2017 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open 
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida 
Event 16
$250 No Limit Hold’em 
Entries: 91 
Prize Pool: $30,000 
November 29, 2017 

Dennis O’Connor’s 2017 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open got off to a rough start, but he finished strong with back-to-back final tables and a win to close out his series.

O’Connor defeated 91 entries in the $250 no limit hold’em on the final day of the series. He took first place as part of a three-way chop and earned $6,000.

“It feels wonderful,” said O’Connor. “It was a long series for me. I didn’t cash in much. So, finishing up the last day was very much needed.”

The Pennsylvania native made two final tables in as many days after finishing sixth yesterday in the $300 HORSE. Despite, by his own admission, pretty green in 60% of the games in the mix, it was a nice confidence boost heading into Wednesday’s $250 no limit hold’em.

“The HORSE defnitely helped me out a lot because I was busting out of so many tournaments prior to that,” said O’Connor. “So, when I finally finished up int he HORSE tournament, especially since thy weren’t my strongest games, that helped a lot.”

O’Connor was comfortable in the two flop games, but avoided the stud variants until he was forced into some pots at the final table, which is what inevitably sent him to the rail.

On Wednesday, he was playing a game he was playing a game that he’s made a living playing for the last three years. O’Connor has been making his living playing no limit hold’em cash games for the last three years.

He is new to the tournament scene, however, having only started playing tournaments a month ago at a tournament stop in Jacksonville. He talked to a few friends of him and worked on his tournament game.

His early tournament success brought him down to South Florida to take his shot at this tournament series.

“I just came in for the series,” said O’Connor. “I have a couple of friends that have done very well in some tournaments and stuff. I just started playing tournaments last month.”

It’s no surprise that O’Connor enjoys Florida after his success. He just recently sold his house in Pennsylvania and is traveling around the country for the next few months playing cards and looking for a new place to live.

He might just become a new regular at the Hard Rock.

“I love Florida overall,” said O’Connor. “And the poker scene in Florida is wonderful.”

Results:

1st: Dennis O’Connor – $6,000*
2nd: Kane Lai – $5,800*
3rd: Adam Koppel – $4,996*
4th: Daren Stabinski – $1,890
5th: Mitchell Mantin – $1,470
6th: Daiane Mendes – $1,230
7th: Eric Rivnki – $1,065
8th: Matthew Yorra – $947
9th: David Moreno – $839
10th: Alain Rodriguez – $735
11th: Gregory Baird – $735
12th: Jesse Hatfield – $735
13th: Ethiel Garcia – $638
14th: Butchie Mitchell – $638
15th: Marc Kropf – $638
16th: Syed Shah – $548
17th: Lev Parnas – $548
18th: Solange Lucas – $548

• Download: Final Results (PDF)