Vladyslav Shovkovyi tops a field of 3,989 in $600 event at Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida hosted its $600 Million Dollar Guaranteed Deep Hold’em event over the weekend. A total of 3,989 entries had been made by the time registration closed for the tournament, which is part of the ongoing 2023. SHR Showdown poker series. In the end, Ukraine’s Vladislav Shovkovy emerged victorious from the sea of ​​entries with his first recorded live tournament title and first prize of $299,715.

“I guess I still don’t understand what happened, but I’m happy and grateful,” said Chovkovy. Seminole Hard Rock Tournament blog reporters after coming out of the top.

The tournament was played over five days, with six rounds taking place from 20 to 22 April before the field combined for a second day on 23 April. Chovkovy entered the final starting flight and had the highest total of the evening. He slid toward the bottom of the chip count during the second day’s action, but managed to right the ship and ended up sitting in second place on the leaderboard heading into the final day.

Shovkovyi entered the final table with an outright lead. He had some stiff competition to deal with, including two-time bracelet winner Ari Engel (5th – $94,300) and World Poker Tour Champion Daryl Fish (4th – $124,600). Shovkovyi knocked out all but one of his eight opponents at the final table, and cracked the eighth-place finish through second-place finishes (including Engel and Fish) on his way to securing the title.

Engel increased his career earnings to over $8.3 million with the score, while Fish’s lifetime total exceeded $5 million.

“The level of some of the players here is very good,” said Chovkovy in an interview after the win. “The guys at the final table have won millions, and I’m just getting started. So it was great to play with good players, and put pressure on them.

As a result of the rapid knockout, he got into a singles match against David Trager with an advantage of 5: 1 in the start. Trager scored an early double and then slid back the lead. After the scheduled course break, the two returned and began to come to an agreement. It wasn’t long before that ICM The chop is agreed upon based on the number of chips (87 big blinds for Shovkovyi, 72 big blinds for Trager). The agreement saw Shovkovyi take home the title, the trophy, and $299,715 in prize money, while Trager took home $288,485 as runner-up.

Here is a look at payments and POY Points awarded at the final table:

Image credits: Seminole Hard Rock Poker Blog.