Paul Snead is no stranger to success at Seminole Hard Rock properties all over the state of Florida between here at Hollywood and Tampa. Snead has multiple major tournament titles on his Seminole Hard Rock resume thanks to wins in the 2019 Seminole Showdown $5,000 NLH event, the 2022 Seminole Tampa Poker Classic $2,500 Championship, and the 2024 Seminole Tampa Poker Classic $1,700 Championship. He added even more hardware to that trophy case tonight by taking down the victory in the SHRPO $5,300 buy-in Championship Event. We caught up with him after the win for an interview about his most recent achievement in the Sunshine State.

“It feels amazing, I just feel like the Hard Rock is my home turf now. I’m originally from New York and still live there and Florida now. Foxwoods used to be my home turf, but now I totally feel comfortable here and playing here. I love the way that they run tournament here, it’s just great,” said Snead right after winning the trophy.

Snead continued, “I just love playing, and this is what I do when I’m not trading. I take it very seriously, I spend a lot of time talking poker with my poker coach and you wouldn’t believe the amount of time we spend talking about things, and it’s great when it all comes together. And I ran really good this tournament I think, which you need to do.”

Speaking more on that rungood that sent him down the path to the top of this tournament field Snead also added, “I was all in for my tournament life twice yesterday. I won a huge race with Ace-King against Queens, and then I came from behind all-in against Clemen [Deng] post-flop with Queens against Jack-10 on a Jack-10 flop. Those were the two hands where I could have been out of the tournament but I won. That hasn’t happened to me, so I feel really good … I’m ready to go hit the PokerGo studio for sure.”

Snead’s profession as he mentioned is working as a trader back in New York, but poker has become a serious and profitable hobby to him over the years. His close to $2.3 million in tournament earnings tells that story with a run of great results. We asked him about how those two major pursuits in his life are mutually beneficial to each other, and below is his response.

“Absolutely, you have to be analytical on both fronts, you have to have patience, you have to have discipline, and that’s the most important one. And that’s something I’ve had to work on in my poker game over the years. I’ve been playing for over 20 years now on a higher level, and the discipline part … and when I say discipline I mean keeping my emotions in check. Because people that know me will tell you that I wear it on my sleeve a lot of the time. And you can’t do that when you’re playing poker against the best players in the world. So that’s something that I’ve worked on, and I think that I’m much better at now and it’s served me,” said Snead.

We finished the final table-side chat with an inquiry to see what celebration plans Snead and his friends along the rail had in store for later. Snead responded, “I’ve got a bunch of local friends here. We’re usually up in New York this time of year so unfortunately my wife isn’t here. But I will see her tomorrow and we will celebrate with friends and family. I’m pretty amped about that trophy, it’s a good one.”

