Tag Archives: 2018 Pinktober

First-Ever Pinktober Poker Open Concludes with $11K+ Raised for Charity

Pinktober Poker Open branded felt

 The first ever Pinktober Poker Open ran October 6th through the 14th concluding during the early morning hours of Monday. The unique, charitable series boasted six primary tournaments and a handful of secondaries. A portion of each buy-in was withheld for charity raising more than $11,000 for the American Cancer Society.

Headlining the play was the $565 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed Main Event which drew over 500 entries. Claiming victory and scoring $39,102 along with a guitar trophy was Vinny Censabella.

Full tournament results:

That’s a wrap for the Pinktober Poker Open. Next up, the Winter Poker Open December 6th-17th!

Vinny Censabella Wins First-Ever Pinktober Poker Open $565/$200K Headliner

2018 Pinktober Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 5
$565 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 505
Prize Pool: $252,500
October 11-14, 2018

Tampa, FL – It took until the wee morning hours of Monday, but Vinny Censabella is a Pinktober Poker Open champion following a win in the series-headlining $565 buy-in, $200,000 guarantee. The title came after a long Day 2 that saw Censabella take the top spot following a five-way chop just before 3am. As chip leader, Censabella earned the lion’s share of the prize pool — a $39,102 payout — along with the property’s token guitar trophy.

Officially recognized as Event 5 of the first-ever series, the Pinktober Poker Open headliner drew 505 entries easily surpassing the $200,000 guarantee. Censabella was among a tough crew of talent that included John Dolan, Justin Zaki and Jonthan Hilton — all of whom finished in the money. Unfazed, Censabella took the chip lead midway through the day and never looked back riding it all the way to short-handed play.

Joining Censabella in the chop was Tampa regular Tony March who took home $20,560 for his performance. A portion of all tournament buy-ins already went toward the American Cancer Society, but March doubled down donating all of his winnings to his charity, the Pay it Backward Foundation.

The Pinktober Poker Open kicked off October 6th and ran all the way through Sunday’s $565 final table. In that time, more than $11,000 was raised for charity and Censabella co-headlined the event as the standout champion. Censabella is a 26-year-old project engineer from Winter Springs, Florida. He has a handful of recorded cashes both here in Tampa and in Hollywood, but his winnings are modest — less than $10,000. The Pinktober Poker Open win marks his largest and most notable poker accomplishment to day.

Stay tuned as the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa looks to run it back in October 2019!

Full $565 results:

1st: Vinny Censabella – $39,102
2nd: Gregory White – $31,298 + $1,650 WPO Seat
3rd: Michael Garavuso – $20,812 + $1,650 WPO Seat
4th: Tony March – $20,560 + $1,650 WPO Seat
5th: Joseph Skarzynski – $14,906 + $1,650 WPO Seat
6th: Anthony Dianaty – $8,299
7th: Trevor Hurst – $6,701
8th: Lahcen Imkhaoun – $5,471
9th: Ryan Sullivan – $4,734
10th: Wayne Daley – $4,119
11th: Rafael Perez Guerrero – $4,119
12th: Chris Williams – $4,119
13th: Brian Hooser – $3,627
14th: John Dolan – $3,627
15th: Mark “Bud” Wiser – $3,627
16th: Sarbjit Singh – $3,135
17th: Helberth Ortiz – $3,135
18th: Huyen Vo – $3,135
19th: Eric Mutschler – $2,643
20th: Timothy Shortell – $2,643
21st: Dushyant Gulati – $2,643
22nd: David DiBernardi– $2,385
23rd: Tara Schwartz – $2,385
24th: Daniel Brown – $2,385
25th: Sanjib Archarya – $2,139
26th: Steve Collins – $2,139
27th: Wil McCraney – $2,139
28th: Petr Hruska – $1,906
29th: Bradley Patton – $1,906
30th: Andre Rakusa – $1,906
31st: Ron Lane – $1,906
32nd: Kevin Malick – $1,906
33rd: Zo Karim – $1,906
34th: Fernando Rodriguez – $1,906
35th: Dmitriy Konikov – $1,906
36th: Allen Hedin – $1,906
37th: Christopher Holland – $1,623
38th: Rami Mikhail – $1,623
39th: Justin Zaki – $1,623
40th: Daniel Rogers – $1,623
41st: Witold Wasik – $1,623
42nd: Jonathan Hilton – $1,623
43rd: Alex Beece – $1,623
44th: Aaron Speer – $1,623
45th: Saj Illikal – $1,623
46th: Oscar Lindo Zeledon – $1,352
47th: Meir Barack – $1,352
48th: Brandon Lamora – $1,352
49th: Steve Trizis – $1,352
50th: Michael Traficante – $1,352
51st: Patrick Murphy – $1,352

Event 5: Vinny Censabella Wins in Five-Way Chop

$565 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
| Structure | Payouts
Level 27: 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 5 of 505

Vinny Censabella

Soon after Anthony Dianaty hit the rail, the remaining players agreed to a modified ICM chop. Vinny Censabella held the chip lead and gave up his $1,650 seat to short stack Joseph Skarzynski. Additionally, Skarzynski negotiated for $1,000 from everyone.

