The World Poker Tour Seminole is currently underway, and we have been able to witness some great poker action across various events. One of the exciting events was the $25,500 High Roller, which had a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million. There were a total of 99 entries, which was a bit more than expected, and they managed to push the prize pool up to $2.4 million.
In fact, 99 entries for such a high buy-in is actually a pretty great number, creating a strong competition among the players. A total of 16 players managed to make it to the second day of the event. However, only fourteen places were determined to be paid from the prize pool, and the first two players to go out were Ray Qartomy and Jonathan Jaffe, who managed to burst the bubble by losing to a pair of kings that Alex Foxen, while Jaffe had a King-Jack.
The Final Table Play
At the time the players reached the final table, there was no single player who could have bragged with a significant chip lead. In other words, things were pretty much equal among the players which paved the way for an interesting final table. All players had under 40 big blinds at the start, but Joe McKeehen managed to rob Brandon Adams of chips with a pair of aces and was the first one to go over 60 big blinds.
The first player to hit the rail was Ben Yu, who managed to win $68,470. He was soon followed by Brandon Adams, who took home a total of $70,915, and Alan Schein, who won $83,140. When there were only six players left, Aaron Mermelstein started to gain momentum and it was soon clear that he was becoming one of the favorites to win the event. His first victim was Nial Farrell, the only player from the UK in the final table (all other players were from the US). Mermelstein busted Farrel with a pair of nines against Farrells’ ace-queen.
Joe McKeehen then went on a streak by busting Shannon Shorr in fifth place and James Calderaro in fourth. However, McKeehen’s success was soon doomed when he faced Mermelstein, who was having a great day and was out himself not long after. McKeehen had to settle for third place, and he won a total of $305,665. The two players that clashed in the heads-up play were Alex Foxen and Aaron Mermelstein. Although Mermelstein had a slight lead over Foxen, the two players agreed that it was better to make a heads-up deal. In the end, Foxen won $545,000 and Mermelstein took the main prize home, winning $618,955. Eventually, it was Mermelstein who won the tournament. Foxen flopped a pair on a 10-9-4, but Mermelstein had a top set, thus beating his opponent and taking home the trophy and the main prize.