Event #7 attracted 1,462 entries across six starting flights, and 149 players survived the Money Bubble to reach Day 2. But it all came to an end Wednesday night when the final five players agreed to a deal, and chipleader Vendel Johnson won the title, the trophy, and $26,497.

“This was a big payday for me,” said Johnson, a native Floridian who works full time at Port Everglades. “This is the second trophy of my poker career. The last one was probably ten years ago, because I don’t play that much.”

It was an up-and-down day for Johnson, but his key hand came with 10 players remaining, when he got it all in with ace-king against Kelly Alonso’s ace-queen. The best hand held up for Johnson to win the pot and catapult into the chip lead. Johnson was never short after that.

“Those guys were tough, especially Andre,” said Johnson, referring to second-place finisher Andre Bryan. “You’ve got to be careful and pick your spots, and the cards fell for me.”

Johnson hadn’t played poker for two years due to the pandemic, but when he was ready to play, he knew where to go.

“I’ve always played at the Hard Rock,” said Johnson. “We’ve been straddled to the house for the past two years since COVID, but when things kind of loosened up, this was the obvious place. I love the Hard Rock. Best place in the world.”

---

Final Results:

Place	Name	Winnings
1	Vendel Johnson	$26,497*
2	Andre Bryan	$22,912*
3	Kelly Alonso	$21,170*
4	Ayed Shweihat	$18,282*
5	Alexandru Predincea	$17,389*
6	Gus Vazquez	$8,085
7	Sagi Zommer	$6,675
8	Arturo Trujillo	$5,290
9	Leonardo Rendon	$3,930
10	Crystal Utley	$3,930
11	Al Klager	$3,005
12	Jonathan Livingston	$3,005
13	Ory Hen	$2,350
14	Leonid Zhivelev	$2,350
15	Richard Alati	$2,350
16	Adam Zeltser	$1,905
17	Charles Harrison	$1,905
18	Altabal Mohamed	$1,905
19	German Ramos	$1,555
20	Jeremy Becker	$1,555
21	Larry Kiang	$1,555
22	Pasquale Caiazza	$1,280
23	Syed Shah	$1,280
24	Jugal Daterao	$1,280
25	Richard Buxman	$1,120
26	David Cujas	$1,120
27	Alfredo Vaz Reed	$1,120
28	Eric Feldman	$975
29	Thanhlong Nguyen	$975
30	Srinath Vadluri	$975
31	Fabio Baduy	$975
32	Attila Kocsis	$975
33	Alberto Niebla	$975
34	Mahmoud Hamed	$975
35	Dayanna Ciabaton	$975
36	David Metz	$975
37	Mariano Szlaifer	$835
38	Eriberuto Uehara	$835
39	James Tomblin II	$835
40	Lance Foster	$835
41	Artur Nazarenko	$835
42	Albert Dagro	$835
43	Eric Phan	$835
44	Dejan Petkovic	$835
45	Casey Crews	$835
46	Tamara Goldshteyn	$740
47	Wilmer Chavira	$740
48	Garrett Fleetwood	$740
49	Michael McCauley	$740
50	Jonathan Lasko	$740
51	Reinaldo Vicentini Aldrey	$740
52	Min Zhang	$740
53	Antonio Arencibia Monduy	$740
55	Lunique Petiote	$665
56	Igor Korkhin	$665
57	Osmany Saldanas	$665
58	Henry Billete	$665
59	Vinicius Monteiro	$665
60	Brian Krinsky	$665
61	Walid Maddah	$665
62	Alain Boucher	$665
63	Michael Gullifo	$665
64	Dylan Malcomson	$620
65	Charles Conner	$620
66	Joseph Petrolino	$620
67	Yigal Hen	$620
68	Sergio Gamarra	$620
69	Geroges Boyadjian	$620
70	Jennifer David	$620
71	Anatoly Zharnitsky	$620
72	Brian Barros	$620
73	Benjamin Boston	$575
74	Joseph Hernon	$575
75	Adam Wiatrowski	$575
76	Joshua Gerzog	$575
77	Orlando Maldonado Jr	$575
78	Henry Miller	$575
79	Eric Piderit	$575
80	Mark Gaudino	$575
81	Lester Rainey	$575
82	Haralambos Sideris Sansiviero	$535
83	Ethan Blauner	$535
84	Edward Grinko	$535
85	Garrick Young	$535
86	Rainulfo Ricardo Perez	$535
87	Jared Kranz	$535
88	Archibald Barrant	$535
89	Billie Bowman	$535
90	Jeffrey Keiser	$535
91	Jon Peterson	$500
92	Frank Martin	$500
93	Peter Shapiro	$500
94	Jason Nieves	$500
95	Lawrence Whyte	$500
96	Christian Fleagle	$500
97	Steven McKoy	$500
98	Alan Katsnelson	$500
99	Jeffrey Morrison	$500
100	Phong Nguyen	$465
101	Elisa Greenwood	$465
102	Mignaelalexand Stratos	$465
103	Carlos Garcia	$465
104	Brett Streicher	$465
105	Henry Fermin	$465
106	Igor Evseev	$465
107	John Valevich	$465
108	Kanj Chehade	$465
109	Andrew Jones	$430
110	Barrington Bowen	$430
111	Steve Zhang	$430
112	Wongduan Nannong	$430
113	Kevin Naim	$430
114	Joseph Duchman	$430
115	Nicholas Velentzas	$430
116	Douglas Miranda	$430
117	Mark Hur	$430
118	Eduardo Chri	$400
119	Edward Corlett	$400
120	Kyle Rignola	$400
121	John Nguyen	$400
122	Philip Toister	$400
123	Earl Gallegos	$400
124	Pierre Armster Jr	$400
125	Brian Goodman	$400
126	Christopher Thompson	$400
127	Farell Lapi	$380
128	Rickey Welch	$380
129	Robert Brown	$380
130	John Malvasio	$380
131	Antonio Colon	$380
132	Tyler Mitchell	$380
133	Fred DaBus	$380
134	Alex Santoni	$380
135	Conner Benson	$380
136	Raminder Singh	$360
137	Gregory Hopkins	$360
138	Erik De Souza	$360
139	John McDonald	$360
140	Salvador Ramos	$360
141	Stella Davila	$360
142	Austin Zahn	$360
143	Jeram Capinpin	$360
144	Alik Sitnyakorsky	$360
145	Vladimir Florent	$360
146	Michael Cavanaugh	$360
147	Phillip Stuttman	$360
148	Tania Arana	$360
149	Andrew Badal	$360