Here were the rough chip counts at the time of the deal followed by the agreed payouts:

Vinny Censabella – 4,800,000 – $39,102
Gregory White – 3,850,000 – $31,298 + $1,650 WPO Seat
Michael Garavuso – 2,600,000 – $20,812 + $1,650 WPO Seat
Tony March – 2,575,000 – $20,560 + $1,650 WPO Seat
Joseph Skarzynski – 1,300,000 – $14,906 + $1,650 WPO Seat

Greg White
Michael Garavuso
Tony March
Joseph Skarzynski

Additional information on the event will be posted shortly. In the meantime, here’s a look at the final table results:

1st: Vinny Censabella – $39,102
2nd: Gregory White – $31,298 + $1,650 WPO Seat
3rd: Michael Garavuso – $20,812 + $1,650 WPO Seat
4th: Tony March – $20,560 + $1,650 WPO Seat
5th: Joseph Skarzynski – $14,906 + $1,650 WPO Seat
6th: Anthony Dianaty – $8,299
7th: Trevor Hurst – $6,701
8th: Lahcen Imkhaoun – $5,471
9th: Ryan Sullivan – $4,734

Additional results are available in the posts below.

Event 5: Anthony Dianaty — 6th Place ($8,299)

$565 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
| Structure | Payouts
Level 27: 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 5 of 505

Anthony Dianaty

Anthony Dianaty was short stacked and shoved preflop. Michael Garavuso called and tabled AdKs — well ahead of Dianaty’s Ac4h.

Runout: Jc2c2dTd7s

Dianaty was eliminated in sixth place and the remaining six players promptly talked chop.

Anthony Dianaty – Eliminated in 6th place ($8,299)

Event 5: Trevor Hurst – 7th Place ($6,701)

$565 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
| Structure | Payouts
Level 26: 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 6 of 505

Trevor Hurst

Tony March raised to 150,000 and Trevor Hurst shoved for his last 500,000. March called Hurst was at risk.

Hurst: AhQd
March: KhQc

A tired table started calling for a king.

Runout: Td8s5sKs9d

The king came on the turn giving March the best of it. Hurst was eliminated in seventh place.

Tony March – 2,400,000
Trevor Hurst – Eliminated in 7th place ($6,701)

Event 5: Rough Chip Counts on Break

$565 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
| Structure | Payouts
Heading to Level 26: 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 505

Players are in the midst of a 10-minute break. Here’s a look at the rough chip estimates followed by the remaining payouts:

Seat 1: — Empty —
Seat 2: — Empty —
Seat 3: Michael Garavuso – 920,000
Seat 4: Joseph Skarzynski – 2,300,000
Seat 5: — Empty —
Seat 6: Tony March – 1,900,000
Seat 7: Greg White – 3,000,000
Seat 8: Trevor Hurst – 1,025,000
Seat 9: Anthony Dianaty – 1,925,000
Seat 10: Vinny Censabella – 4,030,000

1st: – $49,711 + $1,650 WPO Seat
2nd: – $31,352 + $1,650 WPO Seat
3rd: – $20,656 + $1,650 WPO Seat
4th: – $14,262 + $1,650 WPO Seat
5th: – $10,697
6th: – $8,299
7th: – $6,701

Event 5: Ryan Sullivan – 9th Place ($4,734)

$565 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
| Structure | Payouts
Level 24: 15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 8 of 505

Ryan Sullivan

There was five-way action between Trevor Hurst in the small blind, Anthony Dianaty in the big, Vinny Censabella under the gun and Ryan Sullivan UTG+1.

The flop came QhJc3d and Hurst and Dianaty checked to Censabella. Censabella bet 150,000 and Sullivan shoved for about 675,000. It folded around back to Censabella.

“Alright,” he said. “It stinks of queen-jack, but I call.”

Censabella: AsAh for a pair of aces
Sullivan: KsQc for top pair

Turn and river: 4d9s

Censabella’s aces held and Sullivan was eliminated in ninth place.

Vinny Censabell – 3,550,000
Ryan Sullivan – Eliminated in 9th place ($4,734)

Event 5: 10-Handed Seating Assignments and Chip Counts

$565 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
| Structure | Payouts
Level 24: 15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 10 of 505

Seat 1: Wayne Daley – 640,000
Seat 2: Ryan Sullivan – 2,200,000
Seat 3: Michael Garavuso – 430,000
Seat 4: Joseph Skarzynski – 1,030,000
Seat 5: Lahcen Imkhaoun – 785,000
Seat 6: Tony March – 1,690,000
Seat 7: Greg White – 2,300,000
Seat 8: Trevor Hurst – 2,600,000
Seat 9: Anthony Dianaty – 2,000,000
Seat 10: Vinny Censabella – 1,980,000

1st: – $49,711 + $1,650 WPO Seat
2nd: – $31,352 + $1,650 WPO Seat
3rd: – $20,656 + $1,650 WPO Seat
4th: – $14,262 + $1,650 WPO Seat
5th: – $10,697
6th: – $8,299
7th: – $6,701
8th: – $5,471
9th: – $4,734
10th: – $4,119