Jattin, Mermelstein, Sepiol, and Carroll Win 2023 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Big 4 Titles

The 2023 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown concluded with a bang. The massive series featured 54 events, with four of the largest concluding on the final day of action in a spectacle that Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood organizers have dubbed the ‘Big 4’. Below is a look at the results from the four tournaments that make up the quadfecta.

SHRPO $5,300 No-Limit Hold’em Championship ($3 million GTD)

Colombia’s Farid Jattin emerged victorious from a field of 1,079 entries to capture the title in the $5,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em championship. Jattin and the other three players that made it down to the final four struck a deal, and with the chip lead at that time, Jattin secured the title, the trophy, and the largest payout of $655,000.

“It feels amazing,” Jattin told Seminole Hard Rock reporters. “How else can it feel?”

This was the third-largest score yet for Jattin, bringing his lifetime earnings to more than $8.3 million. It was also his third at this venue, having taken down two guitar trophies at the 2022 Lucky Hearts Poker Open for around $365,000 in combined earnings.

“I think the moment I stopped defining my life by poker results, the results started coming by nature,” Jattin offered. “I’m playing for my family now — for my wife, for my brother, for my parents. I’m very thankful for poker, but eventually, you’ve got to disconnect.”

Jattin also secured 1,920 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his second final-table finish of the year. With 2,280 total points, he now sits inside the top 100 in the 2023 POY race standings presented by Global Poker. He finished second last year.

The sizable turnout blew away the $3 million guarantee to build a final prize pool of $5,189,500. the top 134 finishers cashed. Plenty of big names ran deep in this event, including four-time World Poker Tour champion Darren Elias (17th), WPT winner and 2022 World Series of Poker main event 10th-place finisher Asher Conniff (15th), three-time bracelet winner David Pham (13th), 2013 WSOP main event champion Ryan Riess (10th), bracelet winner and WPT champion Mike Leah (8th), Nadya Magnus (7th), 2021 WSOP main event champion Koray Aldemir (6th), and three-time bracelet winner Jim Collopy (5th).

The final four hashed out a deal that split up the remaining prize money and brought the event to an end. Shannon Shorr was the short stack with 38 big blinds, but was ultimately awarded the second-largest payout of $545,000. Omer Rotman, who was second in chips with 48 big blinds, earned $490,762 as the third-place finisher, while Kitty Kuo (44 big blinds) took home $480,763.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

SHRPO $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Aaron Mermelstein took down the 2019 $25,000 high roller at the SHRPO, and four years later managed to secure a win in the same event. This time around, the two-time WPT champion outlasted a field of 86 entries in the high-stakes no-limit hold’em even to secure the title and a top prize of $614,645.

This was the third-largest score of Mermelstein’s tournament career, bringing his lifetime earnings to more than $4.7 million.

The top 12 finishers earned a share of the $2,124,200 prize pool in this event, with high rollers like bracelet winner and WPT champion Alex Foxen (12th), two-time bracelet winner Justin Saliba (11th), bracelet winner Joey Weissman (10th), bracelet winner Frank Funaro (9th), and Daniel Rezaei (5th) putting up strong showings.

2022 Wynn Millions main event runner-up Isaac Kempton finished fourth for $189,055 and bracelet winner Brandon Wittmeyer placed third ($276,150), leaving Mermelstein heads-up with a player who has asked to remain anonymous. Mermelstein closed out to win, locking up his seventh career title.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

SHRPO $2,700 No-Limit Hold’em Deep Stack ($1 million GTD)

The $1 million guarantee in the $2,700 no-limit hold’em deep stack was narrowly surpassed, with 411 entries putting $1,006,950 up for grabs. In the end, the largest chunk of that prize money was captured by Daniel Sepiol, who earned $204,735 after topping a stacked final table.

“It feels great, the final table was full of really good players, and I ran really, really hot,” said Sepiol.

This score overtook the $162,781 that Seppiol earned as the 2021 MSPT Riverside main event winner to become his largest cash. He now has more than $1.5 million in recorded tournament earnings.

The top 52 finishers cashed in this event, with several highly accomplished players surviving to the final table. Among them were three-time WPT champion and bracelet winner Brian Altman (9th), 2019 Wynn Winter Classic main event winner Michael Rocco (7th), two-time WPT champion and current POY race leader Bin Weng (6th), WPT champion Nitis Udornpim (4th), two-time bracelet winner Michael Wang (3rd), and WPT champion and three-time bracelet winner Chance Kornuth (2nd).

The final heads-up battle featured plenty of swings, but eventually, Kornuth ran A-K into the pocket kings of Sepiol to hit the rail as the runner-up ($142,335). This was his sixth final table of the year, with nearly $3.5 million in POY earnings accrued across those deep runs. As a result, Kornuth climbed to 17th place on the POY leaderboard. Weng’s cash for $39,525 and 360 points gave him an 808-point advantage over second-ranked Jose Barbero in the standings. He has now made 10 final tables, with four titles earned and nearly $5 million in POY earnings accrued.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

SHRPO $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Deep Stack ($500k GTD)

Two-time WPT champion James Carroll added another title to his long tournament resume, taking down the $1,100 buy-in deep stack event that rounded out the ‘Big 4’. The tournament drew 515 entries to just surpass its half-million-dollar guarantee.

The victory saw Carroll secure $100,000 in prize money, bringing his lifetime earnigns to just shy of $6.7 million. This was the longtime pro’s 31st recorded career title.

“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,” he told SHR reporters.

The top 65 finishers earned a piece of the $515,000 prize pool, with players like bracelet winner Raj Vohra (25th), Kenny Hallaert (22nd), Jessica Cai (15th), Zhen Cai (14th), three-time bracelet winner Phil Hui (10th), WPT champion and three-time bracelet winner David ‘ODB’ Baker (9th), and Darren Rabinowitz (5th) making deep runs.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

All photos from Seminole Hard Rock Poker blog.

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