* Indicates the results of a five-way deal.

$200 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$150,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 33:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 1,462

As Level 32 was coming to an end, and Level 33 beginning with increased blinds of 125,000-250,000, the final five players agreed to an ICM chop for the remaining prizepool.

These were the official chip counts:

1.  Vendel Johnson  –  7,675,000  (31 bb)
2.  Andre Bryan  –  5,050,000  (20 bb)
3.  Kelly Alonso  –  4,075,000  (16 bb)
4.  Ayed Shweihat  –  2,750,000  (11 bb)
5.  Alexandru Predincea  –  2,400,000  (10 bb)

And these were the payouts they agreed to:

1st:  Vendel Johnson  –  $26,497 + Showdown trophy
2nd:  Andre Bryan  –  $22,912
3rd:  Kelly Alonso  –  $21,170
4th:  Ayed Shweihat  –  $18,282
5th:  Alexandru Predincea  –  $17,389

As chipleader, Vendel Johnson was declared the winner, receiving the title and the trophy.

Stay tuned for a recap from this event to be posted later tonight.

$200 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$150,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 32:  100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 1,462

Gus Vazquez moved all in under the gun for 1,700,000, and Vendel Johnson called from the cutoff with .

Vazquez turned over , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came — Vazquez turned a gutshot straight draw, but improved no further. Johnson won the pot with his pocket sevens to eliminate Vazquez in sixth place.

