Gutsy Bluff Helps Gediminas Uselis Claim WPT Rock 'N' Roll Open Title ($778,490)
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Lithuania's Gediminas Uselis pulled off a huge bluff and then won a heads-up cooler to ship the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open for $778,490 at Wednesday's final table.
The champ is barely a month removed from another huge victory when he took down the $1,600 buy-in Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) event at Venetian in Las Vegas for $325,428.
2021 WPT Seminole RRPO Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gediminas Uselis | $778,490 |
| 2 | Jacob Ferro | $573,605 |
| 3 | Harout Ghazarian | $380,000 |
| 4 | Selahaddin Bedir | $282,380 |
| 5 | Clayton Maguire | $211,925 |
| 6 | Anshul Rai | $170,835 |
Bluffing the Bluffer
Uselis entered the final table fourth in chips, but outplayed the opposition on Day 5. He won in two ways �� hitting hands at the right time and pulling off some masterful bluffs, none more so than a crucial pot he scooped with four players remaining.
In the aforementioned hand, the eventual champ bluffed a bluffer to ship the craziest pot at the action-packed final table. According to updates from the event, Uselis raised to 600,000 preflop with A?4?, and Jacob Ferro, holding 9?8? made the call, as did Selahaddin Bedir.
The flop came out 10?5?4? and all three players checked. On the 5? turn, Bedir bet out 850,000, Uselis called, and then Ferro went for the check-raise bluff to 2.1 million. Bedir folded and Uselis called to see the 9? on the river.
Ferro went from a stone-cold bluffing hand to hitting a pair on the river and he again led out for 1.5 million. Uselis used up two time extension chips before deciding to turn his small pair into a bluff. He raised to 6 million, leaving behind less than 200,000 chips. His opponent thought for a brief moment before mucking the best hand.
No Bluff Needed on Final Hand
Ferro would shake off the big pot he lost earlier and laddered up to reach heads-up play against his nemesis Uselis. On the final hand, a cooler put an end to the record 1,566-entry field in the $3,500 buy-in tournament that started on November 26 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Holding a sizable chip lead, Uselis picked up QxQx and put it all in preflop against the JxJx of Ferro. Both players flopped a set, but of course the queens were superior.
The sting of coming up just short of a WPT title was lessened by the $573,605 payout for second place. Uselis received $778,490 for becoming the newest WPT Champions Club member. His name will be added to the WPT Mike Sexton Champions Cup trophy.
Along with his big win, Uselis becomes Lithuania's sixth-most winningest live tournament player in history with just over $1,450,000 in cashes according to The Hendon Mob. Tony G tops the European nation with $8.8 million.
2021 Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open Results
The 2021 RRPO consisted of 31 events, which catered to a combined 15,088 entrants and awarded $13,202,120 in prize money.
| *Date | Tournament | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize* | ||||
| November 17-21 | Event #1: $400 Deep Stack NLH | 6,196 | $2,044,680 | Michael Laufer | $160,734 | ||||
| 17-Nov | Event #2: $400 Limit Omaha 8 | 116 | $53,625 | Jay Kerbel | $11,315 | ||||
| 17-Nov | Event #3: $200 Double Green Chip Bounty | 158 | $17,380 | Gabriel Ramos | $3,000 | ||||
| 18-Nov | Event #4: $400 H.O.R.S.E. | 115 | $38,525 | Sal Pipitone | $9,068 | ||||
| 18-Nov | Event #5: $600 Double Black Chip Bounty | 158 | $82,950 | Dean Salisbury | $8,000 | ||||
| 19-Nov | Event #6: $400 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 | 125 | $41,875 | John Binns | $9,000 | ||||
| 20-Nov | Event #7: $400 Omaha 8/Stud 8 | 93 | $31,155 | Barak Zaken | $9,590 | ||||
| 21-Nov | Event #8: $400 Deep Stack NLH | 510 | $204,000 | Robert Brandl | $23,178 | ||||
| November 21-22 | Event #9: $1,100 Deep Stack NLH | 189 | $183,330 | Jesse Lott | $46,020 | ||||
| November 22-24 | Event #10: $600 Deep Stack NLH | 972 | $505,440 | Loni Hui | $85,355 | ||||
| 22-Nov | Event #11: $400 Six-Max PLO | 144 | $48,240 | Long Nguyen | $12,040 | ||||
| November 22-24 | Event #12: $150 Big Stack NLH | 372 | $44,640 | Scott Murawa | $8,165 | ||||
| 23-Nov | Event #13: $400 Black Chip Bounty PLO | 107 | $25,145 | Nancy Birnbaum | $7,460 | ||||
| 23-Nov | Event #14: $400 Six-Max NLH | 100 | $33,500 | Philip Whitaker | $6,095 | ||||
| 24-Nov | Event #15: $200 Double Green Chip Bounty | 249 | $27,390 | Andrey Kolchkov | $3,104 | ||||
| 25-Nov | Event #16: $150 Holiday Triple Stack NLH | 259 | $31,080 | Rosario Simone | $3,221 | ||||
| November 26-December 1 | Event #17: $3,500 WPT RRPO Championship | 1,566 | $5,011,200 | Gediminas Uselis | $778,490 | ||||
| 26-Nov | Event #18: $150 Big Stack NLH | 289 | $34,680 | Dwayne Nyholt | $5,622 | ||||
| 27-Nov | Event #19: $600 Mixed Pot-Limit Omaha | 85 | $44,625 | Joseph Patalano | $11,443 | ||||
| 27-Nov | Event #20: $600 Double Black Chip Bounty Turbo | 123 | $40,590 | Brandon Wilson | $11,415 | ||||
| 28-Nov | Event #21: $400 Black Chip Bounty NLH | 390 | $91,650 | Maikel Cruz | $14,718 | ||||
| November 28-29 | Event #22: $1,700 Purple Chip Bounty NLH | 275 | $275,000 | Luke Brereton | $62,220 | ||||
| 28-Nov | Event #23: $600 Deep Stack Turbo NLH | 58 | $30,740 | Mike Graffeo | $8,855 | ||||
| 29-Nov | Event #24: $1,100 Deep Stack NLH | 337 | $326,890 | Vinny Giuliano | $68,840 | ||||
| November 29-December 1 | Event #25: $150 Big Stack NLH | 1,258 | $150,960 | Alik Stinyakovsky | $27,770 | ||||
| November 29-30 | Event #26: $25,500 High Roller | 102 | $2,519,400 | Ali Imsirovic | $695,355 | ||||
| 29-Nov | Event #27: $400 Black Chip Bounty NLH | 150 | $35,230 | Micha Hoedemaker | $7,685 | ||||
| November 29-30 | Event #28: $2,200 Deep Stack PLO | 123 | $246,000 | Fred Goldberg | $71,075 | ||||
| 30-Nov | Event #29: $400 Seniors 50+ | 170 | $56,950 | Zoltan Czinkota | $11,045 | ||||
| 30-Nov | Event #30: $5,000 Eight-Max NLH | 167 | $793,250 | Duff Charette | $206,345 | ||||
| 30-Nov | Event #31: $1,100 Deep Stack Turbo NLH | 132 | $132,000 | Lewe Thiesen | $35,130 |
*Images courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock and World Poker Tour (WPT).
