2021 Tampa Poker Classic
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
$1,700 TPC Main Event
$300,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 959
Prize Pool: $1,486,450
February 25-March 1, 2021
Before the Tampa Poker Classic Main Event, it had been a long time since James Kerr sat at a poker table. A year in fact with the lockdown. He returned to the action this weekend and finished his first tournament back with the Main Event win for his third Tampa guitar trophy
“I’m glad to be back,” Kerr said. “And I’m happy to have another guitar.”
The $1,700 buy-in TPC Main Event featured a $300,000 guaranteed prize pool that was surpassed before the dinner break in the first flight. The three flights combined to put 959 entries in the game and push the prize pool up to $1,486,450 with 96 spots getting paid.
Day 2 saw 158 players return with a chance to win with Kyrylo Kobzyev leading the way. The money bubble burst shortly after the first break with two players going out on the same hand; Donald Mathews and Scott Dobbs chopped up 96th place money and the field sped down to the final table with seven return on Monday.
Kerr took the chip lead midway through Day 2 and never relinquished it. Scott Robbins was the first eliminated from the final table when he lost a big coin flip then ran into a cooler.
“I just ran like pure god,” Kerr said. “I had aces versus kings a couple times, I had pairs against aces and flopped sets every time.”
“It was really pretty easy.”
Ken O’Donnell, second in chips with six players remaining, ran into the Kerr heater. O’Donnell found kings in the small blind only to have Kerr wake up with aces in the big. The hand gave Kerr half of the chips in play before Steve Brite went out in fifth place followed by Gary Bowker in fourth.
Kerr, Kobzyev, and Alex Ivan counted down their stacks and agreed to divide up the remaining prize pool based on the ICM number.
Kobzyev earned $166,915 for third place, Ivan banked $197,172 for second, and Kerr took the lion’s share of $228,038 for his TPC Main Event win.
Congrats to James and a huge thanks to everyone who came out to make the series such a huge success!
Final table results:
1st: James Kerr – $228,038 *
2nd: Alex Ivan – $197,172 *
3rd: Kyrylo Kobzyev – $166,915 *
4th: Gary Bowker – $94,620
5th: Steve Brite – $70,543
6th: Ken O’Donnell – $53,299
7th: Scott Robbins – $40,819
* – denotes results of a three-way deal
