Gediminas Uselis wins WPT Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open for $778,490

The World Poker Tour Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open played down to a winner today after six days of poker action. The last player standing was Gediminas Uselis, a Lithuanian poker pro.

If one counts online bracelets, Uselis is now two-thirds of the way to poker's triple crown.

In 2020, Uselis won the WSOP Online Event #76: $400 Forty Stack No Limit Hold'em for $227,186. That was his biggest tournament win until October of this year, when he took down the MSPT Las Vegas Main Event for $325,428.

Together, those two tournaments made up the vast majority of his $682k in live poker winnings. He more than doubled that number when he took down the Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open today for $778,490.

"I came here, and this was the first tournament I sat down in," Uselis said in his post-match interview. "I didn't sleep much, and I just kept going and going. I was playing small pots, big pots, slowly building. Slowly, nothing special."

Five days without decent sleep would have eroded most players' ability to make sharp plays. But in Uselis's case, it seems to have paid off, carrying him to a three-quarter mill payout.

The TV final table on Day 5 came with a change of pace.

"There was, for sure, a bunch of action," Uselis explained. "It was a crazy table, so I just needed to wait. I made a couple of moves because there were a couple of amateurs as well. So I was really lucky to make this final table."

Rock 'n' roll royalty

The WPT Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open was held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood in Florida. This venue has proven a great success for the WPT. Its sister site in Tampa has even joined it on the regular WPT circuit.

So far this year, the Florida legs of the WPT have repeatedly been record breakers. This event was no exception. With $5 million in the pot, the WPT Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open was the biggest event in the Hard Rock Hollywood's poker history.

Once registration closed at the end of Day 1B, the game got serious.

Several bigs managed to make it into the 196 paid spots. These included: Ali Imsirovic (117th - $5,865), Jake Schwartz (172nd - $5,865), Chad Eveslage (159th - $6,470), Landon Tice (133rd - $7,520), Ema Zajmovic (64th - $11,675), and political forecaster, Nate Silver (35th - $18,390).

By the time it came down to the TV final table of six players, the main threat to Uselis's victory was Selahaddin Bedir, who has become a regular on the high roller circuit in the last year or so.

Bedir busted in 4th after overplaying his 7♦️6♦️ and getting caught by Jacob Ferro's A♦️K♣. The WPT tweeted footage of the hand with the caption, "Here's Selahaddin Bedir's elimination at the hands of @JakeInThaGrass in case you missed it."

Ferro went on to take second place when he ran pocket jacks into pocket queens heads up. He took home $573,605 for his trouble.

The TV final table was live-streamed on Youtube and can be watched below.

World Poker Tour Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open complete final table results

Featured image source: WPT used under CC