The World Poker Tour Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Main Event recently finished up with 988 players competing. The $3,500 tournament had a tough field of competitors, with Milen Stefanov earning the first-place win, taking home a career-high $545,070 for his efforts.
Tournament Details
The massive amount of players competing led the event to see a record number of entries. The pool came in at $3.1 million with 124 places paid. When the event came down to the final table, Stefanov would begin with the chip lead, which helped him to make his way to the heads-up round.
When the final table began, it was Francis Anderson that would begin the action. Anderson was all-in two times during the first four hands of the table. On the second all-in, he would be knocked out by Stefanov, who held K-Q diamonds against his 7s.
Even though the table was short-stacked, it would be over 50 hands until the next player was eliminated. Cesar Fuentes shoved with Q-10 off-suit and was called by guess who, Stefanov. With A-K of clubs, Stefanov found an ace on the flop which helped him to earn the hand and eliminate Fuentes.
Stefanov then took out Roman Korenev and David Novosel to face Fabian Gomez in heads-up play. Stefanov would have a 6 to 1 chip lead, with Gumz barely holding on to 16 big blinds.
Final Round
While the win seems to be a shoe-in for Stefanov, he would have to work for it. At one point Gumz was all-in with A-9 of clubs and was called with pocket queens. A club flush on the river gave Gumz the hand and he would double up again with pocket queens just a short time later.
Stefanov would eventually lose the lead but would be back again after gaining a gutshot on the river. As Gumz was down in chips, the final hand would go down. Stefanov would earn the final hand win with an Ace-High hand when he earned an ace on the flop, which was just enough to secure the hand and the event win.
| Place | Player | Prize |
| First | Milen Stefanov | $545,070 |
| Second | Fabian Gumz | $353,380 |
| Third | David Novosel | $260,845 |
| Fourth | Roman Korenev | $194,605 |
| Fifth | Cesar Fuentes | $146,760 |
| Sixth | Francis Anderson | $111,895 |
Along with the first-place finish, Stefanov would also win a seat to the World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions.
The WPT Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open not only offered the Main Event but also additional side events. Players have competed in several tournament options including Deep Stack, Limit Omaha, Horse, Big O and more.
The schedule was full of tournament action so players always had something to enjoy. Entries were high for each event, particularly Event #1, the $400 Deep Stack NLH. This tournament saw 4,699 entries, with a prize pool of over $1.5 million. Ben Boston was the winner of that event.
