2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
$570 No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

August 11th, 2015

Total Entries:  224
Total Prize Pool:  $112,000

Recap:

Two of the hottest players in this year’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open – Iman Dan and Giorgio Medici –  battled their way through an outstanding field and each other to wind up the last two players standing with Medici winning the Event 15 title.

Following a double-elimination on a river card for Iman Dan, we reached our final table with Larry Klur, Giorgio Medici and Dan leading the way. And just a short time into it, the two ladies who had made it both went out as Abbey Daniels went out in 10th and Natalia Ribic in 9th place. Klur then put John Dubard out in 8th. Klur also had taken a large pot off Michael Wang who was then taken out by Marc Sacheli leaving him finishing in 7th place.

In the meantime, Dan and Medici were chipping away at Klur and found themselves as the two chip leaders as each just kept winning hand after hand. Medici was one card from a double elimination but a rivered pair of aces saved Jonathan Delong. But Medici did pick off Matthew Yorra in the hand eliminating him in 6th place. Medici was also the one to knock Larry Klur out of the tournament in 5th place taking the tournament down to four players.

In that final four, Dan and Medici were looming large over Marc Sacheli and Jonathan Delong. Delong did manage to pull some chips back his way but Sacheli couldn’t find any traction and went down as the event’s fourth place finisher. Then after a spirited run, Medici took out Delong in third leaving him alone with Dan heads-up. The two players were very close in chips and decided to make a deal instead of playing it out. Medici held the edge and wound up with the championship. Dan was not disappointed either as he has now been part of three chops finishing second, third and fourth in this series.

Medici took us back through the final table and the terrific players he’d faced off against to win the tournament. “We had a couple of crazy hands on this table and a lot of all-ins. It was a very tough table. Wang, Delong and Larry (Klur) were very tough adversaries. I won every single hand against Klur except one. Iman is a very good player – aggressive like me. I think it’s a coin flip with us – it was a very equalized game we had.”

The championship was quite meaningful to him and has helped him set his sights on a bigger prize. “It’s my first title on the east coast. I don’t travel here very much – I was just here one time this last year. It feels very good to win one of these events. I hope it’s going to give me the motivation for the Main Event. I would love to be at that final table. It would be a dream final table for me.”

He also was very gracious complimenting the team here at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. “The tournament staff here is great. It’s really helpful here. Whatever you ask, they’ll do for you. Security is great here too – it’s better than in Las Vegas. What they do and the way they treat us is incredible.”

Congratulations to our Event 15 Champion – Giorgio Medici!

Results:
1st:  Giorgio Medici (Las Vegas, NV) – $27,000
2nd:  Iman Dan (Los Angeles, CA) – $18,480
3rd:  Jonathan Delong (Williamsville, NY) – $10,640
4th:  Marc Sacheli (Miami, FL) – $8,624
5th:  Larry Klur (Pembroke Pines, FL) – $6,720
6th:  Matthew Yorra (Miami, FL) – $5,600
7th:  Michael Wang (Livingston, NJ) – $4,480
8th:  John Dubard (Tallahassee, FL) – $3,360
9th:  Natalia Ribac (Springfield, VA) – $2,240
10th: Abbey Daniels (Coral Springs, FL) – $1,456