2018 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Tampa, Florida
Main Event
$1,650 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 609
Prize Pool: $913,500
December 13-17, 2018

(Tampa, Florida) – The Winter Poker Open Main Event concluded Monday night at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa, Florida. The $1,650 buy-in tournament drew droves of pros and amateurs alike and was won by New York’s Michael McCarthy following a three-way chop. As the champion, McCarthy was awarded $135,000 along with the property’s token trophy — a guitar.

2018 marked the fourth straight year the Main Event drew a supersized field smashing the $500,000 guarantee. With 609 entries, the guarantee was surpassed before cards went in the air on the third and final starting day and the field grew and grew until registration closed. In the end, 609 entries ponied up $1,650 generating a total kiddie worth $913,500.

There was a big influence of pros including 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Greg Raymer, former November Niners John Dolan and Neil Blumenfield as well as Tampa regular Jeff Trudeau who finished 26th in last July’s WSOP Main Event. Of these players, only Dolan found an in-the-money finish.

McCarthy kicked off the 2018 Winter Poker Open with an 11th-place finish in the big $570 buy-in, 867-entry opener last weekend. He parlayed that deep run and $6,564 score into a Main Event entry and some confidence heading into the spotlight event.

He kept a level head through all stages of play and never got dangerously short. He started Day 2 in the middle of the pack and remained in the middle of the pack by the time play narrowed to the nine-handed final table. As a matter of fact, McCarthy never made a run at the chip lead until he eliminated Tampa’s Alex Ivan in 5th place. Next to go was reigning Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year Brett Bader in 4th. McCarthy hit and ran getting the chip lead three-handed before agreeing to a chop. McCarthy and runner-up Richard Carr each took $135,000 while Michael Turton went down 3rd for just over $117,000. McCarthy went down as the champion take 1st place along with the trophy.

In addition to the trio of finalists, Rob Manjura (12th), Tom Nguyen (27th), AJ Kelsall (28th) and Anthony Dianaty (33rd) also finished in the money. One of the most notable scores of the event came via Duff Charette’s 11th-place finish. Charette was down to less than two big blinds prior to the money bubble and grinded his way all the way to a $14,890 score.

McCarthy is 29 years old and resides in Levittown, New York. He is a professional poker play now with four tournament wins and just over $200,000 in career earnings.

Final table results:

1st: Michael McCarthy – $135,000 + Trophy
2nd: Richard Carr – $135,000
3rd: Michael Turton – $117,615
4th: Brett Bader – $55,851
5th: Alex Ivan – $42,871
6th: James Peterson – $35,736
7th: Zach Gilbert – $29,826
8th: Huicun Qiao – $23,915
9th: Ryan Anderkin – $19,023

• Download: Full Results (PDF)

$1,650 Main Event (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30: 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 ante
Players Remaining: 3 of 609

The chop talk took only a brief recess before the trio of remaining players came to a deal. Michael Turton worked his way up slightly from his ICM number, getting $117,615. As the two top stacks Michael McCarthy and Richard Carr each took $135,000 apiece. McCarthy went down as the champion taking 1st place and the guitar.

A full recap will be posted later tonight. In the meantime, here’s a look at the tournament’s full results:

1st: Michael McCarthy – $135,000 + Trophy
2nd: Richard Carr – $135,000
3rd: Michael Turton – $117,615
4th: Brett Bader – $55,851
5th: Alex Ivan – $42,871
6th: James Peterson – $35,736
7th: Zach Gilbert – $29,826
8th: Huicun Qiao – $23,915
9th: Ryan Anderkin – $19,023
10th: Richard Kane – $14,890
11th: Duff Charette – $14,890
12th: Rob Manjura – $14,890
13th: Chris Greaves – $11,775
14th: Nashaat Antonious – $11,775
15th: Mirza Nagji – $11,775
16th: Huayi Zheng – $9,939
17th: Carlos Loving – $9,939
18th: Nick Carter – $9,939
19th: Lunique Petiote – $8,377
20th: Josias Santos – $8,377
21st: Mark Wiser – $8,377
22nd: Jason Goldman – $7,016
23rd: Jordan Joeckel – $7,016
24th: Juan Endara – $7,016
25th: Brandon Caputo – $6,047
26th: Joel Wadsworth – $6,047
27th: Tom Nguyen – $6,047
28th: AJ Kelsall – $5,253
29th: Lawrence Kiang – $5,253
30th: Julio Delgado Reyes – $5,253
31st: Derek Bowers – $5,253
32nd: Maksim Budovskiy – $5,253
33rd: Anthony Dianaty – $5,253
34th: David Harmon – $5,253
35th: Craig Eshleman – $5,253
36th: Corey Lipke – $5,253
37th: Antonio Fernandez – $4,522
38th: Mark Scacewater – $4,522
39th: Ioannis Patsourakis – $4,522
40th: Aaron Speer – $4,522
41st: David Tuthill – $4,522
42nd: Staffan Lind – $4,522
43rd: Christopher Holland – $4,522
44th: Karen Longfellow – $4,522
45th: Cesar Solares – $4,522
46th: Kharlin Sued – $3,837
47th: William Corvino – $3,837
48th: Kristopher Villanueva – $3,837
49th: Jeffrey Russell – $3,837
50th: Wilbur Allison – $3,837
51st: Travis Jackson – $3,837
52nd: John Dolan – $3,837
53rd: Praveen Challagundla – $3,837
54th: Michael Traficante – $3,837
55th: Matthew Leecy – $3,289
56th: Vitor Coelho – $3,289
57th: Oscar Zeledon – $3,289
58th: Keith Oakley – $3,289
59th: Fredrick Hadden – $3,289
60th: Walter Connors – $3,289
61st: Farhad Madhani – $3,289

