The World Poker Tour continued with a stop in south Florida for the 2021 WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. The WPT SRNRPO attracted 1,566 runners and a $5 million prize pool. Gediminas Uselis was the last player standing at the Seminole Hard Rock and he banked $778,490 for five days of work and outlasted a final table that included Clayton Maguire.
Ship it to Gedi! With the WSOP getting a lot of love and attention this fall in Las Vegas and RozVegas, it was easy to overlook the fact that the World Poker Tour was also hosting tournaments including one of the next-to last events on the calendar in 2021. Players returned to the circuit in SoFla for a shot at a WPT title and a fistful of dollars at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood with the latest series known as the Rock N Roll Poker Open, or RNRPO for you acronym freaks.
The 2021 WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open had a price tag of $3,500. This year's event attracted 1,566 entrants, who wanted a shot at the $5 million prize pool. Only the top 196 places paid out with most of the cheddar set aside to the champion.
Willie Wiggins bubbled the final table in seventh place. The final table of six included Gediminas Uselis, Jacob Ferro, Harout Ghazarian, Selahaddin Bedir, Clayton Maguire, and Anshul Rai. Harout Ghazarian was the big stack with 17.4M, followed by Jacob Ferro's 16.4M. Anshul Rai was the shorty with 900K.
Maguire was the big name at the table, but he would be one of the first players to hit the rail, but not as fast as Rai.
Short-stacked Rai busted on the first hand at the final table when his Big Slick lost to Harout Ghazarian's Ace-Queen. Chazarian flopped two pair, which held up and Rai made a quick exit at the final table.
On Hand #20 at the final table, Clayton Maguire met his fate when his pocket eights were run down by Sela Bedir's Ace-four. Fifth place paid out $211,925 for Macguire.
The final four played a bit before Selahaddin Bedir was picked off in fourth place when his suited connectors lost to Jacob Ferro's Big Slick. Neither player improved and Ferro shipped the pot with Ace-high. Bedir took home $282K for fourth.
Harout Ghazarian made a final stand with pocket deuces but he was ambushed by Uselis' pocket Kings. Ghazaraian won $380K for third place.
With two to go, Jacob Ferro held a slight lead 32M to 30.7M over Gediminas Uselis.
Heads-up only lasted 17 hands or so before they crowned a new champion.
It was a heck of a cooler on the final hand aka Hand #102 when pocket Queens held up for Gediminas Uselis against Ferro's pocket Jacks. Jacob Ferro banked $573,605 for a second-place finish. Not too shabby, eh? Uselis earned a first-place payday worth $778,490 and he got his name etched on the Mike Sexton trophy.
Notable players and familiar faces who cashed at the WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open included... Willie Wiggins, Nate Silver, William Hung, Joe Cheong, Kristen Bicknell, Pavel Plesuv, ick Yunis, Morgan Machina, Frank Funaro, Steve Karp, Thao Yang, Uri Reichenstein, Ema Zajmovic, Matt Waxman, Jim Collopy, Brock Wilson, Aaron Massey, James Calderaro, Gal Yifrach, Frank Russo, Lily Kiletto , Natasha Mercier, Mike Wang, Darren Rabinowitz, Larry Greenberg, James Carroll, Landon Tice, Ryan Van Sanforf, Martin Finger, Loni Hui, Alex Foxen, Joey Weissman, Nick Pupillo, Ilyas Muradi, Chad Eveslage, Barry Hutter, Max Young, Adam Hendrix, and Ali Imsirovic.
2021 WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open
Buy-in: $3,500
Entrants: 1,566
Prize Pool: $5,011,200
Payouts: 196
Final Table Results:
1. Gediminas Uselis $778,490
2. Jacob Ferro $573,605
3. Harout Ghazarian $380,000
4. Selahaddin Bedir $282,380
5. Clayton Maguire $211,925
6. Anshul Rai $170,835
