2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event 1
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 2,958
Prize Pool: $1,479,000
April 4-8, 2019

Event 1 of the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown pulled in a huge crowd to start the series. Nearly 3,000 entries joined and it took an extra day for Nick Ahamdi to earn the title, his first win after several close calls.

Ahmadi has a half dozen final table appearance, including last summer in the SHRPO Black Chip Bounty, and broke through this evening to take the title along with more than $200,000.

The tournament featured six starting flights and a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. The 2,958 entries combined to push the prize pool up to $1,479,000 with the last 300 spots set to earn some cash.

Of those starting entries, we saw 423 return for Day 2 on Sunday and they quickly made it into the money before the first break. By the time Day 2 was complete, we had our final table ten set and SHRP regular Jeff Kessler was at the front of the pack.

It took a while to get some action on the extra day but soon four players would be sent to the rail in the first two levels. Gavin O’Rourke, Habib Jahangard, WSOP bracelet winner Arkadiy Tsinis, and Mohammed Tarkmani went out in quick succession and there was a brief discussion on ending the tournament right there with a deal.

But talks fell through, Ryan McKnight hit the rail soon after and Nathan Lee made a shocking exit. He was second in chips behind Kessler when the two mixed it up in the biggest pot of the tournament. After Lee and Allan Bieler were eliminated, Kessler had 70% of the chips in play at the three-handed table.

That’s where the good news ended for Kessler, former RRPO Seniors Event champion, as he sent doubles to both Ahmadi and Robert Pollmeier. He would fall out in third place to leave Ahmadi and Pollmeier heads-up with nearly identical stacks.

They counted them down, Ahmadi had a slight lead, and they decided to chop up the remaining prize pool down the middle. Each took home $209,977 while Ahmadi was crowned the Event 1 champion.

Final table results:

1st: Nick Ahmadi – $209,977 + Showdown trophy *
2nd: Robert Pollmeier – $209,977
3rd: Jeff Kessler – $108,780
4th: Allan Bieler – $91,328
5th: Nathan Lee – $74,320
6th: Ryan McKnight – $58,421
7th: Mohammed Tarkmani – $42,891
8th: Arkadiy Tsinis – $28,841
9th: Habib Jahangard – $20,706
10th: Gavin O’Rourke – $13,311
* – Denotes results of heads-up deal

• Download: Final Results (PDF)