2016 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, FL
Event 13
$1,650 Championship
Entries: 489
Prize Pool: $733,500
December 15-18, 2016
David Bradshaw won the Winter Poker Open Championship during the early morning hours of Monday pocketing $154,750. The $1,650 buy-in event ran at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa and drew a huge field of 489 entries. In addition to the lion’s share of the $733,500 prize pool, Bradshaw earned the property’s token guitar trophy and a $5,250 seat in next August’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship.
“Everything just worked out,” Bradshaw said. “Perfect timing. I ended the year right. I guess I’m going to have to learn how to play the guitar now.”
Bradshaw remained poised often playing 100 or more big blinds deep during the late stages of play. He began the final table with an advantage of nearly 2-to-1 over second place and eventual runner-up Matthew Leecy. From there, the action moved fast with Susan MacPherson, Joey Alegria and John O’Neal busting in the first level of nine-handed play. Chris Boyle was next to go in sixth leaving the remaining five players with an average stack of almost 60 big blinds. It wasn’t until Moe Affaneh picked up aces against Josh Lowing’s ace-king that the next elimination came. The duo got it in preflop only to see a Q-J-10-Q-J runout. Broadway left Affaneh’s aces busted and he was eliminated fifth. Next to go was Shawn Barnett who picked up jacks against Bradshaw’s aces. Barnett got no help and busted fourth.
The final three played for a bit, but soon agreed to the aforementioned deal. Leecy pocketed an even $120,000 while Josh Lowing earned $86,857.
Bradshaw is 41 years old. He was born in Miami but now resides in Atlanta where he is a store owner. This marks his second major tournament win and puts him over $200,000 in career earnings.
The 2016 WPO Championship’s monster field generated a total prize pool of more than $730,000. That number easily exceeded the $300,000 guarantee and marked an increase of about 35 entries year over year. The event’s three starting flights broke down as follows; Flight A: 142 entries, 30 advanced, Flight B: 112 entries, 26 advanced, Flight C: 235 entries, 54 advanced.
“I think it was a great tournament,” Bradshaw said. “I liked it being over in two days. I’ll definitely be here to play it again.”
The finale drew such headliners as 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer, 2010 November Niner John Dolan, reigning SHRP Player of the Year David Prociak and SHRP team member Sheddy Siddiqui. While none of these standouts were able to make Day 2, many others did including all three Seminole Hard Rock Tampa team members John Racener, Justin Zaki and Wally Maddah, defending champion John Templeton, SHRP team members Jessica Dawley and Mike Laake as well as Allen Kessler.
Among those to finish in the money were Russ Head (16th), Cheri Beatty (22nd), Kessler (23rd), James Calderaro (29th), Laake (31st), Ryan Van Sanford (39th) and Dawley (45th).
The conclusion of the Championship marked the end of the 2016 WPO. The next major series taking place at the property is the WPTDeepStacks-Tampa series slated for June of 2017.
WPO Championship final results:
1st: David Bradshaw – $154,750 + SHRPO Seat
2nd: Matthew Leecy – $120,000
3rd: Josh Lowing – $86,857
4th: Shawn Barnett – $53,179
5th: Moe Affaneh – $41,810
6th: Chris Boyle – $34,841
7th: John O’Neal – $27,873
8th: Joey Alegria – $21,272
9th: Susan MacPherson – $14,670
10th: Peter Walsworth – $9,536
11th: Jaeli Moron – $9,536
12th: Manny Minaya – $9,536
13th: Bradley Snider – $7,335
14th: Allauddin Khan – $7,335
15th: Mark Darner – $7,335
16th: Russ Head – $5,795
17th: John Gordon – $5,795
18th: Paul Balzano – $5,795
19th: Brett Bader – $4,548
20th: Kirsten Olieberg – $4,548
21st: Talesh Patel – $4,548
22nd: Cheri Beatty – $4,548
23rd: Allen Kessler – $4,548
24th: Kevin Chan – $4,548
25th: Ahmad Hamoush – $4,548
26th: Rosario Simone – $4,548
27th: Anthony Astarita – $4,548
28th: Ralph Dyer – $4,034
29th: James Calderaro – $4,034
30th: Antuan Bunkley – $4,034
31st: Mike Laake – $4,034
32nd: Jonathan Toth – $4,034
33rd: Chris Binion – $4,034
34th: Lewis Gallo, Jr. – $4,034
35th: Mok Bsaiso – $4,034
36th: Alex Venovski – $4,034
37th: Paul Stanechewski – $3,668
38th: Mark Scacewater – $3,668
39th: Ryan Van Sanford – $3,668
40th: Michael Osborne – $3,668
41st: Stephen Speer – $3,668
42nd: Luis Torres – $3,668
43rd: Mark “Bud” Wiser – $3,668
44th: Brian Arbaugh – $3,668
45th: Jessica Dawley – $3,668