A week of action led up to the final six players returning for Day 5 of the $3,500 World Poker Tour Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Championship. The live-streamed final table saw Dylan Smith top the experienced field to win $662,200 and a seat in the WPT World Championship.
“I’m exhausted,” Smith said after winning. “Matt is a phenomenal player and I really had to be on my A-game to beat him. I’m happy to redeem myself from last time.”
Smith finished in fifth place in the April WPT stop at SHR but that was finished out in Las Vegas. “I liked playing it right away,” Smith said. I was in the flow of things. Last time, we drove across country and played after a five or six-day road trip.”
“For me, waking up in my own bed and having a good morning routine is really important,” he said. “I feel like I play a lot better when that’s the case.”
Tice and Anderson fall early
The 23-year-old Matthew Beinner bested his career tournament earnings with his runner-up finish and first WPT cash. “I did my best and had a blast playing heads-up with Dylan,” he said. “Congrats to him, he’s an amazing player and things didn’t go my way heads-up.”
Beinner bested his Hendon Mob career totals ($417,000) with his runner-up finish for $440,000. “It feels great,” he said. “The money is what I need to invest in myself in this industry for a long time."
The first elimination came inside the first orbit when Paul Domb opened, Landon Tice three-bet, Beinner four-bet, and Domb five-bet shoved. Beinner called with pocket kings, Domb held pocket jacks and the board ran ten-high to eliminate Domb.
Less than an hour later, Tice lost most of his stack holding ace-king in a preflop confrontation against Smith’s pocket aces. He was down to four big blinds but he wasn’t the next player eliminated.
Francis Anderson got in a preflop war with Beinner that saw their stacks get in the middle preflop. Anderson held pocket queens and Beinner had a coin flip holding 
. Beinner spiked his king on the turn to send Anderson to the rail.
Ten minutes after Anderson’s elimination, Tice’s run of short stack double-ups came to an end. He got all in holding pocket nines and was out-pipped by Florian Ribouchon holding pocket tens. The board ran 
, Tice was eliminated but was welcomed with hugs by his family on the rail.
Smith closes the deal
Three-handed play stretched for 2.5 hours before another player exited the table. Ribouchon moved in holding pocket sixes, Beinner called holding pocket nines and the nine in the window sealed Ribouchon’s fate for third place.
Heads-up play began with Beinner holding 47.1 million to Smith’s 24.6 and lasted nearly two hours. They traded the chip lead back and forth until Smith held a comfortable lead and Beinner made a move.
The final hand saw Beinner move in with 
and Smith called with 
. A seven landed in the window, he turned a second pair and that sealed the win for Smith.
The WPT picks up and heads to Wynn Las Vegas for their end-of-the-year festival which includes a WPT Prime Championship, the ClubWPT Gold $5 million Invitational Freeroll, and the WPT World Championship.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dylan Smith | $662,200 |
| 2 | Matthew Beinner | $440,000 |
| 3 | Florian Ribouchon | $325,000 |
| 4 | Landon Tice | $245,000 |
| 5 | Francis Anderson | $184,000 |
| 6 | Paul Domb | $140,000 |
All photos courtesy of World Poker Tour - Images by Drew Amato.
