Event 10: Mike Sinicola Defeats Stephan Bourges for the Title

2015 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa
Event #10
$125 Green Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em
Total Entries: 60

Prize Pool: $4,500
December 14, 2015

Mike Sinicola, Event 10 Champion
Mike Sinicola, Event 10 Champion

Tampa, FL (December 14, 2015) — Monday evening was a good time to throw a bounty tournament in the poker room. Event 10 on the 2015 Winter Poker Open schedule was a $125 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament with $75 going in the standard prize pool and $25 going to a bounty on each player’s head.

After six hours of action, it was Rhode Island transplant Mike Sinicola standing alone as the last player in the tournament, earning $1,708 for his efforts along with the Winter Poker Open title.

The tournament quickly played down thanks to the bounties pushing the action faster. The tournament drew 60 entrants with half of them gone by the time registration closed. Event 10 was down to two tables shortly after the prize pool was announced and they formed the final four hours after kick off.

Sinicola came to the final table with the chip lead and never let it go. Even then, there was still some work to do. Ten players remained with six getting paid. We quickly lost Forrest Jahn, Jody Cvek, and David Kolaskey before Sinicola knocked out Joe Squires on the money bubble.

Agnes Barton was in the money and at a final table for the second straight evening but she couldn’t ride her short stack further than sixth place. Philip Sheffield and Scott “Twitch” Anderson followed soon after to set up a long three-way battle.

Despite the quick levels, Stephan Bourges and Daniel Ramirez battled against Sinicola but neither was able to overcome his huge lead. Ramirez lost out to an open-ended straight draw getting home and Bourges ran into a big hand to end the game.

Sinicola is a proud member of the small state of Rhode Island, even if he’s been down here for a while. “I lived down here for 11 years,” Sinicola laughed, “But you still have to represent.”

This was his first career victory and he picked up 13 bounties ($325) to go along with his $1,708 first place money.

Event 10 Results:

1st: Mike Sinicola – $1,708
2nd: Stephan Bourges – $1,049
3rd: Daniel Ramirez – $680
4th: Scott Anderson – $468
5th: Philip Sheffield – $338
6th: Agnes Barton – $257