Eight-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner, one-time Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event champion, and famed online poker player Ari Engel added last night another title to his already impressive portfolio. The Toronto-based poker professional bested the 64-player field of the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $1,650 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em for $28,800 in prize money and the tournament trophy.
The event was a two-day one and as already pointed out attracted 64 entries. An overall prize pool of $96,000 was generated to be distributed to the eight best performers.
Engel has previously won two Heads-Up tournaments, so it could be said that he was quite familiar with the format. Making his way to the event’s quarterfinals, the player had to defeat three tough opponents. First, he took down Raul Doutreleau, then he had to handle former WPT Champion Amir Babakhani. November Niner Jerry Wong was Engel’s last obstacle to overcome before facing his quarterfinals opponent.
The eight remaining hopefuls returned for Day 2 of the tournament. John Dollinger was Engel’s first opponent for the day. The eventual champion secured a seat among the final four after winning two of the three matches he played against Dollinger.
Engel was matched against two-time WPT champion Jonathan Little for what turned out to be the player’s last round of Heads-Up matches within the tournament. It took the Toronto-based poker pro quite some effort to defeat his last opponent. When done, Engel dropped by the other two semifinal opponents with an offer to split the money with the winner of the round. Alex Foxen and Aaron Mermelstein agreed and ended up chopping their own match.
Eventually, Engel was the player to pose with the tournament trophy and to collect the biggest share of the prize pool. Foxen and Mermelstein took $19,200 each for their deep run into the event. Jonathan Little took home $9,600 for his fourth-place finish. George Lusby finished 5th in the tournament for a payout of $4,800. Corey Dodd took 6th place for $4,800, as well. Timothy Tenpas and John Dillinger both took $4,800 for their respective seventh- and eight-place finishes in the Heads-Up event.
The 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open is coming to a close at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood. The festival’s highlight event – the $5,250 No-Limit Hold’em Championship with a guaranteed prize pool of $5 million is kicking off today, August 13, and will run through August 16.
