2023 Tampa Signature Poker Series
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 10
$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 90
Prize Pool: $47,250
September 11, 2023

Shane Melert decided to a chop at the start of heads-up play tonight with Liam Higgins to take home the top prize worth $13,180 along with the SPS guitar pick trophy at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa. His career earnings are now above $250,000, and this was his third tournament victory.

We caught up with Melert shorty after the win for an interview, and here is what he had to say about claiming the victory, “It feels great, I’ve been running pretty bad lately, and complaining about not having a trophy. So this is cool, I ran good tonight and got a trophy.”

He continued, “It wasn’t for a ton of money, but it was good enough to freeroll the rest of the series. So everything can be pleasant the rest of the way [laughs]. I will be playing them all except for maybe the $3,500. I don’t know how many players will be in it.”

“I play a lot online, so it has been nice to play at a table with humans. I live 20 minutes away so that’s nice, and the competition is awesome and it’s fun. Getting to compete in real life is a lot more fun than sitting in my bedroom alone. I get to see a lot of friends, and I get to make a small community. I think a lot people kind of know me, and I have like a group chat with of a lot of nerds. None of them talk to people, and no one knows who they are, but then I’m like I have this friend, I have this friend, and this friend at the casino. It’s cool to just have people that I see when I’m here. People are like oh no Shane’s coming, but sometimes they’re like at least he’s fun,” said Melert about his experience in the tournament today with the social aspect of poker. And indeed poker is supposed to be fun, it’s a social game, because otherwise why are any of us here in the first place other than money and the thirst for competition?

“It was pretty much just up, I never really took a hit where I lost a big all in. The biggest one was to Wally [Maddah], but it was the first hand of the final table. UTG opened, and Wally jammed with 13 bigs. I was the big blind with A-K, me and UTG were the two biggest stacks so it was actually a weird spot but he folded. Wally had A-Q, but he hit two queens. That was for 150k, and that was my biggest beat, but I ran pretty good,” said Melert when he was asked about any setbacks he had to overcome on the path to victory.

His most pivotal hand at the final table was the hand that led to the chop heads-up. “That final one is probably the biggest, I played a lot of small hands, but that one against Scooter was for a couple 100k and that got us the deal. It was J-9 versus 7-8 on an 8-7-5 flop with a Jack turn. He floated the flop a little, and then hit top pair and called off. But other than that all the pots were 100k, they were all tiny, tiny pots,” said Melert. He hit a lot of singles and doubles around the base path to victory tonight, and Melert appreciated the metaphor at the end of the interview. “A lot of singles and doubles, yeah, that’s a good analogy [laughs].”

Final Results:

1st: Shane Melert – $13,180 + SPS Trophy
2nd: Liam Higgins – $10,790
3rd: Scott “Scooter” Nichols – $5,670
4th: Wally Maddah – $3,660
5th: Dana Caruso – $2,840
6th: Jamison Alford – $2,240
7th: Tom Nguyen – $1,890
8th: Paul Strandquist – $1,650
9th: Ashraf Chehata – ($1,500)
10: John Colucci – $1,370
11: Gabriel Fuller – $1,280
12: Carlos Loving – $1,180

$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 17:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 1 of 90

Scott Nichols fell in third place, good for $5,670 after he shoved short with J-9 on the turn against the 8-7 of Shane Melert with the final board reading 8-7-5-J. Nichols was eliminated in third place after the river bricked, good for $5,670.

That gave Melert 1.64 million at the start of heads-up play against the stack of 1.06 million held by Liam Higgins.

The final two players then decided to chop things up with $13,180 and the SPS trophy going to Melert, and Higgins taking home  $10,790.

Stay tuned for the winner’s photo and the interview with our new champion.

$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 17:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 3 of 90

Wally Maddah recently busted out in fourth place for $3,660 for his 100th cash here at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa (above is a photo from one of his most recent wins here from 2022).

Maddah holds more than $700,000 in career earnings, with over 350 cashes on his poker resume. He has won 16 poker tournaments, and the majority of those victories have come here in Tampa. The largest cash for the tournament grinder was for $37,361 at the Rock-N-Roll Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood back in 2016.

