Brandon Eisen Triumphs at 2018 SHRPO Championship for $771,444
August 17, 2018 9:11 am
On August 14th, the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open reached its exciting conclusion after Brandon Eisen outlasted a tough final table that included the likes of Jeremy Ausmus, Ryan D’Angelo and Joseph Cheong to claim a first place prize of $771,444. Following his remarkable performance, the 29 year-old player explained:
“I always heard about the SHRPO tournament, but I just never made it out. This summer I started playing tournaments instead of mixing cash [games] and tournaments. It’s been nice to just focus on tournaments and that’s why I ended up coming out here.”
No 1 Hawaiian Player
Previous to his win, the Hawaiian born pro currently residing in Las Vegas had notched up three six-figure scores throughout a career dating back to 2013, including finishing the 2014 WSOP $1,111 Little One for One Drop event in 3rd for $283,895; in 2015 finishing runner-up at the $350 WPT Choctaw Durant for $110,880; and this year the DeepStack Championship Poker Series in second place for $146,219.
On Tuesday night, Eisen finally managed to get the monkey off his back by taking down the prestigious tournament, with his huge payout helping to boost his lifetime earnings to $1,505,605, whilst elevating him to a number one spot on Hawaii’s ‘All Time Money List’
SHRPO $5,250 Championship
The $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship attracted an impressive sized field of 914 players, in the process helping to create a prize pool $1,432,900 in excess of its initial $3 million guarantee. The tournament lasted a total of four days, and amongst the recognizable pros booking a cash was Cliff Josephy in 114th ($7,758), Jeff Madsen in 80th ($11,747), Mike Leah in 63rd ($13,919), Jason Mercier in 37th ($17,333), Shannon Shorr in 28th ($20,037), John Racener in 23rd ($28,637), and Loni Harwood in 19th ($34,045).
Final Table
Brandon Eisen entered the final table as the chip leader, but Bulgarian pro Stoyan Obreshkov soon took over the reigns of power after eliminating Marcos Exterkotter in 9th, followed by Jared Griener in 7th. As Eisen later noted, Obreshkov was taking full advantage of the other players’ defensive tactics as they tried to last long enough to enjoy the rather steep final table pay jumps.
“He picked up on that and he was abusing everybody. He was playing really well,” commented Eisen.
Nevertheless, Eisen (K-K) joined in the fray by taking care of a short stacked Ido Ashkenazi (Q-4) in 6th, before being dealt pocket sixes and doing likewise to Ryan D’Angelo (A-K) in 4th. A few hands later, Eisen (K-K) also sent Obreshkov (A-Q) to the rail in 3rd to take a chip lead over Jeremy Ausmus into heads-up play.
Brandon Eisen vs Jeremy Ausmus
In 2012, Jeremy Ausmus booked a 5th place finish at the WSOP Main Event for $2,155,313, with his last tournament victory coming a couple of years later in 2014 at the $1,600 Deep Stack Extravaganza I for $148,694. Ausmus subsequently started heads-up at a 13m to 23m disadvantage against Eisen, and despite pulling ahead at one stage, he later sunk to a 5-1 disadvantage after the following hand was played.
In the hand in question, Ausmus (K-10) bet out, leading to a three-bet from Eisen holding J-7. Eisen then check-called the K-10-9 flop, and did the same after an 8 on the turn made him a straight. Eisen checked again on the 5 river, before making an easy call after Ausmus holding top two pair.
After that Ausmus was unable to gain any further traction, and eventually got his remaining chips all-in preflop with K-5, only to be called by his opponent holding Q-J. The dealer then laid out a Q-J-6-K-9 board to oust Ausmus from the competition in second spot, while Brandon Eisen was crowned the champion.
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