Eric Afriat Crowned Seminole Hard Rock Champion For $1,081,184
April 17, 2014 11:47 amEric Afriat has been crowned the 2014 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship winner, after besting a field of 1,795 players on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the huge $1,081,184 first place prize.
After completing his remarkable victory, the Canadian commented: “Everything was just magical. You can’t fight faith and it was my time. I always envisioned it, always felt I was going to win but the fact, after everything is over, it just sunk in that it’s ridiculous what I just accomplished.”
The $3,500 buy-in event had three starting days and allowed unlimited rebuys to create a prize pool worth $5,763,150. By the time the final table of six had been reached, Mukul Pahuja was the chip leader (118 BB), followed by James Mackey (73 BB), Jacob Bazeley (45 BB), Eric Afriat (42 BB), Chance Kornuth (33 BB), and Matt Stout (22 BB).
First to leave the table was Chance Kornuth in 6th ($247,954), whose short-stacked shove with K-Q ran into the A-10 of James Mackey. Sixteen hands later he was followed by Matt Stout in 5th ($308,501), with his Q-10 button preflop shove called by Mukul Pahuja with A-8.
Jacob Bazeley was then unlucky to have his A-A cracked by the J-8 of Eric Afriat on a J-8-4 flop, and after the remaining chips went into the middle, the Q and 9 turn and river cards ensured Bazeley exited soon after in 4th for $371,931.
Afriat, Mackey and Pahuja subsequently played on for three hours before James Mackey (K-7) was sent by Afriat (9-9) to the rail in 3rd ($441,128) to usher in the heads-up phase of the tournament. Seven hands later, and Eric Afriat (8-8) called the 22 BB all-in shove by Vinny Pahuja (K-9), and with the the dealer putting out a 5-5-2-10-6 board, Pahuja had to settle for a runner-up finish worth $691,965, while Eric Afriat was crowned the champion.
Final Table Payouts
1 Eric Afriat – $1,081,184
2 Mukul Pahuja – $691,965
3 James Mackey – $441,128
4 Jacob Bazeley – $371,931
5 Matt Stout – $308,501
6 Chance Kornuth – $247,954