Place	First Name	Last Name	Prize Amount
1	Paul	Snead	$529,428*
2	Clemen	Deng	$512,522*
3	Brandon	Kessous	$310,000
4	Jack	Thu	$230,000
5	Billy	Pilossoph	$175,000
6	Tyler	Montoya	$133,000
7	Loni	Hui	$103,000
8	Sterling	Savill	$80,000
9	Kevin	Schulz	$63,000
10	Jeremy	Becker	$63,000
11	Charles	Gomez	$56,000
12	Ed	Holyoke	$56,000
13	Jesse	Lonis	$49,000
14	Martin	Zamani	$49,000
15	Spencer	Champlin	$49,000
16	Kevin	Andriamahefa	$42,500
17	Zhen	Cai	$42,500
18	Dylan	Smith	$42,500
19	Garret	Reisz	$42,500
20	Martin	Carnero	$36,500
21	Dan	Avitsur	$36,500
22	Steve	Cohen	$36,500
23	Drew	O'Connell	$36,500
24	Andrew	Moreno	$31,000
25	Lily	Kiletto	$31,000
26	Mark	Zullo	$31,000
27	Fred	Goldberg	$31,000
28	John	Costello	$31,000
29	Rodrigo	Aguilar	$31,000
30	Omar	Zazay	$31,000
31	Robert	LeBeau	$31,000
32	Vitalijs	Zavorotnijs	$26,000
33	Matthew	Wantman	$26,000
34	Nadya	Magnus	$26,000
35	Francis	Anderson	$26,000
36	Anatoly	Nikitin	$26,000
37	Joe	Bartholdi	$26,000
38	Harrison	Ashdown	$26,000
39	Mark	Davidoff	$26,000
40	Luis	Zedan	$21,800
41	Roman	Pumpernick	$21,800
42	Kitty	Kuo	$21,800
43	Anthony	Zinno	$21,800
44	Jorge	Flo Subiris	$21,800
45	Carlos	Guerrero	$21,800
46	Elliot	Smith	$21,800
47	Bin	Weng	$21,800
48	Brock	Wilson	$18,400
49	Andrew M.	Smith	$18,400
50	Danny	Panagatos	$18,400
51	Ignacio	Moron	$18,400
52	Kristen	Foxen	$18,400
53	David	Levy	$18,400
54	Aaron	Mermelstein	$18,400
55	Byung	Shin	$18,400
56	Ren	Lin	$15,500
57	Jerry	Wong	$15,500
58	Lejdin	Fazilbegu	$15,500
59	Tarun	Gulati	$15,500
60	Dion	Jagroo	$15,500
61	Jacob	Kalb	$15,500
62	Raminder	Singh	$15,500
63	Chris	Moorman	$15,500
64	Scott	Blackman	$13,100
65	David	Jackson	$13,100
66	John	Kennedy	$13,100
67	Stuart	Taylor	$13,100
68	Ronald	Spooner	$13,100
69	Kyle	Taddei	$13,100
70	Stuart	Hankin	$13,100
71	Ari	Dinov	$13,100
72	Neel	Murthy	$13,100
73	Alex	Foxen	$13,100
74	Mike	Chiappetta	$13,100
75	Adam	Agaev	$13,100
76	Scott	Frier	$13,100
77	Daniel	Blum	$13,100
78	Michael	Morton	$13,100
79	James	Carroll	$11,200
80	Ethan	Yau	$11,200
81	Daniel	Scroggins	$11,200
82	Jacob	Ferro	$11,200
83	Zachary	Bruch	$11,200
84	Kyle	Arora	$11,200
85	Nick	Palma	$11,200
86	David	Coleman	$11,200
87	Mkhail	Volfson	$11,200
88	Joshua	Kay	$11,200
89	Adrian	Buckley	$11,200
90	Luke	Brereton	$11,200
91	Elliott	Kessas	$11,200
92	Michael	Wetcher	$11,200
93	Carlos	Leiva	$11,200
94	Bala	Patur	$9,700
95	Bryce	McVay	$9,700
96	Tony	Cousineau	$9,700
97	Eric	Afriat	$9,700
98	Andrew	Becker	$9,700
99	Ryan	Riess	$9,700
100	Yuk	Mui	$9,700
101	Marco	Rodriguez	$9,700
102	Jordan	Sparagana	$9,700
103	Jake	Schwartz	$9,700
104	Peter	Park	$9,700
105	Glenn	Fishbein	$9,700
106	Ryan	Fair	$9,700
107	Dmitry	Bedny	$9,700
108	Landon	Tice	$9,700
109	Robert	Gentile	$9,700

*denotes heads-up deal

2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 53
$1,100 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries:  504
Prize Pool:  $500,000
August 12-13, 2024

Event 53 of the 2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown was the Big 4 $1,100 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry). A field of 504 entries produced a prize pool of $500,000 and earning the biggest payday was Benjamin Moschel, winning outright for $89,800.

Moschel began the final table in the middle of the pack and sat back as Jean Gaspard eliminated several players to take hold of more than half the chips with four players remaining.

In the midst of Gaspard eliminating fourth-place finisher Shannon Shorr and third-place finisher Cameron Storto, Moschel won three all-ins against Gaspard to take the chip lead heads-up, before ultimately getting it in with best of it and holding up to earn his first SHRP major series trophy.

