Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
Coconut Creek, Fla.
2016 Coco Poker Showdown
Event #5
$130 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack
Entries: 340
Prize Pool: $34,000
January 25, 2016

Hollywood’s Jorge Rivera Wins Coco Poker Showdown Deep Stack Event

Coconut Creek, Fla. (January 26, 2016) — The 2016 Coco Poker Showdown schedule features three headline events — the $130, $100,000 guaranteed opener, the $350, $250,000 guaranteed Event 6, and the $1,100, $100,000 guaranteed Main Event. In addition, there was one sleeper in the lineup — yesterday’s Event 5, a $130 no limit hold’em deep stack tournament with a $25,000 guarantee. Nobody knew quite what the reception would be, but when Level 9 expired and registration closed late Monday, the final tally was one everyone was pleased with.

With 340 players, the prize pool bested the guarantee handily before topping out at $34,000. The tremendous field paid the top 36 players and saw its champion, Jorge Rivera, walk with a top prize of nearly $5,000 following a six-way chop.

Surprisingly, the monster field played down to the final table in just about eight hours. Albert Barney held the chip lead as the only player over 1,000,000, but Rivera sat second. Over the course of the next 60 minutes, the field trimmed itself to just six remaining and Rivera’s stack grew to more than 1,400,000. After some deliberation, all six agreed to an ICM chop with a few minor tweaks. Rivera and his chip lead took the tournament’s top spot and earned a $4,910 payday while Barney went down second and scored $4,515.

Rivera is a 38-year-old security director from nearby Hollywood. The win marks his ninth career tournament cash and second victory. His previous title came in a $125 all in or fold tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

Joining him in the money in Event 5 were Event 3 runner up Allan Dungo (4th, $3,975), Event 1 Day 2 chip leader Wanlop Phonphornwithoon (9th, $578) and Kevin Chan (12th, $442) who’s in the hunt for the top spot on the points leaderboard.

Event 5 final results:

1st: Jorge Rivera – $4,910
2nd: Albert Barney – $4,515
3rd: Paul Kern – $4,295
4th: Allan Dungo – $3,975
5th: Albert Efremoff – $3,954
6th: Joe Gale – $2,270
7th: Jeff Morrison – $1,105
8th: Ronald Campillo – $799
9th: Wanlop Phonphornwithoon – $578
10th: Bernard Cohen – $442
11th: Luke McIntosh – $442
12th: Kevin Chan – $442
13th: Christian Donahue – $357
14th: Thomas Millward – $357
15th: Nalton Williams – $357
16th: John Amrhein – $306
17th: Vito Polera – $306
18th: Eric Sabido – $306
19th: Diego Mannone – $255
20th: Leonid Goldshteyn – $255
21st: Oscar Rodriguez – $255
22nd: Leroy Jones, Jr. – $255
23rd: David Goldfischer – $255
24th: Jonathan Marks – $255
25th: Oliver Bronfenmajer – $255
26th: Paul Steiner – $255
27th: Jean Chery – $255
28th: Robyn Marshman – $221
29th: John Freidkes – $221
30th: Benjamin Robinson – $221
31st: Seth Gilson – $221
32nd: Carlos Loving – $221
33rd: Scot Hartman – $221
34th: Alex Cohen – $221
35th: Alan Dobrow – $221
36th: Matthew Winslow – $221