There is just one more day left in the 2013 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event as fifteen players were eliminated on Tuesday, leaving just six for Wednesday’s final table. Blair Hinkle jumped one spot from where he started the day to claim the top rung on the leaderboard with 22.8 million chips. The rest of the field is going to have some catching up to do, as there is a 10 million chip gap between Hinkle and the man in second place, Justin Bonomo, who has been at or near the top of the chip counts throughout most of the tournament.
Hinkle is a very good live tournament player, coming into this event with over 1.77 million in lifetime earnings. He has one World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet to his name, coming in 2008 in $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em. In all, he has 16 WSOP cashes and three World Poker Tour (WPT) cashes, plus two rings on the WSOP Circuit.
Hinkle garnered a sizeable portion of his chips from Larry Klur, both times with some help from the river card. In the mid-afternoon, Klur started a hand by raising to 200,000 and was called by Hinkle. After the flop of Q♥-9♦-8♥, Klur bet 325,000 and Hinkle again called. Klur checked the A♣ on the turn and called when Hinkle bet 415,000. Klur then checked the river in the dark and called again when Hinkle bet 1.6 million on the 3♥. Hinkle turned over 7♥-5♥ for the rivered flush, besting Klur’s Aces-up. Hinkle later eliminated Klur in 10th place when a King on the river gave Hinkle a set of Kings, besting Klur’s pair of Aces.
The six-handed final table bubble was burst before 7:30pm, giving the remaining players plenty of time to get a good night’s sleep before getting back to the action on Wednesday. In Tuesday’s concluding hand, Ray Qartomy raised to 400,000, Samuel Bernabeu Guilabert went all-in for 2.2 million and Panagiotis Nifakos called off his remaining 1.615 million chips. Qartomy folded, making it a heads-up match between Nifakos, who had Q♣-Q♠, and Guilabert, who had A♦-K♦. The board ran out K♠-T♦-8♣-2♦-6♥, giving Guilabert a pair of Kings and the best hand. Qartomy was probably kicking himself, as he folded 6♦-6♠, hole cards which would have given him a set and a double elimination.
The final table has already gotten started at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida as the six remaining players gun for the $1.745 million first prize.
2013 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
- Blair Hinkle – 22,800,000
- Justin Bonomo – 18,500,000
- Ray Qartomy – 13,050,000
- Mukul Pahuja – 10,200,000
- Samuel Bernabeu Guilabert – 4,675,000
- Greg Lehn – 2,200,000
