2020 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 2
$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 811
Prize Pool: $267,630
December 3-6, 2020
The first weekend of the 2020 Winter Poker Open went about as well as anyone could have expected. Event 2 packed the Poker Room and the $400 buy-in drew an incredible 811 entries. Out of all those players, it was New Jersey transfer Kenneth Goldfarb booking his first win in the Sunshine State, earning more than $31,000 and the guitar trophy.
The multi-flight tournament had a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool and those 811 entries combined to easily surpass it while putting $267,630 up for grabs. A fantastic turnout and a great start to the series.
The field has some of our favorite local regulars and a few out of town friends looking for some Florida poker action. Justin Zaki, Josias Santos, Blake Whittington, Wally Maddah, Bryce McVay, and last year’s runner-up AJ Kelsall are a few of those who made it to the Poker Room to take part.
There were 81 players returning for Day 2 on Sunday with the field already in the money and the action was fast-paced for the first few hours of the tournament. Players dropped out, hit the cage for their payout, and jumped into other action while enjoying some football on the many TVs around the room.
The final table was formed with the last seven players and each took a turn at the top of the leaderboard. Whittington, a six-time WSOP Circuit champ, went out in seventh place to set up a long six-handed battle.
As chips were being pushed back and forth, the blinds continued to climb. The six remaining players eventually decided to make a deal to divide up the remaining prize pool based on chip counts Kenneth Goldfarb held a big chip lead at the time and took the lion’s share of the money followed by Shawn Sorgi, Anthony Askey, Cheri Beatty, Harmeet Chawla, and Yan Jiang.
Goldfarb earned $31,267 for his first win in the state of Florida. The former New Jersey resident booked wins in Atlantic City and now has a Tampa title to go with them.
“This was a long grind,” Goldfarb said when asked about his plans for the series. “I have a birthday coming up and these are long days but it was fun.”
“I’ll probably skip the tournaments this week then come back for the Main.”
Congratulations to Kenneth on the huge win and so many thanks to our poker friends for making the first weekend of the series a huge success.
Final table results:
1st: Kenneth Goldfarb – $31,267 + Guitar Trophy *
2nd: Shawn Sorgi – $28,531 *
3rd: Anthony Askey – $23,893 *
4th: Cheri Beatty – $22,159 *
5th: Harmeet Chawla – $20,234 *
6th: Yan Jiang – $19,456 *
7th: Blake Whittington – $8,289
* – denotes results of six-way deal