2016 Coco Spring Series
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
Event #10
$350 No Limit Hold’em ($250,000 Guaranteed)
Entries: 934
Prize Pool: $280,200
April 27-May 1, 2016

Davie, Fla. resident overcomes 934-entry field to earn $63,000 following three way chop.

Coconut Creek, Fla. (May 1, 2016) — The Coco Poker Spring Series continued Sunday with the headline event of the 13-tournament festival. A $350 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed tournament, Event 10 took place over the course of five consecutive days including seven starting flights and the Day 2 restart. After all was said and done, Hector Pacheco of Davie, Fla. earned the $63,000 top prize following a three way chop with Michael Grabelsky and Michael Rizzuto.

“I thank God that I won,” Pacheco said. “It was a struggle. It was a tough field. They have a lot of good poker players here at Coconut Creek.”

The Event 10 Day 2 restart boasted a field bursting with talent. World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Loni Harwood, reigning Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year Ory Hen, as well as Adam Leavy and Abbey Daniels were among those still in contention on the tournament’s final day. With all of the restart field in the money, it was Hen who bested the aforementioned group lasting the longest before finishing 12th.

It wasn’t long after Hen’s departure that the tournament consolidated to the 10-handed final table. Pacheco, who took the chip lead shortly after the 27-player redraw, retained his lead and never looked back. Stu Paterson, who won the Coco Poker Showdown Championship earlier this year, busted seventh, followed by traveling poker tournament supervisor Shawn Lytle in sixth. It wasn’t until Steve Leahy’s departure fourth that the remaining three agreed to a deal. Pacheco, who held the chip lead, took $63,000 while Grabelsky nabbed $36,433 and Rizzuto took home $36,432.

“I loved it,” Pacheco said of his dominating his performance. “This game is something that I really enjoy.”

Event 10 drew a field of 934 entries that generated a prize of pool of $280,200 comfortably exceeding the $250,000 guarantee. Pacheco’s win marked his first major tournament victory and was by far his most notable score. He is a 53-year-old computer engineer from Davie, Fla. He says he keeps quite busy with work, but makes time for poker whenever possible.

The Coco Poker Spring Series began Wednesday, April 20 and concludes Monday, May 2.The 13-day event boasted nearly $500,000 in guarantees.

Event 10 final results:

1st: Hector Pacheco – $63,000
2nd: Michael Grabelsky – $36,433
3rd: Michael Rizzuto – $36,432
4th: Steve Leahy – $17,845
5th: Austin Kempa – $12,381
6th: Shawn Lytle – $9,579
7th: Stu Paterson – $7,338
8th: Jason Sugarman – $5,376
9th: Jacob Snider – $3,793
10th: Rob Kessler – $2,728
11th: Marc Sacheli – $2,728
12th: Ory Hen – $2,728
13th: Abbey Daniels – $2,151
14th: Adial Khan – $2,151
15th: Willie Wiggins – $2,151
16th: Gregory Barker – $1,814
17th: Unclaimed – $1,814
18th: Sheldon Gross – $1,814
19th: Jose Parra – $1,534
20th: Tony Nguyen – $1,534
21st: Butchie Mitchell – $1,534
22nd: Lahcen Imkhaoun – $1,534
23rd: John Palace – $1,534
24th: Eric Martin – $1,534
25th: Maria Garrido – $1,534
26th: Benjamin Sriqui –    $1,534
27th: Eric Polirer – $1,534
28th: Leonard Benitez –    $1,310
29th: Steven McKoy – $1,310
30th: Matthew Vetstein – $1,310
31st: Victor Papeo, Jr. – $1,310
32nd: Steven Bennett –    $1,310
33rd: Michael Tait – $1,310
34th: Javier Sarache –    $1,310
35th: Michael Abitbol –    $1,310
36th: Miguel Martinez – $1,310
37th: Jorge Gomez – $1,103
38th: Howard Darnold, Jr. – $1,103
39th: Howard Mash – $1,103
40th: Martin Carnero – $1,103
41st: David Poces – $1,103
42nd: Michael Ortiz – $1,103
43rd: Andrew Bennis – $1,103
44th: Michael McCombs – $1,103
45th: Taylor Dean-Lipson – $1,103
46th: Greg Rosen – $963
47th: Pedro Palacio – $963
48th: Drew Epstein – $963
49th: David Barbieri – $963
50th: Robert Midgette – $963
51st: John Bastarache –    $963
52nd: Christopher Dibari – $963
53rd: Kobi Ribak – $963
54th: David Shmuel – $963
55th: Michelle Macatee – $851
56th: Roy Cohen – $851
57th: Devon Shalmi – $851
58th: Aris Gomez Lopez – $851
59th: Craig Witz – $851
60th: Carl Pipitone – $851
61st: George Hortelano – $851
62nd: Emmanuel Santos – $851
63rd: Loni Harwood – $851
64th: Paulius Bikus – $750
65th: Brett Bader – $750
66th: Jeffrey Cohen – $750
67th: Issa Gary – $750
68th: Carlos Guerrero – $750
69th: Arthur Tamasi – $750
70th: Elias Nassif – $750
71st: Travis Holloway – $750
72nd: Walter Pietrzak – $750
73rd: Otis James – $665
74th: Fredric White – $665
75th: Daniel Pearlman – $665
76th: Juan Narajno – $665
77th: Frisner St. Cyr –    $665
78th: Steven Pollack – $665
79th: Evan Teitelbaum – $665
80th: Debra Dorcy – $665
81st: Joshua Wasserman – $665
82nd: Adam Levy – $560
83rd: Claudio Kalili – $560
84th: Pasquale Calabria – $560
85th: Mark Nahama – $560
86th: Lewis Lurie – $560
87th: Elliott Zaydman –    $560