Place	First Name	Last Name	Prize Amount
1	Benjamin	Moschel	$89,800
2	Jean	Gaspard	$60,000
3	Cameron	Storto	$44,500
4	Shannon	Shorr	$33,000
5	Jason	Hickey	$25,000
6	Adam	Levy	$19,100
7	Aaron	Massey	$14,700
8	Caleb	Powell	$11,400
9	John	Conkright	$9,000
10	Claudio	Piedrabuen	$9,000
11	Paul	Balzano	$7,500
12	Saber	Salum Penayo	$7,500
13	T.K.	Miles	$6,300
14	Gabriel	Casals	$6,300
15	Jose	Fernandez	$6,300
16	Rasta	Mansour	$5,200
17	Mark	Pukhov	$5,200
18	Harrison	Ashdown	$5,200
19	Earl	Bernard	$5,200
20	Juan	Mubarak	$4,360
21	Maria	Lampropoulou	$4,360
22	Paul	Fisher	$4,360
23	David	Jackson	$4,360
24	Carl	Pipitone	$3,680
25	Salim	Salem	$3,680
26	Joseph	Chase	$3,680
27	Wayne	Harmon	$3,680
28	Namit	Patel	$3,680
29	Vamsi	Magam	$3,680
30	Kenroy	Wright	$3,680
31	David	Bluestein	$3,680
32	Wasim	Assaf	$3,100
33	Charles	Bragg Jr.	$3,100
34	Gil	Aboodi	$3,100
35	Matthew	Lessor	$3,100
36	Bradley	Coultas	$3,100
37	Francois	Zayas	$3,100
38	Adam	Agaev	$3,100
39	David	DiBernardi	$3,100
40	Mark	Zullo	$2,620
41	Perla	Ojeda	$2,620
42	Dan	Stavila	$2,620
43	Shon	Shlomo Perez	$2,620
44	Alexander	Ziskin	$2,620
45	Daniel	Blum	$2,620
46	Jose	Chapui	$2,620
47	Samuel	Kim	$2,620
48	Joe	Bartholdi	$2,220
49	Ido	Aboudi	$2,220
50	John	Shuler	$2,220
51	Rajeskar	Govindan	$2,220
52	Wendy	Lu	$2,220
53	Alex	Queen	$2,220
54	Marcus	El-Huaick	$2,220
55	Shyane	Mogilski	$2,220
56	Harvey	Castro	$1,940
57	Eric	Penner	$1,940
58	Joel	Gola	$1,940
59	Alejandro	Toledo Rincon	$1,940
60	Anthony	Askey	$1,940
61	Aleks	Dimitrov	$1,940
62	Jonah	Miller	$1,940
63	Juan	Montoya	$1,940
64	Juan	Repetto	$1,940
65	Judy	Bielan	$1,940

2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 59
$400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries:  109
Prize Pool:  $35,970
August 13, 2024

Event 59 of the 2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was a $400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry). A field of 109 entries generated a prize pool of $35,9700. The final 14 players will finish in the money, with a min-cash paying $845. Up top for the winner is $10,770.

1st:  $10,770 + SHRPO Trophy
2nd:  $6,665
3rd:  $4,000
4th:  $2,610
5th:  $2,015
6th:  $1,655
7th:  $1,405
8th:  $1,225
9th:  $1,080
11th-12th:  $955
13th-14th:  $845

2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 58
$10,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  115
Prize Pool:  $1,104,000
August 13, 2024

Event 58 of the 2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was a $10,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry). A field of 115 entries generated a prize pool of $1,104,000, more than doubling the guarantee. The final 15 players will finish in the money, with a min-cash paying $19,200.

Up top for the winner is $283,400.

1st:  $283,400 + SHRPO Trophy
2nd:  $190,000
3rd:  $141,000
4th:  $105,000
5th:  $80,000
6th:  $61,000
7th:  $46,500
8th:  $36,500
9th-10th:  $28,500
11th-12th:  $23,000
13th-15th:  $19,200

 

2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 50
$3,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries:  323
Prize Pool:  $1,000,000
August 11-13, 2024

Event 50 of the 2024 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was the Big 4 $3,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry). A field of 323 entries produced a prize pool of $1,000,000 and winning the lion’s share of it was Kevin Ordet, winning outright for $190,800.

Ordet returned for Tuesday’s final table eighth in chips of the remaining nine players and slowly chipped his way up to three-handed play, while Jim Collopy and Trace Henderson eliminated the rest of the table.

After battling three-handed for a while, Ordet doubled through Collopy when his ace-queen held against Collopy’s king-eight suited, giving Ordet the chip lead. Collopy fell a little while later in third place, setting up a 100-big-blind deep heads-up match against Henerson.

Ordet built a solid lead, twice having Henderson all in and at risk, but both times Henderson’s better hands held up for the double. In the end, however, Ordet’s flopped trips faded Henderson’s flush draw to seal the deal.

