2023 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 46
$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  515
Prize Pool:  $515,000
August 7-8, 2023

James Caroll came out on top in Event 46 on the last day of the 2023 SHRPO tournament series at Seminole Hard Rock. The final table was part of the Big 4 lineup, with the final nine set around 3:00 pm local time after three players were eliminated to start the day.

The World Poker Tour champion Carroll was on quite the heater today and he rode that path to victory, which was the first thing he mentioned in his winner’s interview.

“It was one of the strangest days of poker I’ve ever had. I think in the four hours of play I had pocket aces or pocket kings 16 times, no exaggeration. I got dealt a lot of big hands today so it would have been tough for me to not win,” said Carroll after the win with a laugh.

“It’s just nice, because the series as a whole was bad for me. I almost played the $25k instead, but I decided to try this one at the last second, and then just sort of ran up a stack. Yeah, for sure, I wasn’t at peak confidence and decided to play smaller and it worked out,” said Carroll when he was asked about a dry spell during the previous days of the tournament series affecting what he chose to play at the end of the series.

Carroll said he might take a break from the poker grind after this series, but he will be back once again for the next poker series hosted right here around Thanksgiving since he moved down here. “I live down here, so I’m just 15 minutes away now so you guys will see me in November,” said Carroll.

$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 515

Rajasekar Govindan raised to 250,000 from the button, James Carroll reraised all in with his chip-leading stack from the big blind, and Govindan called all in for about 2,700,000 with , racing with Carroll’s .

The board ran out , safe for Carroll to win Event 46 outright for $100,000.

Govindan finished runner-up for $68,100.

A recap of the event will be posted later tonight.

$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 515

James Carroll limped in for 100,000, Rajasekar Govindan raised to 300,000 from the big blind, Carroll reraised all in for 1,475,000, and Govindan called.

Carroll: 
Govindan: 

The board ran out , giving Carroll aces and kings to double up.

The next hand, on the river of a board with about 3,000,000 in the pot, Carroll was all in for 1,450,000 from the big blind and Govindan called on the button with .

Carroll, however, tabled for kings and treys to double into the chip lead.

James Carroll  –  6,000,000  (60 bb)
Rajasekar Govindan  –  4,300,000  (43 bb)

1st:  $100,000 + SHRPO Trophy
2nd:  $68,100

$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 515

Rajasekar Govindan raised to 225,000 from the button, and David Laufer called in the big blind.

The flop was , Laufer checked, Govindan went all in with a covering stack, and Laufer called all in for about 1,100,000.

Govindan: 
Laufer: 

Govindan was ahead with a pair of nines and held up through the turn and river to eliminate Laufer in third place.

Rajasekar Govindan  –  8,100,000  (81 bb)
James Carroll  –  2,200,000  (22 bb)
David Laufer  –  Eliminated in 3rd Place  ($44,815)

1st:  $100,000 + SHRPO Trophy
2nd:  $68,100

$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 515

Scott Dehm raised all in for 805,000 from under the gun, and Rajasekar Govindan called in the big blind with , racing with Dehm’s .

The board ran out , giving Govindan a pair of aces to eliminate Dehm in fourth place.

Rajasekar Govindan  –  5,525,000  (69 bb)
James Carroll  –  2,500,000  (31 bb)
David Laufer  –  2,275,000  (28 bb)
Scott Dehm  –  Eliminated in 4th Place  ($31,445)

1st:  $100,000 + SHRPO Trophy
2nd:  $68,100
3rd:  $44,815

With three players remaining, the average chip stack is around 3,425,000 (43 big blinds).

$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 515

Darren Rabinowitz  –  Eliminated in 5th Place  ($24,150)

Here are approximate chip counts for the final four players:

Seat 1.  James Carroll  –  4,300,000  (54 bb)
Seat 2.  David Laufer  –  1,580,000  (20 bb)
Seat 3.  Rajasekar Govindan  –  2,135,000  (27 bb)
Seat 4.  Scott Dehm  –  2,280,000  (29 bb)

Here are the remaining payouts:

1st:  $100,000 + SHRPO Trophy
2nd:  $68,100
3rd:  $44,815
4th:  $31,445

With four players remaining, the average chip stack is around 2,575,000 (32 big blinds).

$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 515

David Laufer had a raise just over 300,000 out on the table from the cutoff, and Scott Dehm reraised all in for 1.2 million on the big blind. Laufer called to cover so the two players tabled their cards.

Dehm:
Laufer:

Board:

Dehm doubled up to 2.6 million, and Laufer was at 1.86 million after the hand,

Scott Dehm – 2,600,000 (30 bb)
David Laufer – 1,860,000 (23 bb)

$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 515

Scott Dehm limped in for 80,000 from under the gun, Rajasekar Govindan did the same in the small blind, and Darren Rabinowitz raised to 270,000 (leaving 5,000 behind) in the big blind. Both opponents called.

They checked to the turn of a board where Govindan bet 150,000. Rabinowitz called all in for 5,000, and Dehm folded.

Govindan: 
Rabinowitz: 

The river was the , locking up the triple for Rabinowitz. Shorly thereafter, Rabinowitz doubled up and is up to about 1,900,000.

Darren Rabinowitz  –  1,900,000  (24 bb)
Scott Dehm  –  1,700,000  (21 bb)
Rajasekar Govindan  –  1,200,000  (15 bb)

Recent Eliminations
6th:  Kevin Payton  –  $20,100

$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 515

Seat 1:  James Carroll  –  3,025,000  (38 bb)
Seat 2:  David Laufer  –  1,320,000  (17 bb)
Seat 3:  Rajasekar Govindan  –  2,150,000  (27 bb)
Seat 4:  Kevin Payton  –  1,675,000  (21 bb)
Seat 5:  Darren Rabinowitz  –  750,000  (9 bb)
Seat 6:  Scott Dehm  –  1,400,000  (18 bb)

1st:  $100,000 + SHRPO Trophy
2nd:  $68,100
3rd:  $44,815
4th:  $31,445
5th:  $24,150
6th:  $20,100

7th:  Liam Hagens  –  $16,700
8th:  Richard Ganesh  –  $13,340
9th:  David “ODB” Baker  –  $10,000

$1,100 Big 4 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30:  30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 515