Six poker superstars gathered at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood casino in Florida for the conclusion of the WPT Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open, with 1,435 entries putting up the $3,500 entry fee and bidding to become one of the 181 players who would make the money places. In the end, Dylan Smith became the champion and got his name engraved on the WPT Mike Sexton Champions Cup, taking home $662,200.
| WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Championship Final Table Results: | |||
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Dylan Smith | United States | $662,200* |
| 2nd | Matthew Beinner | United States | $440,000 |
| 3rd | Florian Ribouchon | France | $3245,000 |
| 4th | Landon Tice | United States | $245,000 |
| 5th | Francis Anderson | United States | $184,000 |
| 6th | Paul Domb | United States | $140,000 |
Another Gigantic WPT Field
In recent years, the World Poker Tour has introduced the WPT World Championships, with a $40 million guarantee welcoming thousands of players to Las Vegas in December 2022, in a tournament that has since returned in 2023 and is back this month too. Their United States-wide series of Main Events have always appealed to the heartland of American poker players, however, and the Seminole Rock ‘N’ Rock Poker Open is one of the jewels in the WPT’s crown.
This year’s edition saw players such as the former PCA Main Event winner Harrison Gimbel (155th for $6,400), 2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess (142nd for $7,000) and WPT Global Ambassador and cash game vlogging legend Brad Owen (119th for $7,000) all made a return on their investments, while Jeremy ‘JBex’ Becker (90th for $9,600), Jason Mercier (61st for $13,800) and Adam Hendrix (18th for $39,000) all made the top 100 without reaching the six-handed final table filmed for television.
When the final six began play on the final day, Matthew Beinner led them into the action with 21.6 million chips, the equivalent of 86 big blinds, with prodigious talent Landon Tice (18.6m / 75BB) hot on his heels. The eventual winner Smith started third in chips but some way back with 49 big blinds, while at the other end of the chipcounts, Francis Anderson started with just 13 big blinds to his name.
Domb Bombs, Tice Rolls the Dice
Within six hands, the sixth-place finisher was on the rail with $140,000. All-in with a five-bet shove and pocket jacks, Paul Domb ran into the monster hand of Beinner’s pocket kings. No catching up was possible on the 6-4-2-T-3 board and the field was very swiftly trimmed to five players, as the chip leader leapt above 110 big blinds and could exert his control over the table.
Two double-ups followed, with Francis Anderson spinning up his stack with pocket kings ahead of Beinner’s ace-jack offsuit. There was a dramatic runout, however, as both men had a spade flush draw from the flop, with three spades landing and Beinner holding the ace in that suit. No further spade fell, though, and Anderson turned 10 bigs into 21 big blinds. Dylan Smith then doubled through Landon Tice when pocket aces beat ace-king to leave the devastated Tice short.
Tice was on the edge but managed to survive in thrilling circumstances for the impartial observer. It looked like Tice could fetch his coat when ace-nine offsuit was slaughtered on the flop as Beinner’s queen-ten of clubs found a flop of A-J-4, all of which were clubs. An ace on the turn gave Tice the chance of a full house, however, and a jack on the river provided the most sensational of escapes.
Francis Anderson was the next to risk his stack in order to double back into contention. All-in pocket queens, he lost a classic coinflip when Beinner’s ace-king, the latest in a long line of incredible hands in the first 22 deals of the final, won through. A safe flop of 9-7-4 for Anderson was followed by a king on the turn and no queen came as a ten on the river came to send play four-handed, with Anderson departing for $184,000 in fifth.
The Title on the Line
Landon Tice lasted little longer, exiting four hands later for a score of $245,000 in fourth place. Tice called off his stack pre-flop with pocket nines but was one pip incorrect as the Frenchman Florian Ribouchon turned over pocket tens. The board of Q-8-2-6-T never looked like opening the door for Tice before that inconsequential ten on the river made sure it stayed slammed shut, Tice leaving play three-handed as he just missed on his first major live title on the World Poker Tour.
Play continued for some time, with the dinner break seeing Beinner still in control on 39.8 million (100BB), with Smith on 22.8m (57BB) and Ribouchon’s 9.1 million representing just 23 big blinds. It took a long time more, but eventually, it was the Frenchman who departed for $325,000 in third place. Ribouchon shoved with pocket sixes, Beinner called with nines and a clean board of J-9-4-T-J had the French player home before the river card fell.
Heads-up play began with Beinner on 47.1 million chips (94 big blinds), while Smith started as a 2:1 underdog, his stack of 24.6 million representing just 49 big blinds. A series of smallball pots levelled matters up a touch before a king-high straight earned Smith the chip lead.
A dozen hands later, Smith had grown his lead into a similar one to Beinner’s at the start of the final duel. All-in pre-flop with seven-eight of clubs, Smith needed help to win the title when Beinner turned over the correct call with queen-jack but immediately got it as the flop came K-7-6. A nine on the turn meant any queen, jack or ten would double Beinner back into the lead but an innocuous three on the river ended the event in Smith’s favor as he won his first WPT Main Event in style.
Along with the top prize of $662,200, Smith also claimed the $10,400 entry into the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, as well as getting his name inscribed on the infamous Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.