2017 Coco Poker Showdown
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
Coconut Creek, FL
Event #6
$350 No Limit Hold’em
Entries: 100
Prize Pool: $35,000
January 26-27, 2017

Coconut Creek, FL — Sean Shah defeated fellow Floridian John Dollinger heads up in Event 6 of the Coco Poker Showdown Friday night winning $11,355. The $350 buy-in no limit hold’em tournament drew a total of 100 entries between 11am and 6pm flights and played out over the course of two days at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek. All Day 2 players were in the money as 13 advanced and Dollinger lead the way.

The restart moved fast as Eric Kolodny, Ira Schwartz and Paul Shafran hit the rail within the first hour sending the tournament to the 10-handed final table. From there, action slowed and it took another hour for Nachman Berlin to bust 10th. Last week’s Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event finisher Marc Levy was next to go in ninth. Dollinger got down to work scoring a double knockout busting Elliott Zaydman eighth and Greg Spinder seventh. Shawn Barnett was eliminated sixth and 2015 World Series of Poker November Niner Neil Blumenfield followed in fifth again at the hands of Dollinger. Shah then got Steve Zukowski fourth and Tim Kegel third.

At that point, Shah and Dollinger took a quick break to discuss a potential deal. They came to the agreement they’d play for about 45 minutes, then reasses given the stacks. Heads-up play started even with Shah at just a slight disadvantage. He quickly doubled when his held versus Dollinger’s . The hand was crippling to Dollinger who was left with just a couple big blinds. Shah finished the job two hands later to claim the title. The 45-minute threshold never came and Shah victory went down as an outright win.

Shah is a 29-year-old professional poker player from Delray Beach. Event 6 marks his second major victory and moves him over $580,000 in reported earnings. His crowning poker achievement came in June of last year when he finished runner-up in a $565 pot limit Omaha bracelet event earning $117,531 in the process.

Event 6 final results:

1st: Sean Shah – $11,355
2nd: John Dollinger – $6,563
3rd: Tim Kegel – $4,288
4th: Steve Zukowski – $2,931
5th: Neil Blumenfield – $2,293
6th: Shawn Barnett – $1,785
7th: Greg Spinder – $1,426
8th: Elliott Zaydman – $1,076
9th: Marc Levy – $744
10th: Nachman Berlin – $700
11th: Eric Kolodny – $613
12th: Ira Schwartz – $613
13th: Paul Shafran – $613

Coco Poker Showdown Event 7 — $570 deep stack no limit hold’em — is underway now with the $1,100 buy-in Championship set to begin tomorrow at 1pm. The series finale boasts a $100,000 guarantee, is points eligible in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year race and features an added $5,250 seat in this summer’s $5,000,000 guaranteed Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship.