Sean Winter Heads into Fatherhood with a $698,175 SHRPO Championship Victory

August 14, 2019

What better way to go into fatherhood than coming off a six-figure poker tournament win in your home state? On Tuesday, Sean Winter outlasted a field of 809 entries to win the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) $5,250 Championship event in Hollywood, Florida for $698,175 — a welcomed gift ahead of his first baby being due in less than three weeks.

Winter put on a dominant final table performance to get the lion's share of a prize pool that reached $3,923,650 in the single reentry event. The Jacksonville native, who has been a major force in the high-roller scene over the past four years, had his first six-figure score back in 2014 at the same venue when he finished second to Chris Bolek in the $3,500 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Main Event for $270,000.

"You have someone to celebrate with and a purpose of why to win, so it’s great.”

Winter got a bit of redemption in the SHRPO Main Event after coming into the final table with a healthy chip lead. Still, he had the likes of Joseph Cheong on his heels as the second biggest stack to start the day, and plenty more poker talent standing between himself and the victory.

2019 SHRPO $3,250 Championship Final Table Results

Nuclear Winter

The final table played out well for Winter, as Cheong lost flip after flip to fall among the pretty even shorter stacks before he was eliminated in seventh. The chip leader kept the pressure on for the duration as shorter stacks battled for second-place position, looking to ladder up against similarly-stacked opponents.

Early in the final day, Winter played a significant pot to pad his stack even more. Shalom Elharar, a recreational player who recently finished fifth in the WSOP Little One for One Drop, entered the day third in chips and wasn’t afraid to mix it up with the big stack.

According to the SHRPO live updates, he three-bet Winter’s middle-position open from the next seat over with pocket fives. Winter held king-jack offsuit but decided to put in the four-bet. Elharar called and then proceeded to call the flop and turn when the board came down 7♠3♦2♥4♥. Winter went nuclear when the 4♣ fell on the river, moving all in to put Elharar to a decision for the rest of his chips with short stacks scattered around.

Elharar found the fold button and Winter took the pot to move over 200 big blinds and separate himself even more from the pack. He admitted truthfully to his tablemates after the hand, “I was about to be in last place if he called.”

“I was about to be in last place if he called.”

Elharar slipped back down to third in chips after the hand, but to his credit, managed to stick around to the final two before the rest of his chips went Winter’s way. The $487,695 he collected was his largest tournament score by a large margin.

As for Winter, he adds yet another major title to his resume and moves over $13 million in live tournament earnings, now sitting third on Florida’s all-time money list with $13.6 million to his credit. Winter shared with Maria Ho after his win that he will be taking some time off of poker to welcome a baby into the world, planning to be back to the felt Nov. 1 for the Poker Masters.

Now married and starting a family, playing at his old stomping grounds where he started out is a bit different for Winter, who said: “Now I feel like more I have a purpose though…You have someone to celebrate with and a purpose of why to win, so it’s great.” You can watch that interview from SHRPO here:

Other Notable Cashers

Others to cash at the final table were Jerry Robinson of Charlotte, North Carolina who took third, and England’s Ben Farrell, having himself a breakout kind of year, who finished sixth. Cheong bowed out in seventh and Nick Schwarmann, a Florida poker pro, was the first one out at the final table in ninth.

Several big names were among the final few tables but fell short of the final table, including Byron Kaverman (11th place), Thomas Boivin (12th place), Tony Sinishtaj (14th place), Ryan Riess (15th), Joe Cada (22nd), Tom Marchese (24th) and Jared Jaffee (26th).

Also cashing among the 102 players in the money were Chris Moneymaker (31st), Phil Hui (32nd), Mohsin Charania (34th), Athanasios Polychronopoulos (35th), Shannon Shorr (39th), Ben Zamani (40th), Jerry Wong (48th), Mukul Pahuja (61st), Scott Baumstein (63rd), Matas Cimbolas (71st), Olivier Busquet (74th), and many more.

_{Lead image and updates courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood/SHRPO.}

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