Brandon Eisen nabbed his first recorded live tournament win since 2013 on Monday, emerging victorious in the $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship Event. He began as the chip leader at the final table and ended up defeating Jeremy Ausmus heads-up to win $771,444.
Here is a look at the chip counts to begin the nine-handed final table at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida:
Brandon Eisen – 7,330,000
Stoyan Obreshkov – 6,540,000
Marcos Exterkotter – 4,370,000
Jeremy Ausmus – 4,090,000
Jared Griener – 3,975,000
Ryan D’Angelo – 3,810,000
Adam Adler – 3,745,000
Ido Ashkenazi – 1,470,000
Joseph Cheong – 1,265,000
Though Eisen had a bit of separation at the top, it was still a fairly close race overall, as all but two players could have elevated into the chip lead with a double-up.
Stoyan Obreshkov overtook Eisen early on when he eliminated Marcos Extrekotter on the eighth hand of the final table. It isn’t often you see two of the largest stacks clash that early, but they did and Obreshkov upped his stack to 9.760 million chips.
Nine hands later, Joseph Cheong, the short stack going into the final table, was ousted by Ausmus in eighth place. Eisen, who was down a few chips, had now fallen to third, while Ausmus elevated into second place with just over 8 million and Obreshkov was up over 11 million.
On Hand 26, Obreshkov knocked out Jared Greiner in seventh place and on Hand 54, Eisen eliminated Ido Ashkenazi in sixth.
The hits came quickly after that. Ausmus bumped Adam Adler in fifth on lucky Hand 57: both men had A-K, but Ausmus rivered a flush to foil the probable chopped pot. He was also a heavy chip leader at that point with 14 million chips. Eisen was the closest with 8.900 million.
The very next hand, Ryan D’Angelo was gone, his A-K suited losing to Eisen’s pocket Sixes. Then, on the 61st hand Eisen eliminated Obreshkov in third place. Obreshkov paired a pocket Queen on the turn, calling an all-in by Eisen, but Eisen had pocket Kings which held up on the river. That run catapulted Eisen way into the chip lead going into heads-up with Ausmus, 23 million to 13 million.
Eisen extended his lead and it looked like he might just leave Ausmus in the dust, but Ausmus hit a monster hand to double-up. He flopped an improbable full house when the flop came down 8-4-4 and was able to extract maximum value as Eisen rivered a straight, holding 7-6. The chip stacks had reversed.
Ausmus had things locked down for a while, but after a break, Eisen made the hand of the tournament at the start of Level 30. Pre-flop, Ausmus raised to 400,000, Eisen re-raised to 1.4 million, and Ausmus called. The flop was K-T-9 and Eisen checked, Ausmus bet 1 million, and Eisen called. The turn was the 8, putting a possible flush on the board. Eisen once again checked called, this time for 2.5 million. The river was the 5 and again Eisen check-called, but on this occasion, the call was for all of his chips, as Ausmus shoved.
Ausmus revealed K-T for a juicy two-pair flop, but Eisen showed J-7 for a turned straight. Eisen was now the overwhelming chip leader, 30.350 million to 6.250 million.
After that, it was just a matter of time. On Hand 144 of the final table, Eisen moved all-in with Q-J and Ausmus, after a long consideration, called with just K-5. The King was ahead, but Eisen flopped two pair. A King was dealt on the turn to give Ausmus life, but the river bricked and Eisen took the pot and the tournament.
2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open – Final Table Results
1. Brandon Eisen – $771,444
2. Jeremy Ausmus – $540,459
3. Stoyan Obreshkov – $349,889
4. Ryan D’Angelo – $258,615
5. Adam Adler – $195,491
6. Ido Ashkenazi – $156,215
7. Jared Griener – $129,308
8. Joseph Cheong – $102,843
9. Marcos Exterkotter – $77,132
