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Soverel Win Closes PokerGO Tour Stop at SHRPO

Written by Jennifer Newell
Last updated on
Jennifer Newell

The high-stakes poker tournaments never stop, at least as long as PokerGO keeps offering events and incentives for the players to compete at the highest levels. As the inaugural year of the PokerGO Tour does just that, the latest round of tournaments took players to Florida. Specifically, players headed to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The well-known poker room hosted an entire series with which players are familiar called the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open or SHRPO.

In all, this year’s series wrapped this week after hosting 43 events that delivered 19,881 entries. And the SHRPO 2021 prize pools paid out $21,014,260…all while the coronavirus pandemic resurfaced.

Several of the high buy-in events were also a part of the PokerGO Tour. The fifth and final one ended this week, and some new faces took high roller trophies and climbed the PokerGO leaderboard. The five specific tournaments ran August 4-10.

Event 1 of 5: $50K SHR

Technically, this tournament was Event 29 of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) but the first of this leg of the SHR (super high roller) events on the PokerGO Tour. Players had to buy in for $50K but could also reenter once if they chose to do so. The stats for the tournament were:

-Total entries: 24

-Total prize pool: $1,164,000

-Total players paid: 4

At the final table, Elio Fox exited in fifth place on the money bubble, and Sean Perry was the first player to exit. He walked away with $139,680 for his min-cash. Cary Katz then took third place for $209,520. Chris Brewer took the chip lead into heads-up against Sean Winter, but the two decided to end it there. The payouts were calculated via an ICM chop, giving Winter $394,130 and Brewer $420,670 and the title.

Event 2 of 5: $50K SHR

The second tournament at the same high price was Event 33 on the SHRPO schedule. It raised a slightly higher prize pool than the first and produced a 20-year-old winner. (Seminole casinos require players to be 18 or older.) Here are the tournament basics:

-Total entries: 29

-Total prize pool: $1,406,500

-Total players paid: 5

Six players started the second day of the tournament, but David Peters busted on the money bubble. Sean Perry took the first payout of $112,520, with Giuseppe Iadesernia grabbing $154,715 for fourth place. Cary Katz again took third, this time for $225,040. Zhuang Ruan took a modest chip lead into heads-up, and the two played it out until Dan Smith was forced to accept second place for $351,625. Zhuang Ruan won it for $562,600.

Event 3 of 5: $15K SHR

The lower buy-in of this one didn’t attract more players. Even so, a tidy field came to compete in the $15K buy-in freezeout. It was Event 36 on the SHRPO schedule and settled on these numbers:

-Total entries: 27

-Total prize pool: $338,800

-Total players paid: 5

Sean Winter was the money bubbler in this tournament, out in sixth place. Christopher Fitzgerald then busted in fifth place for $31,105, followed by Giuseppe Iadisernia, who took another fourth place, this one for $42,770. Sabia had eliminated all of the players mentioned here thus far and sent Dan Smith out in third place for $62,210, too. He took a sizeable lead into heads-up play, and though Sergi Reixach found some chips in the action, Sabia took over again and won. Reixach exited with $97,200, and Sabia won it for $155,515.

Event 4 of 5: $25K SHR

This milkshake brought all the high rollers to the yard, delivering more entries than all three of the previous high rollers in this series combined. Event 39 cost $25K to play and allowed reentries. The final numbers for this one were:

-Total entries: 91

-Total prize pool: $2,247,700

-Total players paid: 13

Players who busted early but in the money – for at least $56,195 – included Bin Weng, Barry Hutter, John Riordan, and Brandon Adams. At the final table, Darren Elias took out recent WPT champion Chad Eveslage in ninth place, with Joe McKeehen busting Nadya Magnus in eighth. Joseph Cheong eliminated Dylan Smith in seventh, but McKeehen took care of Cheong in sixth. Elias busted David Peters in fifth and Jake Daniels in fourth place. After McKeehen ousted Thomas Boivin in third, the two heads-up players cut a deal for the prize money. Near-even in chips, they did a 50/50 chop for the majority of the money. They played on for some extra cash and the trophy, though, and McKeehen doubled through Elias on the first hand and won it on the second. Elias walked away with $539,135, and McKeehen won $550,990 for his victory.

Event 5 of 5: $10K HR

The final of this mini-series-within-a-series offered a relatively cheap buy-in of $10K. Event 43 of the series saw most players gone from the tournament area but a sizeable crowd of people with heavy pockets. That delivered some nice numbers for the wrap:

-Total entries: 101

-Total prize pool: $969,600

-Total players paid: 13

The first player to bust in the money was Katie Wier, who took home $26,665. Conrad DeArmas, Chad Eveslage, and Sean Perry followed. The final table pushed out Scoctt Ball in ninth, and Sam Soverel took the lead to eliminate Ray Qartomy in eighth. After Matthew Sabia departed in seventh, Soverel stepped back up to oust James Calderaro in sixth. Brock Wilson said goodbye with fifth-place money. Soverel then busted Anthony Hu in fourth and Tomas Soderstrom in third. Soveral and his 1.7M chips sauntered into heads-up play against Farhad Jamasi. The short stack doubled on the first hand to 465K, but he couldn’t do it again. Jamasi settled for second place and $181,800, as Soverel walked away with $293,205 and the win.

Soverel used those points to jump finish that series in third place on the overall annual PokerGo Tour leaderboard.

But just as some players headed somewhere to relax, others flew to Las Vegas to compete in four consecutive high-stakes tournaments at the Venetian. Starting August 12, players can compete in two $10K buy-ins and two $25K buy-ins that will run throughout the weekend.

From there, they can jet off to Cyprus for the Super High Roller Bowl Europe, if they so choose. The full PokerGO Tour schedule is here.

 

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