The Seminole Hard Rock Tampa concluded its Winter Poker Open Main Event on Monday Night, with Farid Jattin outlasting 670 other players in the $1,650 event to win $241,651. The field size was 37 percent larger than in 2016, making the victory immediately meaningful in a still-thriving Florida poker scene.
Focused on Winning
With a prize pool of $1,006,500, the main event more than doubled the advertised $500k guarantee, and featured three starting flights to accommodate the growing interest. Jattin initially intended to play in the PokerStars Championship Prague, but changed his plans after falling ill.
He finished Flight B as the big stack, as the only player to bag more than 400,000 chips. That was enough to give him the lead heading into Day 2, which he managed to hold for 14 hours before reaching the final table.
On the third day of the tournament, the 28-year-old Jattin, who hails from Colombia but now lives in Miami, had to contend with not only a slew of Tampa regulars, but also World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Racener and Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Mike Laake.
When the final table got underway, Jattin held more than a quarter of the 20 million chips in play. He busted seven of players, including both Laake and Racener in ninth and sixth place respectively, on his way to facing off against Witold Wassik in heads-up play.
“I feel like I put up a really good performance,” Jattin said following the win. “I was really, really focused the whole time … I ran pretty good, but I felt like I played amazing. I don’t feel like I made any big mistakes.”
Wassik prevented Jattin from going wire-to-wire by briefly claiming the chip lead, but he soon lost it back. Jattin went on to claim victory for the largest score of his career.
Jattin was already Colombia’s all-time poker money leader, and he increased his lifetime earnings up to $2,486,340.
Early Birthday Gift
The win may have been Jattin’s first cash at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa, but it was enough to put him in third place on the recently revamped poker room’s all-time money list. The only players to have won more at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa are Timothy Miles and Stephen Diamantas, who have $346,387 and $261,539 respectively.
“It was a gift from me to me. It’s my birthday in two days,” Jattin said of his dominant performance. “I thought it was an amazing tournament, well-run. The room is amazing and I’ll definitely be coming back.”
The Main Event was one of six events from the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open.
Others to capture titles included Gil Aboodi ($570 DeepStack for $71,890), Charles Davis ($250 PLO for $9,007), William Heher ($250 DeepStack Turbo for $7,049), David Prociak ($350 DeepStack for $40,787), and Alex Bury ($250 DeepStack Turbo for $9,133).
In the Main Event, 63 players were paid, including Kevin Chan (14th for $9,562), Austin Buchanan (19th for $5,536), Jeff Trudeau (42nd for $4,429), and 2016 WSOP Main Event 12th-place finisher Mike Shin (63rd for $3,422).
The next Seminole Hard Rock Tampa major series will be the WPTDeepStacks in June.
Final Table Results
1 Farid Jattin (Colombia) $241,651 + Guitar Trophy
2 Witold Wassik (St. Petersburg, FL) $135,878
3 Scott Caracciolo (Tampa, FL) $85,553
4 Joseph Skarzynski (Largo, FL) $69,449
5 Filipp Khavin (St. Petersburg, FL) $55,358
6 John Racener (Tampa, FL) $45,796
7 Satish Surapaneni ((Clifton, NJ) $36,737
8 Kevin O’Donnell (Seminole, FL) $27,679
9 Mike Laake (Bradenton, FL) $19,124
