2016 Coco Poker Open
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
Coconut Creek, FL
Event #13
$350 No Limit Hold’em
Entries: 769
Prize Pool: $250,000
September 29-October 2, 2016
The biggest tournament outside the Coco Poker Open Championship was the $250,000 Guaranteed Event 13 No Limit Hold’em tournament on the last weekend of the series. It drew 769 entrants over multiple starting days and it was popular local pro Stuart Paterson outlasting them all to earn the title.
Event 13 had six starting flights spread over three days and the biggest crowd came out on Saturday evening. Each flight played down to 9% of its starting field to make the money and surviving players returned for Day 2.
There were 73 players back on Sunday with Phil Hernz as the big leader. He would not play a part in the latter parts of the tournament as Paterson asserted his skills early to build the biggest stack in the room.
The tournament quickly dropped down to 12 players at the dinner break and two quick eliminations afterward set the final table. SHRP regulars Michael Newman and Nancy Birnbaum went out in 10th and 9th place respectively and the last eight decided to negotiate a deal to chop up the remaining prize pool.
It took some effort but they eventually worked it out. Paterson was declared the champion with his huge chip lead while the other seven players earned a little extra money based on their position.
This is the second big Coco Poker score for Paterson in less than a year. In January, Paterson was the last player standing in the 161-entrant field during the 2016 Coco Poker Showdown Championship. He earned more than $32,000 for that victory and nearly another $39,000 for this title to push him over $800,000 in career tournament earnings.
Event 13 results:
1st: Stuart Paterson – $38,941
2nd: John Spadavecchia – $27,305
3rd: Jeff Charlton – $20,795
4th: Vlad Grach – $18,422
5th: Andrew Martin – $17,811
6th: David Maslowski – $16,711
7th: Elliott Zaydman – $15,746
8th: Andrew Bennis – $15,684
9th: Nancy Birnbaum – $3,488
10th: Michael Newman – $2,494