2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 15
$2,200 Pot-Limit Omaha
Entries: 80
Prize Pool: $160,000
April 15-16, 2018

(Hollywood, Florida) – Kris Tate is a Pot Limit Omaha champion following a win in Event 15 of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. Tate defeated a strong field of 80 entries in the $2,200 buy-in event ultimately scoring an outright win of $54,080 and a token guitar pick trophy.

“I wanted the trophy, so I needed the win,” Tate said.

The trophy came up a few times during heads-up play with 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player David Prociak. The pair wanted to make a deal, but couldn’t come to an agreement that suited them both. After brief, civil deliberation on break, it was a mutual decision to continue playing to a winner.

“My friends all told me not to [chop], so once we came back it was no more chop,” Tate said.

Tate took a knock early in heads-up play, but battled back. Blinds continued to climb and despite being down in the counts, neither player was deep and Tate was drawing live. A series of pots eventually gave him the lead and he claimed victory when his two pair was good over Prociak’s missed-draw.

“It was tough the whole way,” Tate said of the late stages of play. “I was shortstacked coming into the final table — I started with 54,000.”

In addition to Prociak, there was other tough competition in the game including Mike Dentale. Day 1 play concluded with nine left and Dentale held a better than 2-to-1 advantage over the next closes player. It was a quick skid, though, as Dentale met his fate in fifth place.

“Mike just ran into some bad hands early,” Tate said. “I didn’t get much of his chips. They were spread around.”

Despite not getting in on Dentale’s downfall, Tate managed to grind out a win against some decorated competition. The victory marks just his third reported cash, first win and moved him over $175,000 in reported earnings. He is 32 years old and resides in Houston, Texas.

Final results:

1st: Kris Tate – $54,080
2nd: David Prociak – $31,200
3rd: Mike Shin – $19,520
4th: Jordan Dhanani – $13,200
5th: Mike Dentale – $10,000
6th: Jeffrey Higgins – $8,000
7th: Zhen Cai – $7,200
8th: Jeffrey Higgins – $6,400
9th: Rajesh Vohra – $5,600
10th: Eddie Ochana – $4,800