2015 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa
Event #3
$150 Deep Stack Turbo No Limit Hold’em ($15,000 Guarantee)
Total Entries: 199
Prize Pool: $22,230
December 6, 2015

Tampa, Fla. (December 6, 2015) — The third event of the 2015 Winter Open Poker lived up to its Turbo name and we had a new champion in record time. The $150 buy-in Turbo No Limit Hold’em tournament took less than eight hours to complete and Lithia, FL resident John Duhig walked away the winner.

Event 2 had a $15,000 guaranteed prize pool and it was quickly surpassed before the first break. There were 199 entered when registration was closed at the start of Level 13 and they were off to the races. With 15-minute levels, action was brisk and they were in the money six hours after the start.

The tournament paid out the last 18 players but Seminole Hard Rock Tampa ambassador Wally Maddah missed out on his second cash of the day after his Event 1 min-cash earlier.

Local regulars Carlos Loving and Eric Rivkin slid into the money but were unable to make the final table. Cynthia Young’s elimination set the stage for the final table ten with Ricky Young holding the chip lead. But it was anyone’s game with the average stack at 12 big blinds.

There was a quick succession of eliminations with the climbing blinds and most major pots played out with preflop action. Players quickly dropped until regular PLO cash game player Tam Nguyen was eliminated in 3rd place.

Dallas Henderson and Duhig took very little time to negotiate the terms of a deal to divide the remaining prize pool. Duhig held the lead and picked up the added $1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship seat while Henderson picked up a $500 bonus in the deal.

It was a fun, fast tournament and players appreciated a good time in the poker room on a Sunday afternoon.

Event 3 final results:

1st: John Duhig – $4,668 + $1,650 WPO Championship seat*
2nd: Dallas Henderson – $5,668*
3rd: Tam Nguyen – $2,112
4th: Ricky Young – $1,778
5th: Rich Bowings – $1,334
6th: Anthony Pellegrini – $1,112
7th: Terry Hancock – $889
8th: Brandon Byars – $667
9th: Garrett Smith – $500
10th: Sourinay Chandara – $445
11th: Cynthia Butler – $445
12th: Oscar Zeledon – $445
13th: Remedios Patalinghug – $389
14th: Harry Rieger – $389
15th: Eric Rivkin – $389
16th: Douglas Decker – $333
17th: Myong Han – $333
18th: Carlos Loving – $333

* – Denotes heads-up deal