2023 Tampa Signature Poker Series
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 2
$400 Pot Limit Omaha (Re-Entry)
Entries: 135
Prize Pool: $45,225
September 6, 2023

A field of 135 entries entered the $400 buy-in pot-limit Omaha event on opening night at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Signature Poker Series, creating a prizepool worth more than $45,000. The final battle between local players Doug Marro and Hoang Tran proved to be the toughest match of the night, with Marro doubling up four times to claim his spot at the top of the tournament.

“It’s definitely ironic, because the guys here know that I give a lot of action in PLO normally, so it’s going to be funny that I won,” said Marro after the victory.

There was a fun community feeling at the final table, especially when things got down to three-handed action; and even more so when it was heads-up for the title. There were even players from Flight B in Event 1 shouting across the room for chip count updates at different times.  Various local players kept stopping by to peek in on the action as well.

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t like too much of that, but it was fun. I’m a big fan of the guy that I was playing with, he just moved here recently and we had joked around the last couple months so it was cool that we were heads-up like that. I’m glad it was him because I was actually able to have fun, and not be too serious” said Marro when he was asked about the heads-up final against Tran. He continued, “As the guys know, I like to say ‘trust the process’ and they’ll know what that means [laughs].”

“I think we have a really good poker director Pablo. I have a good relationship with him, and he definitely understands poker, which is very important. He made our cash room a lot better. I normally play cash, and he did a really good job with that so shout out to him,” said Marro when he was asked what he enjoys about consistently returning to the SHR Tampa poker scene.

Even though he primarily plays cash, Marro also said that he will definitely be back for the Championship event and a few other tournaments during the SPS series. He also wanted to say one last thing at the end of his winner’s interview, “Everything that I learned in PLO I learned from Charlie K [laughs].”

Final Results:

1st: Doug Marro – $11,565 + SPS trophy
2nd: Hoang Tran – $7,710
3rd: Zee Kurdi – $5,390
4th: Marshall Morris – $3,870
5th: Michael Laake – $2,860
6th: Daquon Wilson – $2,180
7th: John Casaubon – $1,710
8th: Alexandru Ivan – $1,380
9th: Jonathan Gold – $1,150
10th: Dustin Peglow – $1,150
11th: Barry Blakely – $1,000
12th: Matthew Tedesco – $1,000
13th: Wally Maddah – $900
14th: Alexander Orlov – $900
15th: William Wallace – $820
16th: Joseph Battaglia – $820
17th: Braedon Brown – $820