Vendel Johnson  –  7,375,000  (37 bb)
Gus Vazquez  –  Eliminated in 6th Place  ($8,085)

With five players remaining, the average stack is around 4,375,000 (22 big blinds). The remaining players are guaranteed at least $10,000 each.

$200 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$150,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 32:  100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 1,462

Sagi Zommer moved all in under the gun for 575,000, and Andre Bryan called from the small blind with .

Zommer turned over , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Bryan won the pot with his ace to eliminate Zommer in seventh place.

Andre Bryan  –  5,500,000  (28 bb)
Sagi Zommer  –  Eliminated in 7th Place  ($6,675)

With six players remaining, the average stack is around 3,650,000 (18 big blinds). The remaining players are guaranteed at least $8,085 each.

$200 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$150,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 32:  100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 1,462

Alexandru Predincea got it all in from the small blind for 1,150,000 with , and needed it to hold to stay alive against the of Sagi Zommer on the button.

The board came — both players flopped a pair with a gutshot straight draw, and improved no further. Predincea won the pot with a pair of kings and his jack kicker to double up in chips.

Alexandru Predincea  –  2,700,000  (14 bb)
Sagi Zommer  –  575,000  (3 bb)

With seven players remaining, the average stack is around 3,135,000 (16 big blinds). The remaining players are guaranteed at least $6,675 each.

$200 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$150,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 32:  100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 1,462

Sagi Zommer moved all in under the gun for 675,000, Andre Bryan called from the small blind, and Kelly Alonso called from the big blind. Any further betting would create a side pot.

Bryan and Alonso checked all the way down on a board of , and Zommer showed for a spade flush to win the pot and triple up in chips.

Sagi Zommer  –  2,225,000  (11 bb)

With seven players remaining, the average stack is around 3,135,000 (16 big blinds). The remaining players are guaranteed at least $6,675 each.

$200 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$150,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 32:  100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 1,462

Andre Bryan min-raised under the gun to 400,000, Sagi Zommer moved all in from the hijack, and Bryan called all in for 2,450,000 with .

Zommer turned over , and Bryan needed his hand to hold to stay alive.

The board came — Zommer paired his king on the flop, but improved no further. Bryan won the pot with his pocket aces to double up in chips.

Andre Bryan  –  5,400,000  (27 bb)
Sagi Zommer  –  675,000  (3 bb)

With seven players remaining, the average stack is around 3,135,000 (16 big blinds). The remaining players are guaranteed at least $6,675 each.

$200 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$150,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 32:  100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 1,462

Ayed Shweihat got it all in under the gun for 1,175,000 with , and needed his hand to hold to stay alive against the of Alexandru Predincea in the small blind.

The board came , and the pocket kings held up for Shweihat to win the pot and double up in chips.

Ayed Shweihat  –  2,750,000  (14 bb)
Alexandru Predincea  –  1,000,000  (5 bb)

With seven players remaining, the average stack is around 3,135,000 (16 big blinds). The remaining players are guaranteed at least $6,675 each.

$200 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$150,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 31:  75,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 1,462

Vendel Johnson raised from the button to 350,000, Andre Bryan moved all in from the small blind for 1,075,000, and Johnson thought for a bit before he called with .

Bryan turned over , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Bryan paired his king on the flop to win the pot and double up in chips.

Andre Bryan  –  2,450,000  (16 bb)
Vendel Johnson  –  5,700,000  (38 bb)

With seven players remaining, the average stack is around 3,135,000 (21 big blinds). The remaining players are guaranteed at least $6,675 each.

$200 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$150,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 31:  75,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 1,462

Andre Bryan got it all in from the cutoff for 575,000 with , and he needed it to hold to stay alive against the of Alexandru Predincea in the big blind.

The board came — Predincea flopped an open-ended straight draw, but improved no further. Bryan won the pot with his king to double up in chips.

Andre Bryan  –  1,375,000  (9 bb)
Alexandru Predincea  –  2,775,000  (19 bb)

With seven players remaining, the average stack is around 3,135,000 (21 big blinds). The remaining players are guaranteed at least $6,675 each.