Below is the final report from Event 4 of the Winter Poker Open which concluded just before 12:30am Thursday

2018 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 4
$350 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 502
Prize Pool: $150,600
December 10-12, 2018

(Tampa, Florida) — There was an outright winner during the early morning hours of Thursday at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open. James “Ping” Kerr of Sterling Park, FL outlasted more than 500 entries in Event 4, a $350 multi-flight no limit hold’em tournament, earning $30,602 a trophy and $1,650 Main Event seat in the process. Kerr, 33, is a past champion at this property having previously won the Tampa Summer Poker Open Championship in 2014.

The Event 4 field was 502 entries generating a $150,600 prize pool — well in excess of the $100,000 guarantee. Over the course of four starting flights and 14 early levels, the tournament narrowed to just 74 advancers. Kerr held a top-10 stack on Day 2 and watched as notables like start-of-day chip leader Fred Paradis hit the rail shy of the money. Kerr kept his cool eventually working his way to the top stack with three tables left. He retained the lead with two tables left and relinquished it just slightly by the time action reached 10-handed.

The final table moved fast and after less than three hours it was heads-up between Kerr and Nelder De Carvalho without a peep of a chop. The pair played aggressive, getting in multiple all-in pots before Kerr found himself with the top stack and holding the best of it all-in preflop — versus . A blank runout officially anointed Kerr the champion while De Carvalho placed 2nd for $21,441.

Kerr is 33 years old and resides nearby in Sterling Park with his wife and three children. He is a restaurant owner by trade, but has more than $165,000 in reported poker tournament earnings.

Complete Event 4 results:

1st: James Kerr – $30,602 + Trophy and $1,650 seat
2nd: Nelder De Carvalho – $21,441
3rd: David Ashkenasi – $13,787
4th: Cedric Tercy – $9,175
5th: Michael Nguyen – $7,060
6th: Sean Tansey – $5,846
7th: Juan Rodriguez – $4,908
8th: Richard Kincaid – $3,984
9th: Al Krux – $3,061
10th: Joseph Acquavella – $2,577
11th: Joe Godbolt – $2,577
12th: Landon Brown – $2,577
13th: Michael Hassab – $2,160
14th: Chris Williams – $2,160
15th: David Brookman – $2,160
16th: Aaron Kerns – $1,773
17th: Duff Charette
18th: Anthony Astarita
20th: Nick Avena – $1,475
21st: Sam Harvey – $1,475
22nd: Li Zhou – $1,241
23rd: Mickey Ma – $1,241
24th: Jacob Naumann – $1,241
25th: Alex Ribeiro – $1,035
26th: Robert Johnson – $1,035
27th: Jean Nascimen – $1,035
28th: Kevin Blewitt – $842
29th: Andrew Mazzurco – $842
30th: Andrew Lanoue – $842
31st: Kevin Pahl – $842
32nd: Warren Jurkowitz – $842
33rd: Tomasz Szymecki – $842
34th: Antonio Fernandez – $842
35th: Robert Panetta – $842
36th: Simon Verkhovsky – $842
37th: Steven Worr – $751
38th: Daniel DeDomenico – $751
39th: Samuel Schenker – $751
40th: Huicun Qiao – $751
41st: Robert Irby – $751
42nd: Cheri Beatty – $751
43rd: Doyle Elliott – $751
44th: Russell Waggoner – $751
45th: Daniel Lobato – $751
46th: Tony Tran – $661
47th: Ahmed Gomez – $661
48th: Herbert Woodbery – $661
49th: Karl Manouchakian – $661
50th: Charles Kahrs – $661
51st: Thang Phu – $661