The opening event of the 2017 Fun in the Sun Poker Open concluded Wednesday evening, and it was Steven Bennett who emerged the victor after a six-handed deal was reached.
The series’ $250 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool kickoff event drew 481 entries over two starting flights, more than doubling the guarantee. Bennett was just 49th in chips of the surviving 66 players on Day 1. However, Day 2 was a much different story as Bennett steadily rose the chip counts as the field dwindled. He began the final table third in chips, but ascended to the top when he scored back-to-back eliminations. That left six players remaining, and they agreed to a deal shortly thereafter.
Residing in Deerfield Beach, the 48-year-old Bennett is a regular at the Seminole Hard Rock. He has many final tables made and first-place finishes dating back to 2012, and his win today helps him eclipse more than $530,000 in career tournament earnings.
| Rank | First Name | Last Name | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steven | Bennett | *$15,133 |
| 2 | Matthew | Lipchitz | *$12,515 |
| 3 | Cameron | Schur | *$10,298 |
| 4 | Joel | Harwood | *$7,349 |
| 5 | Matt | Axelrod | *$7,042 |
| 6 | Arthur | Grigoryants | *$5,391 |
| 7 | Jorge | Gomez | $3,298 |
| 8 | Claudio | Kalili | $2,644 |
| 9 | Ory | Hen | $1,993 |
| 10 | Haim | Toorgeman | $1,646 |
| 11 | David | Zaldivar | $1,646 |
| 12 | Stanley | Sanders | $1,646 |
| 13 | Jose | Silva | $1,302 |
| 14 | Cory | Blum | $1,302 |
| 15 | Ryan | Gianquitti | $1,302 |
| 16 | Daniel | Genachte | $1,099 |
| 17 | Paul | Smerdon | $1,099 |
| 18 | Juan | Yanes | $1,099 |
| 19 | Richard | Fernandez | $926 |
| 20 | Mariia | Ievseieva | $926 |
| 21 | Yigal | Hen | $926 |
| 22 | Edo | Zucker | $776 |
| 23 | Almog | Bitton | $776 |
| 24 | Anthony | Abdo | $776 |
| 25 | Jeffrey | Keiser | $669 |
| 26 | Bassam | Mourad | $669 |
| 27 | Josh | Wasserman | $669 |
| 28 | Matthew | Ewert | $581 |
| 29 | D.J. | Swatscheno | $581 |
| 30 | Jonathan | Shapiro | $581 |
| 31 | Alcides | Gomez | $581 |
| 32 | Raminder | Singh | $581 |
| 33 | Chris | Nomikos | $581 |
| 34 | Michael | Tait | $581 |
| 35 | Andrew | Leathem | $581 |
| 36 | Pawel | Dacka | $581 |
| 37 | Tony | Ruberto | $500 |
| 38 | Steven | Langert | $500 |
| 39 | Marc | Sacheli | $500 |
| 40 | Gail | Hand | $500 |
| 41 | Eric | Kolodny | $500 |
| 42 | Matthew | Vetstein | $500 |
| 43 | Michael | Newman | $500 |
| 44 | Steven | Cohen | $500 |
| 45 | Mitchell | Smith | $500 |
| 46 | Mark | Nahama | $424 |
| 47 | Leighton | Gaynair | $424 |
| 48 | Rafael | Gomez | $424 |
| 49 | Jacquelyn | Scott | $424 |
| 50 | Antonio | Colon | $424 |
| 51 | Andrey | Kolchkov | $424 |
| 52 | Michael | Krumenacker | $424 |
| 53 | Steven | Karp | $424 |
| 54 | Gregg | Silverstein | $424 |
| 55 | Jordan | Grimaldi | $364 |
| 56 | Gabriel | Elkaim | $364 |
| 57 | Albert | Moshe | $364 |
| 58 | Travis | Thomas | $364 |
| 59 | David | Nathaniel | $364 |
| 60 | Dimitry | Agrachov | $364 |
| 61 | Massou | Cohen | $364 |
*denotes six-handed deal