Current chip counts for the remaining three players:

Seat 4: Shane Melert – 1,330,000
Seat 6: Scott “Scooter” Nichols – 480,000
Seat 9: Liam Higgins – 890,000

$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 17:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 4 of 90

Recent payouts in Event 10 include:

5th: Dana Caruso – $2,840
6th: Jamison Alford – $2,240
7th: Tom Nguyen – $1,890
8th: Paul Strandquist – $1,650

$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 17:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 8 of 90

Here is a look at the seating chart with chip counts at the final table for Event 10.

Seat 1: Jameson Alford – 120,000
Seat 2: Wally Maddah – 280,000
Seat 3: Tom Nguyen – 135,000
Seat 4: Shane Melert – 430,000
Seat 5: Paul Stradquist – 415,000
Seat 6: Scott “Scooter” Nichols – 310,000
Seat 7: Ashraf Chehata – Eliminated in Ninth Place ($1,500)
Seat 8: Dana Caruso – 370,000
Seat 9: Liam Higgins – 425,000

Players that have cashed along the way to the final table include:

10: John Colucci – $1,370
11: Gabriel Fuller – $1,280
12: Carlos Loving – $1,180

$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16:  4,000/8,000 with a 68,000 ante
Players Remaining: 12 of 90

A short stack pegged his tournament hopes on a flush draw with 9-7 suited, and Shane Melert had him covered holding .

The board bricked out to change nothing, and Melert took out his opponent to stack up more than 400,000 after the hand. Every player remaining will now cash for at least $1,180 in prize money.

Shane Melert – 408,000 (51 bb)

$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16:  4,000/8,000 with a 68,000 ante
Players Remaining: 13 of 90

The field has reached the money bubble, so play will continue until one more player busts. The min-cash is good for $1,180, and the eventual champion will take home $14,900 up top.

$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 15:  3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 ante
Players Remaining: 14 of 90

Aaron Thivyanathan was all in preflop for about 70,000 from the cutoff holding , and Scott Nichols had him covered on the small blind holding .

The final board read , and Thivyanathan was eliminated from the tournament. Nichols stacked up 186,000 after collecting the pot.

Scott Nichols – 186,000 (31 bb)
Aaron Thivyanathan – Eliminated

$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 13:  2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 ante
Players Remaining: 17 of 90

Two notables remaining in Event 10 are Wally Maddah and Aaron Thivyanathan, and they are seated right next to each other at one of the two remaining tables in the tournament. The stacks for the two Seminole Hard Rock Tampa regulars are both hovering around 100,000 with Maddah at 93,000, and Thivyanathan holding 106,000.

Maddah holds more than $700,000 in career earnings, with over 350 cashes on his poker resume. He has won 16 poker tournaments, and the majority of those victories have come here in Tampa. The largest cash for the tournament grinder was for $37,361 at the Rock-N-Roll Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood back in 2016.

Thivyanathan was a major player in the Player of the Series race last year here in Tampa, and he has many cashes recorded here as well. He holds more than $750,000 in career earnings thanks to 170 total cashes. Thivyanathan has five tournament titles to his credit, and his largest cash was good for $63,498 when he finished runner-up in a $2,200 buy-in no-limit hold’em prelim hosted here back in 2021.

2023 Tampa Signature Poker Series
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 10
$600 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 90
Prize Pool: $47,250
September 11, 2023

Registration closed for the $600 Deep Stack with 90 entries in the one-day trophy event turning the $30,000 guarantee into a prize pool worth $47,250. The last 12 spots will be paid with $1,180 for a min-cash and $14,990 plus the SPS trophy to the Event 10 champ.

1st: $14,990 + SPS Trophy
2nd: $8,980
3rd: $5,670
4th: $3,660
5th: $2,840
6th: $2,240
7th: $1,890
8th: $1,650
9th: $1,500
10th: $1,370
11th: $1,280
12th: $1,180