Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Summer Poker Open

Event 1: $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed
May 29-June 1, 2014

Entries: 1,155
Total Buy-In: $346,500

Winner – Brett Streicher

RECAP
Brett Streicher’s confident play and a some luck helped him overcome a big heads up deficit to defeat Andre Lomans in the opening event of the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Summer Poker Open.

On the final hand, Streicher flopped a king with against Lomans pair of 9s while holding .

“It may sound strange, but every time I take a break (from poker) I feel like I’m going to cash,” said Streicher, who earned $74,000 after not playing for a year.

At the other end of the spectrum was Lomans feeling that one got away.

“That’s going to haunt my dreams for awhile,” said Lomans who lost an 8 to 1 chip lead and settled for second place. “When you win that much money it’s hard not to be happy,” Lomans said of his $44,187 pay day. “I’m happy, but this is going to hurt for awhile.”

Lomans controlled most of the final table and had half the chips in play four-handed after winning a 7 million chip pot with a flopped straight against Streicher’s two pairs. Lomans then knocked out Chris Adams (4th) and Roberto Barba (3rd) to hold a 23 million to 6 million heads up advantage.

“I thought I was the best player at the final table until heads up,” said Streicher. That’s when Streicher dug in and used some luck to help his comeback while twice being one card away from elimination.

First, Streicher was out flopped by Lomans, but the board went runner-runner for a chopped pot. Then, Streicher needed runner-runner flush to get a much needed double-up.

“To win a poker tournament it takes a little bit of luck and I had that today,” he said.

The Summer Poker Open kicked off with six starting flights over three days in this event that saw 1,155 entries put up a $339,900 prize pool, easily passing the $300,000 Guarantee.

257 players returned for Day 2  and 110 made the money, including James Kerr, the returning chip leader,  who finished in 9th place.

Kerr with a nice attempt at going wire-to-wire, but not as impressive as Streicher’s rally for the win.

“It may sound cocky, but I turned to my group (rail) and told them I was going to win,” said the 28-year-old store manager as heads up play began.

FINAL RESULTS

TOURNAMENT DETAILS