Ian O’Hara Wins Coco Poker Open Championship for $212K and $5K SHRPO Seat

2016 Coco Poker Open
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
Coconut Creek, FL
Event #3
$2,500 Championship
Entries: 331
Prize Pool: $1,000,000
September 23-26, 2016

Ian O'Hara

Series headliner concludes with 23-year-old Boca Raton poker pro in the winner’s seat, O’Hara takes early lead in Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year race.

Coconut Creek, Fla. (September 26, 2016) — The Coco Poker Open Championship concluded early Tuesday morning with Ian O’Hara pocketing the tournament’s top prize of $212,830. Marking the headline event of the 2016 series at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, the Championship boasted at $2,500 buy-in and a $1,000,000 guarantee. O’Hara’s victory came at the hands of a 331-entry field, and in addition to the six-figure score, he took the early lead in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year race.

The win was hard fought coming after a 13-hour day and it wasn’t until a heads-up chop that action finally concluded. O’Hara, who hails from Boca Raton, claimed 4,385,000 chips to Kunal Patel’s 3,880,000. The pair quickly agreed to a deal that saw Patel earn $206,170 for 2nd place. O’Hara, meanwhile, pocketed slightly more along with an added $5,250 seat into the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.

“I came into [the][final][day] with about 19 big blinds and immediately won some hands,” O’Hara said. “I caught a pretty big bluff early on and just never looked back. I’m pretty exhausted from about 40 hours of poker in the last three days, but the adrenaline keeps you going.”

The tournament played out over four consecutive days. Flight A began Friday and was followed by Flight B Saturday. A total of 100 players punched their ticket to Day 2 with just 27 advancing to Monday’s final day of action. Patel came into the decisive day with the chip lead. He skidded, and sat fifth by the time play narrowed to the 10-handed final table. One of the shortstacks, Jason Dollinger, was first to go at the finale busting 10th for $12,000. From there, Ivan Starostin of Miami was eliminated 9th and Nash Tran 8th. Matthew Smith, who entered 10-handed play with only 14 big blinds, laddered his way to a 7th-place finish and $31,000 score. After a six-handed stalemate that lasted nearly two hours, Florida’s Sean Shah busted 6th followed by Chad Bradbury in 5th. On the surface, Marsha Wolak’s 4th-place finish might have seemed like the one that got away, but the deep run was actually icing on the cake. By her own account, she was down to less than three big blinds with two tables in play. She rode a hot streak of double-ups all the way to a $70,000 score. After Glenn Becker’s 3rd place finish, O’Hara and Patel wasted little time finding an ICM chop.

In typical South Florida fashion, the game’s best turned out from all over the country for the high buy-in event. While the likes of Vanessa Rousso, Loni Harwood, David Diaz, Aaron Massey and Seminole Hard Rock Poker team members Sheddy Siddiqui and Michael Newman were unable to cash, a slew of notables slid their way into a payday. John Dolan (18th – $8,000), Stu Paterson (20th – $7,000) and Ryan Van Sanford (25th – $7,000) were among those to enjoy a return on their $2,500 investment.

“The tournament was run great,” O’Hara said. “I always love playing [at][Seminole][Casino][Coconut][Creek]. It’s my home casino – one of them.”

The Coco Poker Open began September 21 and runs through October 2. In that time, 15 new South Florida champions will take their thrones. In addition to the Championship, the series is spotlighted by Event 13, a $350 buy-in, $250,000 guaranteed event that wraps the action September 29-October 2. Tournament updates as well as the full series schedule, structure sheets and results, are available at SeminoleCoconutCreekPoker.com.

Championship final results:

1st: Ian O’Hara – $212,830 + $5,250 Seat
2nd: Kunal Patel – $206,170
3rd: Glenn Becker – $100,500
4th: Marsha Wolak – $70,000
5th: Chad Bradbury – $50,500
6th: Sean Shah – $40,500
7th: Matthew Smith – $31,000
8th: Nash Tran – $22,000
9th: Ivan Starostin – $16,000
10th: Jason Dollinger – $12,000
11th: Paul Balzano – $12,000
12th: Rinat Haviv – $12,000
13th: Daniel Genachte – $9,500
14th: Brett Bader – $9,500
15th: Jorge Chavez – $9,500
16th: Eric Polirer – $8,000
17th: Javier Sarache – $8,000
18th: John Dolan – $8,000
19th: Rob Kessler – $7,000
20th: Stu Paterson – $7,000
21st: Larry Klur – $7,000
22nd: Jason Caston – $7,000
23rd: Jacob Snider – $7,000
24th: Lascelles Peart – $7,000
25th: Ryan Van Sanford – $7,000
26th: Scott Leventhal – $7,000
27th: Robert Dixon – $7,000
28th: Tim Seidensticker – $6,000
29th: Mike LaRocca – $6,000
30th: Han Winzeler – $6,000
31st: Charles Alexander – $6,000
32nd: David Ward – $6,000
33rd: Paul Steiner – $6,000
34th: Marco Chan – $6,000
35th: Richard Rice – $6,000
36th: Alberto Destrade – $6,000
37th: Zack Milchman – $5,000
38th: Chris Agnello – $5,000
39th: Matthew Wolfson – $5,000
40th: Daren Stabinski – $5,000
41st: Spencer Champlin – $5,000
42nd: Jonathan Jaffe – $5,000
43rd: Seth Gilson – $5,000
44th: David McCord – $5,000
45th: Arno Kruger – $5,000