2016 Winter Poker Open

Event 14: John Holley Wins Final Turbo

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2016 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, FL
Event 14
$250 Deep Stack Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries: 102
Prize Pool: $21,420
December 18, 2016

John Holley, Event 14 Champion

SHRP regular John Holley made a declaration at the start of the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open. He was going to take home one of the WPO guitar trophies. After Event 14 was complete, he was taking a winner’s photo with one before walking out the door with it.

Event 14 was the final tournament on the WPO schedule and it was a $250 buy-in, fast-paced, turbo format on a Sunday afternoon. The 102 entries surpassed the $20,000 guaranteed prize pool with the last 18 players earning a piece.

The tournament quickly played down to the money bubble after registration closed with Lily Kiletto and Seminole Hard Rock Tampa ambassador Wally Maddah making some money. They would fall short of a final table that included Event 12 champion John Pishos, 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Event 10 winner Michael Ortiz, 2015 WPO Turbo runner-up Dallas Henderson, and the five-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Holley.

The final table moved along at the same snappy pace as the rest of the tournament and Holley was soon heads-up with India resident Abhishek Chhallani. Holley had better than a two-to-one chip lead and they decided to chop the remaining prize pool down the middle with Holley taking top honors due to his stack.

“It’s tough for me to play a post-lim after busting the main event,” Holley said. He came into Day 2 of the Championship but was unable to make it deep.

“It’s tough when you go from playing for $187,000 and then only $6,000,” he continued. “I’m just happy I finally got my guitar.”

Besides his five WSOP-C wins, Holley has amassed more than $1.5 million in a career that includes tournament wins at our sister properties in Hollywood and Coconut Creek. Now Holley can add Seminole Hard Rock Tampa champion to his list of credits as well.

Event 14 results:

1st: John Holley – $4,981
2nd: Abhishek Chhallani – $4,980
3rd: Michael Ortiz – $2,035
4th: John Pishos – $1,714
5th: Dallas Henderson – $1,285
6th: Gil Alferez – $1,071
7th: John Gordon – $857
8th: Eric Eisenberg – $643
9th: Qinghao Zheng – $482
10th: Jacob Snider – $428
11th: Lily Kiletto – $428
12th: Sufian Soufan – $428
13th: Wally Maddah – $375
14th: Martin Markov – $375
15th: Harlon Kinney – $375
16th: Lonny Weitzel – $321
17th: Joseph DeLucia – $321
18th: Mahmoud Bidarian – $321