Event 1: Irfan Khairi Wins Outright

2020 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 1
$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 335
Prize Pool: $83,750
December 2, 2020

Irfan Khairi, Event 1 Champion

The Winter Poker Open returned to Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa on December 2 and it had a great kickoff. Event 1 of the series had a $300 buy-in with a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool and it attracted an incredible 335 entries on the first day of the series.

Those entries combined to push the prize pool up to $83,750 with more than $18,000 set aside for the champion. The tournament drew a slew of our local regulars and past champions including David Dibernardi, Mario De La Puente, Peter Walsworth, Bryce McVay, Josias Santos, Karl Manouchakian, and Wally Maddah.

The last 34 players were set to take home some cash and they made the money soon after the dinner break. The field steadily dropped until they formed the final table with everyone eyeing the big money and guitar trophy.

Dan Hanselman and Justin Howard were quickly eliminated from the final table and the last five settled in for a long grind with deep stacks. Ken O’Donnell, Carlos Aranda, and Jeremy Zides all took turns with the chip lead but it came down to a heads-up match between Austin Reilly and Irfan Khairi.

Reilly, a two-time WSOP Circuit winner, held nearly a 2-to-1 chip lead at the start of heads-up play but that changed when Khairi turned a full house to best Reilly’s flopped trip sixes. Soon after, Khairi made another full house to take the rest of Reilly’s chips for the win.

Reilly took home $11,390 for his runner-up finish while Khairi earned $18,063 and the Hard Rock Guitar Trophy. The Orlando resident had several close calls in the past but booked his first career tournament win with his victory.

Congrats to Irfan and thanks again to all of our players who came out to support the Poker Room in our first event of the series.

Event 1 results:

1st: Irfan Khairi – $18,063 + Guitar Trophy
2nd: Austin Reilly – $11,390
3rd: Ken O’Donnell – $7,349
4th: Jeremy Zides – $5,025
5th: Carlos Aranda – $3,936
6th: Patrick Hamilton – $3,059
7th: Justin Howard – $2,596
8th: Dan Hanselman – $2,178
9th: Mario De La Puente – $1,851
10th: Anthony Askey – $1,591
11th: Vanessa Waich – $1,591
12th: Vaughn Wagner – $1,591
13th: David Dibernardi – $1,382
14th: Rickey Evans – $1,382
15th: Josias Santos – $1,382
16th: Daniel Chandler – $1,214
17th: Jonmikel MacNichols – $1,214
18th: Jeremy Becker – $1,214
19th: Czeslaw Szerszen – $1,131
20th: Kevin Rodriguez – $1,131
21st: Judes Chenet – $1,131
22nd: Christina Read – $1,047
23rd: Tracy Allen – $1,047
24th: Karl Manouchakian – $1,047
25th: Derrick Cutler – $984
26th: Julie McCrary – $984
27th: Jerome Hall Jr – $984
28th: Alexander Chiang – $888
29th: David Edwards – $888
30th: Ryan Luker – $888
31st: Thomas Koscak – $888
32nd: David McElroy – $888
33rd: Wilfor Marentes Pinto – $888
34th: Jason Javino – $888