Omar Zazay Wins Seminole Hard Rock Championship Main Event For $1 Million

A total of 907 players entered the $5,250 buy-in Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event, although that number still fell $600,000 short of the 1,031 players that were needed to reach the tournaments $5 million guarantee. Four days later, and it would be Omar Zazay who would finish atop the field to capture the title, as well as its huge $1,000,000 first place prize. Following a remarkable victory which boosts his live career earnings to $1,323,469, Zazay commented:
“This is an amazing feeling. It’s been a lot of hard work. I’ve played a lot of poker and come up short many times, knowing I can do better, so having the title under my belt is extremely rewarding.”
The huge prize pool meant 150 players earned at least $7,500 for their hard fought efforts, but on the last day of action the final table was populated by a number of tournament poker’s top competitors, including WSOP bracelet winners Paul Volpe and Dan Colman, 2011 HPT Verona champion Randy Pfeifer, and 2015 Florida State Poker Championship winner Joseph Couden.
Eventually, the final table of nine played down to just three players, before local poker dealer Brian Phillis (Q-9) and Colman (J-J) went all-in on a K-J-10 flop. The A and 2 which fell on turn and river failed to improve Colman’s hand, and so he exited in third, but did pick up $310,000 for his near-title defense.
Phillis subsequently entered heads-up with a 19.45m to 7.75m chip advantage over Omar Zazay, but over the next 100 hands lost his lead before the deciding hand was played with Zazay (A-6) moving all-in preflop, and Phillis (A-5) calling with his last 2.325 million chips. The deader subsequently laid out an A-J-6-7-K board to consign Brian Phillis to a runner-up finish worth $575,000, while Omar Zazay was crowned the SHRPO Championship winner.
“The Hard Rock did a great job setting up a big event like this. It was a huge success. All the players are happy and everyone that played got their money’s worth and I hope they do it again,” commented an elated Zazay.
Final Table Results:
1: Omar Zazay – $1,000,000
2: Brian Phillis – $575,000
3: Dan Colman – $310,000
4: Larry Mocchia – $220,000
5: Randy Pfeifer – $180,000
6: Joseph Couden – $150,000
7: V.Mezheritsky – $125,000
8: Paul Volpe – $100,000
9: Rick Alvarado – $75,000