2015 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa
Event #7
$560 Deep stack No Limit Hold’em
Total Entries: 634
Prize Pool: $315,350
December 10-13, 2015
Tampa, Fla. (December 13, 2015) — Seminole Hard Rock Poker ambassador Mike Laake captured his seventh career tournament victory Sunday night in Event 7 of the Winter Poker Open. The win came in a $560 deep stack no limit hold’em tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa and earned Laake $54,756 as well as a $1,650 WPO Championship seat.
“It feels great,” Laake said. “I kind of let the tournament come to me. I didn’t press too many edges […] Everything kind of fell my way.”
Laake took the top spot following a three-way ICM chop that saw Rasam Mohammadian take second and Michael Guagliardo take third. With deep, 25,000-chip starting stacks and a massive field of 634 entries that obliterated the tournament’s $200,000 guarantee, there was lots of play late.
“The structure ended up being a lot better than I expected,” Laake admitted.
Laake began the second and final day of play 18th of 132 returning players. He picked up pocket eights against an opponent’s 
to burst the money bubble during the fourth level of the day. From there, he continued to run his stack up before taking the chip lead to the final table. He went on to bust Joe Bulais ninth, Ross Monteleone eighth, Plamen Stoyanov fifth and Tom Nguyen fourth. At that point, the remaining three players agreed to the aforementioned chop.
“I had a couple really clear cut spot where decisions were easy,” Laake admitted. “That’s always nice when you don’t have to sweat the decisions you make — they’re just kind of made for you. The chips just kept falling my way.”
Laake is a 30-year-old professional poker player from Punta Gorda, FL. In addition to seven victories, his tournament resume boasts over $650,000 in career earnings.
“I’m really excited to be a part of the [Seminole][Hard][Rock][Poker] team,” Laake said. “[SHRP] is really trying and really putting forth a ton of effort. The players are noting it and that’s why all the turnouts just keep skyrocketing.”
Event 7 of the WPO drew a healthy field of 634 entries over the course of six starting flights. The $200,000 guarantee was bested before cards even went in the air for Flight E and the prize pool eventually settled at $315,350. The top 63 players finished in the money with notables Timothy Miles (17th), Michael Cohen (25th), AJ Santos (38th) and Austin Buchanan (57th) all scoring paydays.
Complete results:
1st: Mike Laake – $54,756 + $1,650 WPO Championship seat
2nd: Rasam Mohammadian – $48,703
3rd: Michael Guagliardo – $$41,636
4th: Tom Nguyen – $21,759
5th: Plamen Stoyanov – $17,344
6th: George Gordon – $14,438
7th: Alexander Breece – $11,510
8th: Ross Monteleone – $8,672
9th: Joseph Boulais – $5,992
10th: Larry Ram – $4,100
11th: Rafael Reis – $4,100
12th: James Paladino – $4,100
13th: Ron Puleo – $2,996
14th: Joseph Malone – $2,996
15th: Maroun Akiki – $2,996
16th: Dennis Stacy – $2,207
17th: Timothy Miles – $2,207
18th: Huicun Qiao – $2,207
19th: Ronald Sullivan – $1,734
20th: Harry Rosenblum – $1,734
21st: Daniel Dumont – $1,734
22nd: Ryan Carter – $1,734
23rd: John O’Neal – $1,734
24th: Jesse Fulmer – $1,734
25th: Michael Cohen – $1,734
26th: Norbert Kara – $1,734
27th: Gary Lucci – $1,734
28th: Charles Carragher – $1,545
29th: Femi Fashakin – $1,545
30th: Michael Traficante – $1,545
31st: Paul Stanechewski – $1,545
32nd: Mansoor Kader – $1,545
33rd: Jimmy Dowda – $1,545
34th: Michael Turton – $1,545
35th: Chris Mitchell – $1,545
36th: Jeffrey Russell – $1,545
37th: Maury Barrett – $1,388
38th: AJ Santos – $1,388
39th: Daniel Ramirez – $1,388
40th: Jenny Marczynski – $1,388
41st: Leif Oskarsson – $1,388
42nd: Dustin Geselius – $1,388
43rd: Raul Gonzales – $1,388
44th: Jared Reinstein – $1,388
45th: Mitchell Gottlieb – $1,388
46th: Mohammed Tarkmani – $1,230
47th: Wally Maddah – $1,230
48th: Sufian Soufan – $1,230
49th: Robert Mascarelli – $1,230
50th: Raphael Doromal – $1,230
51st: Anthony March – $1,230
52nd: Zachary Gilbert – $1,230
53rd: Christopher DeOliveira – $1,230
54th: John DePersio – $1,230
55th: James Love – $1,072
56th: Ariel Velazquez – $1,072
57th: Austin Buchanan – $1,072
58th: Jared Brintz – $1,072
59th: Jordan Wunder – $1,072
60th: Eric Lorenzi – $1,072
61st: Victoria Jubb – $1,072
62nd: Mark Wiser – $1,072
63rd: Salvador Ramos – $1,072