Milen Stefanov Becomes a WPT Champion in Florida

Milen Stefanov is the latest name to adorn the famous WPT Champions Cup after he won the WPT Seminole Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open in Florida. It was Stefanov’s first WPT on American soil and the $545,070 he won is his largest-ever score.

Stefanov topped a star-studded field of 988 players on his way to an impressive victory.

WPT Seminole Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open Final Table Results: Stefanov Wins

Place	Player	Prize
1	Milen Stefanov	$545,070
2	Fabien Gumz	$353,380
3	David Novosel	$260,845
4	Roman Korenev	$194,605
5	Cesar Fuentes	$146,760
6	Francis Anderson	$111,895
7	Jeff Blenkarn	$86,255
8	Antonio Mallol	$67,240
9	Bin Weng	$53,005

The 988-strong field each paid $3,500 and created a $3,161,600 prize pool as a result. Only the top 124 finishers received a slice of this princely sum, a min-cash weighing in at $5,985. Roberto Bendeck was the 125th finisher, the last player to go home empty-handed. Evan Swanagin cracked Bendeck’s aces with a queen-high straight to send the Main Event into the money on Day 2.

Only 65 players finished Day 2 with chips needing securing in the plastic overnight bag. Harrison Gimbel, Jake Schwartz, Anton Wigg, David Jackson, Scott Clements, and Michael Tureneic were some stars who busted.

Day 3 saw the field whittled to only 17 hopefuls in the WPT Seminole Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open. German star Fabian Gumz held the most chips of those 17 players, although he fell to fifth in chips once the six-handed official final table was set.

Jonathan Jaffe and Ireland’s Toby Joyce were among the early Day 4 casualties with Danny Fuhs busting in 10th place.

WPT Seminole Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open Final Table

Seat	Player	Chips
1	Cesar Fuentes	8,975,000
2	Cesar Fuentes	3,175,000
3	Milen Stefanov	2,500,000
4	Bin Weng	4,650,000
5	David Novosel	4,750,000
6	Francis Anderson	1,975,000
7	Roman Korenev	5,550,000
8	Jeff Blenkarn	2,275,000
9	Antonio Mallol	2,200,000

The penultimate day of the WPT Main Event concluded with only six players remaining. Bin Weng busted in ninth whose eights were no match for David Novosel’s aces on a seven-high flop. Antonio Mallol joined Weng at the cashier’s desk soon after. Mallol made a move for his last three big blinds with king-three and Roman Korenev called with ace-five. Korenev spiked an ace on the flop to bust Mallol.

Jeff Blenkarn was down to 13 big blinds and he jammed those into the middle with ace-queen. Korenev looked up Blenkarn with the dominating ace-king. Neither player improved on the flop or turn, but the river was a king, which set the official final table.

Francis Anderson was the first to fall at the six-handed final table. He lost a coinflip with king-queen against Stefanov’s pocket sevens. Anderson turned a queen, but Stefanov spiked a set on the river to reduce the player count by one.

Another 54 hands played out before another elimination occurred. Cesar Fuentes open-shoved 16 big blinds with queen-ten and Stefanov called with ace-king. An ace on the flop was more than enough for Stefanov to claim another scalp.

The 76th hand of the night resulted in Roman Korenev busting in fourth-place. With blinds of 200,000400,000/400,000a, Stefanov opened to 850,000 in position on the button. Korenev jammed from the big blind for 13 big blinds. Both players revealed legitimate hands, suited queen-ten for Korenev and aces for Stefanov! Those aces held true and Korenev crashed out.

Heads-Up For The Title and More Than Half a Million Dollars

David Novosel finished in third a couple of hands later, again at the hands of Stefanov. Novosel called all-in on a draw-heavy board with bottom pair only to discover Stefanov held a full house.

Stefanov went into heads-up with a substantial 33,275,000 to 6,225,000 chip lead over Fabian Gumz. Gumz kept doubling up only to fall back behind again; this happened several times. Eventually, however, Gumz ran out of steam.

The final hand saw Stefanov move all-in from the button with ace-deuce and Gumz call all-in for nine bigs with queen-eight. An ace on the flop left Gumz drawing to running cards. A queen on the turn was one of those outs, but a ten on the river handed the title to Stefanov.

Gumz, although disappointed not to win, has $353,380 reasons to be happy. Stefanov padded his bankroll with $545,072, by far his largest-ever tournament score.

Stefanov Delighted With His Victory

The $545,072 Stefanov collected included a $15,000 seat to the season-ending Tournament of Champions. This gives him another chance to play poker on U.S. soil, something he hadn’t done until this event.

“It feels amazing, it’s almost like it’s catching me off guard. The emotions are running rampant, like even more than when I was playing. To be a champion finally of the WPT, it feels amazing. It’s an understatement. I wanted to experience the U.S., it’s my first time coming here for poker, so this is my first WPT festival in America. I love it. Pretty much everything. The organization about the tournament and everything from this to the weather to the life here, it’s amazing. I’ll definitely be back. I have to defend the title.”

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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