Matthew Waxman Wins WPT Regional Seminole Hard Rock In Florida

Matt Waxman has won the WPT Regional Seminole Hard Rock “Rock’n’ Poker Open” Main Event, after besting a field of 482 players over four days on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the $123,598 first place prize (after a deal was struck heads-up).
With his latest victory at the Florida tournament, the poker pro has now notched-up an impressive $2,787,437 in live earnings, $639,224 of which has been won this year alone. Waxman’s past successes include in 2010 winning the WSOPC Harrah’s Atlantic City for $117,797, in 2011 winning the WPT Grand Prix de Paris for $721,178, and this year taking down the WSOP $1,000 NL event for $305,952.
The $1,650 buy-in “Rock ‘n’ Poker Open” Main Event attracted a good-sized field to create a prize pool worth $473,000. Amongst the top players then cashing in at the event was David Baker in 38th ($3,904), David Diaz in 37th ($3,904), David Rheem in 25th ($5,133), and Michael Mizrachi in 10th ($10,628).
After the final table of nine got underway, Yuan Yangshen then proceeded to eliminate Javier Prado in 9th ($14,532), Kevin Spires in 8th ($19,375), John Pizano in 7th ($24,295), and Mark Morono in 6th ($29,135), before being dealt pocket nines and taking care of Darryl Fish (A-10) in 5th for $36,367.
Matthew Waxman (K-K) subsequently eliminated Tom Gleason (A-J) in 4th ($48,441), and after Yuan Yangshen dispatched Tyler Stafman to the rail in 3rd ($65,504), the heads-up phase of the competition was set.
As the final battle commenced, both Matt Waxman and Yuan Yangshen were practically even in chip, and so the two players agreed to split the prize money down the middle, and award the title to Matthew Waxman. Commenting after his victory, the 28 years old pro, said:
“I played against Eric Baldwin for seven hours at the WSOP event that I won and it was a brutal grind. Alex and I were both deep and I knew it was going to take hours to play heads up.”
Final Table Results:
1 Matthew Waxman $123,598*
2 Yuan Yangshen $123,597*
3 Tyler Stafman $65,504
4 Tom Gleason $48,441
5 Darryll Fish $36,367
6 Mark Morono $29,135
7 John Pizano $24,295
8 Kevin Spires $19,375
9 Javier Prado $14,532