand.)
To summarize the final table to this point, seven players busted in a little more than three hours — barely more than two of the 90-minute levels. There were seven all-in-and-call situations, and the short stack lost every single time.
David Greufe (left) and Joe McKeehen (right)
The heads-up battle would be a completely different story. These were the official counts at the start of heads-up play:
Joe McKeehen – 19,925,000 (159 bb) David Greufe – 13,750,000 (110 bb)
“I knew it was going to be a really long heads-up battle,” said McKeehen. “We both started over 100 big blinds deep, because all those people busted really fast. It was a very, very thoughtful tournament. I had to use all my brain power.”
Heads-up play lasted longer than the rest of the final table to that point, and McKeehen summed it up rather well.
“The heads-up was crazy,” said McKeehen. “I immediately had like a 20-to-1 chip lead, but he came back, and he had me at almost 20-to-1 himself, and then I somehow pulled it off.”
The key hand early in heads-up was when Greufe bluffed all three streets on a board of with , and McKeehen check-called him down with a flopped pair of sixes that rivered a flush, turning over . That gave McKeehen an 18-to-1 chip lead, and it looked like heads-up would be over much sooner than expected. (Click here for the full details on that hand.)
But Greufe bounced back, doubling up five times over the next hour or so to take the lead. And because they were relatively deep, only one of those hands was all in preflop.
Runner-Up David Greufe
In that fifth double-up hand, they got it all in on the river with the board showing . McKeehen bet, Greufe moved all in, and McKeehen tank-called with for trip tens. But Greufe turned over for trip tens with a slightly better kicker to earn the double-up and take a nearly 3-to-1 lead. (Click here for the full details on that hand.)
“I couldn’t fold three of a kind to him, and I really wanted to. I got pipped by one,” said McKeehen about that hand. “I thought that might have been the end of it, but luckily I had some chips left.”
A short while later, they played a hand to the river on a board of . With 2.7 million in the pot, Greufe bet 300,000, McKeehen raised to 3,000,000, and Greufe three-bet shoved all in. McKeehen snap-folded, leaving himself with just nine big blinds. (Click here for the full details on that hand.)
It took a while, but McKeehen was able to grind his way back to only a 2-to-1 deficit, when they played a big hand on a board of . Greufe check-raised the flop, bet the turn, and shoved the river with for a ten-high straight. But McKeehen snap-called with for an ace-high flush to turn the tables and take a 2-to-1 lead himself. (Click here for the full details on that hand.)
Joe McKeehen
Momentum stayed on McKeehen’s side as he won a nice pot with a higher two pair to take a 4-to-1 chip lead, and not long after that Greufe shoved 15 big blinds with into McKeehen’s . The best hand held up, and McKeehen won the title, the iconic SHRPO Guitar Tower trophy, and $462,600. (Click here for the full details on that final hand.)
“We swung so much back and forth,” said McKeehen. “I ran really good for a while, then he ran really good for a while, and I ran great at the end. I just won every hand that I needed to, every time the pot got big.”
McKeehen is a regular in the big tournament series held here at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood.
“This place is great,” said McKeehen. “The dealers are incredible, and the floor staff is amazing. This place runs bigger stuff too, which is nice. I can play the $10,000, and they had a $25,000, which I fortunately had to skip this time around. I’m not sad about it.”
“And the prizepools are large,” McKeehen continued. “Not many places are getting 700 people for a $5K anymore. So this place is still drawing, and I’m happy to come every time. I’ll be back again.”
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 63 $300 Quad Stack Black Chip Bounty NLH $25,000 Guaranteed Entries: 320 Prize Pool: $47,360 Bounty Prize Pool: $32,000 August 11, 2026
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Event 63 Champion Joseph Ciavola
Event 63 of the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was The Curtain Call, a $300 Quad Stack Black Chip Bounty No-Limit Hold’em. A field of 320 entries generated a prize pool of $47,360, with an additional $32,000 set aside for bounties.
Joseph Ciavola emerged victorious, winning outright for $9,125 and a $3,500 MSPT RRPO Championship Seat in November.
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 62 $1,100 Deep Stack Six-Max Pot-Limit Omaha Entries: 65 Prize Pool: $62,920 August 11, 2026
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Event 62 Champion Andrew Ostapchenko
Event 62 of the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was a $1,100 Deep Stack Six-Max Pot-Limit Omaha, drawing 65 entries for a prize pool of $62,920.
Outlasting the field was Andew Ostapchenko, emerging victorious for the first-place prize of $20,850.
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 61 $400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em Entries: 113 Prize Pool: $37,064 August 11, 2026
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Event 61 Champion Vincent Picardi
Event 61 of the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was a $400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em, drawing 113 entries for a prize pool of $37,064. Emerging victorious was Vincent Picardi, winning outright for $10,934.
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 53 $200 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em $50,000 Guaranteed Entries: 461 Prize Pool: $72,838 August 9-11, 2026
2026 SHRPO Event 53 Champion Tomas Lauria Calvo
Event 53 of the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was a $200 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em, drawing 461 entries for a prize pool of $72,838.
Taking it down was Tomas Lauria Calvo, winning outright for $12,698.
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 59 $600 T.O.E. Entries: 50 Prize Pool: $25,900 August 11, 2026
2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Event 59 Champion Yuval Bronshtein
Event 59 of the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was a $600 T.O.E, drawing 50 entries for a prize pool of $25,900. Emerging victorious for the second consecutive night was Yuval Bronshtein, winning outright for $9,535 and his 18th SHRP major series trophy victory.
Here are Bronshtein’s 18 SHRP major series victories:
, but McKeehen flopped trip queens with 
to win a pot worth 58 big blinds. That pot evened up McKeehen and Hui with 82 big blinds each, leaving Greufe in the lead with 106 big blinds. (
, but she ran into McKeehen’s 
. The best hand held up, and Hui was eliminated in third place. (
with 
, and McKeehen check-called him down with a flopped pair of sixes that rivered a flush, turning over 
. That gave McKeehen an 18-to-1 chip lead, and it looked like heads-up would be over much sooner than expected. (
. McKeehen bet, Greufe moved all in, and McKeehen tank-called with 
for trip tens. But Greufe turned over 
for trip tens with a slightly better kicker to earn the double-up and take a nearly 3-to-1 lead. (
. With 2.7 million in the pot, Greufe bet 300,000, McKeehen raised to 3,000,000, and Greufe three-bet shoved all in. McKeehen snap-folded, leaving himself with just nine big blinds. (
. Greufe check-raised the flop, bet the turn, and shoved the river with 
for a ten-high straight. But McKeehen snap-called with 
