Even though the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open series is over, there’s still plenty of opportunities to play poker tournaments in Florida, as Seminole Hard Rock Tampa is currently hosting another great land-based poker festival — Tampa Poker Classic.
The first big tournament that was part of the festival was the $600 No-Limit Hold’em Reentry. Michial Drake was the one to hold the trophy in the end, winning almost $80,000 for his effort. He wasn’t the only player to win so much money, as he made a heads-up deal with his opponent Lawrence Cheng. Therefore, Cheng won the same amount as Drake — a total of $79,319. Still, Michial Drake from Louisville, Kentucky, was the one to win the electric guitar, which is the official trophy of the Tampa Poker CLassic.
The event attracted a total of 996 entries, so Drake and Cheng didn’t have an easy job getting to the final table. Both players don’t have a huge record of poker winnings. According to Drake’s Hendon Mob profile, he had less than $30K in lifetime live poker tournament earnings. In other words, the amount he won by playing his latest event is the single biggest amount in his career. The same thing could be said for his heads-up opponent.
Some other players who managed to make it to the money list but failed to reach the final table were Raminder Singh, James Poper, Damon Ferrante, Mark Hodge, and Jeff Trudeau Jr.
The event is definitely considered a success, as it attracted almost a thousand players. The original guaranteed prize was $150K, but the final prize pool with all buy-ins added to it was $513,970. Therefore, it’s safe to say that much more players turned up than expected.
The Final Table Overview
The final table consisted of eight players, and the first one to hit the rail was Anthony Askey from Richmond, Virginia, who managed to earn a total of $10,924. He was followed by a player from North Palm Beach, Florida, Maxwell Young, who won $14,062 as a seventh-placed player.
The sixth place was reserved for David Kilcoyne from Churchville, PA. Kilcoyne managed to win $18,347 for his effort.
After that, it was time for Mansoor Kader from Land O Lakes, Florida, to leave the final table with a total of $24,257 in his pocket.
Abdul Amer waved goodbye to the final table while busting in the fourth place. The player from Galena, Ohio, managed to earn $32,391 for his effort.
The last player to hit the rail before the heads-up was David Ormsbee from Orlando, Florida, who won a total of $44,087.
In the end, Lawrence Cheng and Michial Drake met face to face, but it seems that they reached a stalemate. Therefore, the two of them agreed to split the final pot equally, both winning $79,319 as the main prize, except that Drake also won a guitar.
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