There were three starting flights for Event 14 over the past two days, attracting 312 entries to generate a prizepool worth $302,640. Forty players survived those flights to make Day 2 and finish in the money.
Day 2 was a long one, running more than 13 hours, with more than four hours just for the battle between the final three players. It was a lot of small ball back-and-forth at that point, with only two all-in-and-call situations in those final four hours.
The first all-in situation came when Rafael Rodriguez shoved (Click here for details.)
The second all-in situation was the final hand, when Matthew Lambrecht shoved ace-six into Nicholas Chong’s queen-jack. (Click here for details.) With a queen on the flop and another queen on the river, Chong won the pot, the title, the trophy, and $60,340 with trip queens.
“I’m really happy, but really, really tired,” said Chong. “It was a long day today.”
Chong loves playing here at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, and the biggest tournament cash of his career came here last year, when he finished second in Event #1 at the 2024 Lucky Hearts Poker Open, earning $221,375.
Even though it was a six-figure payday, it was still a second-place finish, and coming out on top today was special for Chong.
“This is my first trophy here,” said Chong. “I’m really happy, and I wish to get more from the Hard Rock, both Tampa and here. This is my favorite casino for playing poker. It’s really lucky for me, and I never go home empty-handed.”
Results:
| Place | First Name | Last Name | Prize Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicholas | Chong | $60,340 |
| 2 | Matthew | Lambrecht | $41,500 |
| 3 | Rafael | Rodriguez | $31,000 |
| 4 | Kevin | DiPasquale | $23,100 |
| 5 | Michael | Garcia | $17,400 |
| 6 | Cangir | Elcin | $13,300 |
| 7 | David | DiBernardi | $10,200 |
| 8 | Feiwen | Wu | $7,900 |
| 9 | Zhen | Cai | $6,200 |
| 10 | Martins | Adeniya | $6,200 |
| 11 | Kevin | MacDonald | $5,200 |
| 12 | Pasquale | Caiazza | $5,200 |
| 13 | Denis | Cyr | $4,360 |
| 14 | Alexander | Rosenblatt | $4,360 |
| 15 | Ben | Warrington | $4,360 |
| 16 | Timothy | Mulroy | $3,580 |
| 17 | Eric | Thoren | $3,580 |
| 18 | Bryan | Schultz | $3,580 |
| 19 | Scott | Zakheim | $3,580 |
| 20 | Peter | Kinseth | $2,920 |
| 21 | Calais | Campbell | $2,920 |
| 22 | Samuel | Ganzfried | $2,920 |
| 23 | Daniel | Vranich | $2,920 |
| 24 | Haim | Toorgeman | $2,320 |
| 25 | Nikolai | Tulin | $2,320 |
| 26 | Tamas | Hartman | $2,320 |
| 27 | Aaron | Flores | $2,320 |
| 28 | Jacob | Kauffman | $2,320 |
| 29 | Christopher | Bucceri | $2,320 |
| 30 | A.J. | Kelsall | $2,320 |
| 31 | David | Nathaniel | $2,320 |
| 32 | Adam | Nattress | $1,940 |
| 33 | Kevin | Ordet | $1,940 |
| 34 | Miguel | Capriles | $1,940 |
| 35 | Mica | Lamar | $1,940 |
| 36 | Craig | Pollak | $1,940 |
| 37 | Dion | Jagroo | $1,940 |
| 38 | Benjamin | Zamani | $1,940 |
| 39 | Joost | Schippers | $1,940 |
| 40 | Yury | Parad | $1,940 |