Place	First Name	Last Name	Prize Amount
1	Kevin	Ordet	$190,800
2	Trace	Henderson	$128,000
3	Jim	Collopy	$95,000
4	Nicholas	Seward	$71,000
5	Steven	Miller	$54,000
6	Christian	Harder	$41,000
7	Bruce	Russell	$31,500
8	Myles	Mullaly	$24,400
9	Manuel	Amaro	$19,200
10	Justin	Saliba	$19,200
11	Mike	Liang	$16,800
12	Taha	Maruf	$16,800
13	Blair	Hinkle	$14,500
14	Ryan	Riess	$14,500
15	Landon	Tice	$14,500
16	James	Calderaro	$12,200
17	Javier	Zarco	$12,200
18	Ryan	Jones	$12,200
19	Steve	Karp	$12,200
20	William	Meeks	$10,000
21	Marcos	Exterkotter	$10,000
22	Kollin	Stuart	$10,000
23	Artem	Metalidi	$10,000
24	Ariel	Mantel	$8,100
25	Harsheel	Kothari	$8,100
26	Schneur	Borenstein	$8,100
27	Paul	Balzano	$8,100
28	Aram	Oganyan	$8,100
29	Nick	Yunis	$8,100
30	Aleks	Dimitrov	$8,100
31	Ido	Aboudi	$8,100
32	Amy	Patel	$6,500
33	Nazar	Buhaiov	$6,500
34	Dylan	Linde	$6,500
35	Gonzalo	Mercade	$6,500
36	A.J.	Kelsall	$6,500
37	Allan	Bierler	$6,500
38	Philip	Rigby	$6,500
39	Bradley	Coultas	$6,500
40	Marcus	El-Huaick	$5,400
41	Steven	Rosen	$5,400
42	Ben	Zamani	$5,400
43	Cherish	Andrews	$5,400
44	Vamsi	Magam	$5,400
45	Jason	Hickey	$5,400
46	Ernest	Bush	$5,400
47	Robert	Santana	$5,400

$1,100 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 504

Jean Gaspard moved all in from the button for about 1,490,000, and Benjamin Moschel thought for a while before he called with .

Gaspard turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Gaspard paired his three on the flop, but improved no further. Moschel won the pot — and $89,800 — with pocket fours.

Jean Gaspard finished as the runner-up, earning $60,000.

Congratulations to Benjamin Moschel!

1st:  Benjamin Moschel  –  $89,800 + SHRPO trophy
2nd:  Jean Gaspard  –  $60,000
3rd:  Cameron Storto  –  $44,500
4th:  Shannon Shorr  –  $33,000
5th:  Jason Hickey  –  $25,000
6th:  Adam Levy  –  $19,100
7th:  Aaron Massey  –  $14,700
8th:  Caleb Powell  –  $11,400
9th:  John Conkright  –  $9,000

$1,100 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 504

Benjamin Moschel raised to 240,000 from the button, Jean Gaspard reraised all in with a covering stack from the big blind, and Moschel called all in for 4,280,000.

Moschel: 
Gaspard: 

The board ran out , giving Moschel a nine-high straight to double through Gaspard and take the chip lead.

Benjamin Moschel  –  8,640,000  (108 bb)
Jean Gaspard  –  1,440,000  (18 bb)

1st:  $89,800 + SHRPO trophy
2nd:  $60,000

$3,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed  |  Payouts
Level 27:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 323

After a flop of , Trace Henderson (big blind) and Kevin Ordet (button) put in about 75,000 each.

The turn card was the , Henderson bet 125,000, Ordet raised to 400,000, and Trace reraised to 925,000. Ordet called.

The river card double-paired the board with the , and Henderson quickly moved all in. Ordet snap-called with for the top full house.

Henderson turned over for the two pair on the board with a king kicker. Ordet won the pot — and $190,800 — with jacks full of fives.

Trace Henderson finished as the runner-up, earning $128,000.

Congratulations to Kevin Ordet!

1st:  Kevin Ordet  –  $190,800 + SHRPO trophy
2nd:  Trace Henderson  –  $128,000
3rd:  Jim Collopy  –  $95,000
4th:  Nick Seward  –  $71,000
5th:  Steven Miller  –  $54,000
6th:  Christian Harder  –  $41,000
7th:  Bruce Russell  –  $31,500
8th:  Myles Mullaly  –  $24,400
9th:  Manny Amaro  –  $19,200

$3,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed  |  Payouts
Level 27:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 323

Kevin Ordet raised from the button to 125,000, Trace Henderson reraised from the big blind to 500,000, and Ordet reraised to 1,100,000.

Henderson five-bet all in, and Ordet thought for a while before he folded. Henderson took the pot.

Trace Henderson  –  5,600,000  (112 bb)
Kevin Ordet  –  2,475,000  (50 bb)

Here are the payouts they’re playing for:

1st:  $190,800 + SHRPO trophy
2nd:  $128,000

$1,100 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 31:  40,000/80,000 with an 80,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 504

Benjamin Moschel was all in for 1,745,000 in the big blind with against Jean Gaspard on the button holding .

The board ran out , giving Moschel a pair of jacks to double through Gaspard.

Benjamin Moschel  –  3,570,000  (45 bb)
Jean Gaspard  –  6,510,000  (81 bb)

1st:  $89,800 + SHRPO trophy
2nd:  $60,000