The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open final table came to a conclusion Wednesday and it was poker professional Blair Hinkle who walked away with the massive $1,700,000 first place prize.
Hinkle was the chipleader at the start of the day and, while he didn’t go wire to wire, he ended up with all of the chips at the end of it all by besting fellow pro Justin Bonomo after a lengthy, multi-hour bout of heads-up play.
Bonomo claims his second biggest live career score with his $1,163,500 payday, right behind his high roller victory at the 2012 EPT Monte Carlo while Florida poker pro Mukul Pahuja found himself in third place for over $870,000. Ray Qartomy, Samuel Bernabeau Guilabert and Greg Lehn took 4th, 5th and 6th place respectively.
In addition to the money, and the sweet Hard Rock guitar trophy, Blair Hinkle may have also found some piece of mind. One may recall that Blair Hinkle, after chopping up the Full Tilt Online Poker Series XIX Main Event (for $1.162M), found himself with over $1M stuck online right after Black Firday. While the prospects of that money are looking good to be returned, over two years later, fortune has smiled on Hinkle once again and he’s secured another $1M+ payday. This time though the only part of that money that will get stuck is what goes to the IRS.
For a hand by hand recap of the final table, including the lengthy heads-up battle, visit the Live Updates page of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.
