After four days of action in Hollywood, Florida, the $3,500 buy-in WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown played down from 1,360 to a final table. James Carroll leads the final six and Maria Ho is not far behind as second overall in chips. The WPT SHRPO final table will be delayed for six-plus weeks and played out on May 30 at the HyperX eSports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas. First place pays out $715K.

Mario Ho alert! Maria Ho made another deep run in a tournament. This time, she streamrolled the competition in Hollywood, Florida at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. She's second in chips with six remaining at the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event. She will have to wait six weeks to battle it out in the pyramid in Las Vegas with James Carroll and four other players.
The SHR has become the Mecca for poker in the Southeast. The 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event also doubled as a stop on the World Poker Tour. Like some of the final tables this year like WPT Borgata and WPT Gardens, this one would start at a specific spot with the final table delayed and played out in Las Vegas.
The final six at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida would get the real Hollywood treatment by being flown out to Las Vegas to play in the final table at the HyperX eSports Arena. The venue at the Luxor Casino, inside the pyramid, is one of the coolest spots in Las Vegas. They already played out the final table of a few events and they'll do one more at the end of May. We'll have to wait until then to see if Mario Ho can ship this one.
The 2019 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown attracted 1,360 runners to the $3,500 buy-in event. Only the top 170 places paid out of the $4.3 million prize pool, but $715K was set aside to the champ along with a freeroll into the season-ending Baccarat Crystal Tournament of Champions. The TOC takes place at the Aria on June 1.
Only 18 players were left in the hunt at the end of Day 3. They slugged it out on Day 4 and played down to the final table of six. Those lucky six would have to wait until the end of May to determine a winner. This WPT event also had a delayed final table, which will be played out at the HyperX eSports Arena at the Luxor Casino in Las Vegas. Yup, more pyramid poker.
Chad Eveslage went into Day 4 with 20% of the chips in play. Maria Ho was one of the big names still remaining, along with former NFL player Richard Seymour, James Carroll and Ryan D'Angelo. Seymour missed the final table in Vegas by a couple of spots when he hit the bricks in 15th place.
By the time it got seven-handed, James Carroll built up a monstrous wall of chips with Mario Ho in hot pursuit. Jason Marshman missed a free trip to Vegas and bubbled off the final table in seventh place. He made a final stand with :8: but lost to Maria Ho's
. Maria flopped a Jack and rivered a Jack to win the hand. She picked up some ground on Carroll, but he retained his lead heading into the final table.
With six remaining, James Carroll is the big stack with Maria Ho not far behind. The rest of the final table includes Jerry Wong, Chad Eveslage, Ami Alibay, and Eric Afriat.
The final table resumes on May 30 at the Luxor in Vegas. The final six at least min-cashed for $148,380, which is what sixth place wins. They're fighting for over $715K plus a freeroll into the TOC worth $15,000.
Darren Elias, Mr. WPT himself, cashed in the event but his run ended in 89th place.
Other notables who went deep and cashed at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown included... Scotty Nguyen, Taylor Black, Ari Dinov, Brett Murray, Esther Foley, ODB Baker, Tim Banks, Dylan Linde, Sam Panzica, Dylan Wilkerson, Will the Thrill, Erik Seidel, Niall Farrell, Rob Mizrachi, Aaron Mermelstein, Justin Young, Patrick Serda, Aaron Massey, Nigel Murray, Seth Davies, Faraz Jaka, Ryan Yu, Victor Rambin, Frank Russo, Tyler Patterson, Anthony Zinno, Kenny Nguyen, Matt Waxman, Brain Hastings, Harrison Gimbel, Neil Blumenfield, Nick Yunis, Jessica Dawley, and Thai Ha.
2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Buy-in: $3,500
Entrants: 1,360
Prize Pool: $4,352,000
Payouts: 170
Final Table Payouts:
1. $715,175
2. $465,120
3. $344,960
4. $257,815
5. $194,610
6. $148,380
James Carroll 18,525,000
Maria Ho 16,650,000
Ami Alibay 8,175,000
Eric Afriat 4,425,000
Chad Eveslage 3,350,000
Jerry Wong 3,225,000