$1,650 Main Event (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30: 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 ante
Players Remaining: 3 of 609

There was brief discussion of a chop, but both chip leader Richard Carr and second in chips Michael McCarthy insisted they get the guitar. There was no agreement and play went on.

Approximate chip counts:

• Richard Carr – 7,895,000
• Michael McCarthy – 6,965,000
• Michael Turton – 3,530,000

$1,650 Main Event (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30: 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 ante
Players Remaining: 3 of 609

Short stack and reigning Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year Brett Bader got his last roughly 2,000,000 in the middle preflop and was at risk against the start-of-day chip leader Richard Carr.

Carr:
Bader:

Runout:

Bader got no help and was eliminated in 4th place. Bader’s deep run and $55,851 came off just one entry — a promo entry he received as the 2018 POY.

The remaining three players promptly began chop talk.

Brett Bader – Eliminated in 4th place ($55,851)

$1,650 Main Event (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30: 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 ante
Players Remaining: 4 of 609

Alex Ivan shoved the button — about 1,500,000. Michael Turton released from the small blind and Michael McCarthy called from the big. Ivan was at risk.

McCarthy:
Ivan:

Runout:

Ivan couldn’t get any traction on the runout and he was eliminated in 5th place.

Michael McCarthy – 6,800,000
Alex Ivan – Eliminated in 5th place ($42,871)

$1,650 Main Event (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Heading to Level 30: 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 ante
Players Remaining: 5 of 609

Seat 1: — empty —
Seat 2: Richard Carr – 6,905,000
Seat 3: Brett Bader – 1,650,000
Seat 4: — empty —
Seat 5: Alex Ivan – 2,365,000
Seat 6: Michael Turton – 2,800,000
Seat 7: Michael McCarthy – 4,670,000
Seat 8: — empty —
Seat 9: — empty —

1st – $180,205 + Trophy
2nd – $126,246
3rd – $81,164
4th – $55,851
5th – $42,871

$1,650 Main Event (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 29: 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining: 5 of 609

Michael Turton open-shoved the small blind for 1,450,000. Michael McCarthy made a reluctant called from the big blind and the cards were up.

Turton:
McCarthy:

Runout:

Turton’s ace-high was best and he doubled through McCarthy.

Michael Turton – 3,150,000
Michael McCarthy  – 4,490,000

$1,650 Main Event (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 29: 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining: 5 of 609

Brett Bader recently doubled up Michael Turton leaving himself with about 900,000 chips. Since then, he’s managed to double up twice, most recently picking up to double through Richard Carr’s all-in preflop.

Brett Bader – 2,500,000

$1,650 Main Event (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 28: 40,000/80,000 with a 80,000 ante
Players Remaining: 5 of 609

James Peterson was under the gun and opened with a raise to 185,000. Richard Carr was next up and three-bet to 400,000. It folded back around to Peterson and he called. They were heads up.

Flop: – Both players checked.

Turn: – Peterson lead for 500,000. Carr called.

River: – Peterson jammed about 1,900,000. Carr asked for a rough count, then called.

“Aces,” Peterson announced flipping over .

Carr’s trip nines were best and Peterson was eliminated. Carr took the chip lead.

James Peterson – Eliminated in 6th place ($35,736)