Uselis Crowned WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Open Champion

Gediminas Uselis is a World Poker Tour (WPT) champion. The talented Lithuanian won the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Open Main Event and scooped a cool $778,490 for his troubles. We predicted the possibility of Uselis being the dark horse when play resumed, and it turns out we were correct in thinking this way.

Uselis sat down at the six-handed official final table fourth in chips. His 8,900,000 stack contained almost half that of chip leader Harout Ghazarian (17,400,000). Anshul Rai was the shortest stack by some margin. His 875,000 chips were the equivalent of only 5.8 big blinds. Unsurprisingly, Rai was the first player out of the door.

Rai bust on the very first hand of the evening. He moved all-in for 875,000 from under the gun with Ah-Kc. The action folded to Ghazarian in the small blind, and he called with Ac-Qd. Rai looked set for a much-needed double until the As-Qc-2s flop left him drawing to one of three remaining kings. The 3c was no help to Rai, neither was the 2d river, and he fell in sixth for $170,835.

Clayton Maguire busted on the 20th hand of the final table action. Maguire limped in from the small blind with 8d-8c. Selahaddin Bedir moved all-in, covering Maguire, and Maguire called. Bedir flipped over Ad-4s and needed some help to melt Maguire’s snowmen. Help arrives on the flop of the Ac-Ks-5d-Jd-Qh board. Game over and $211,925 for Maguire.

Uselis Begins Chipping Up

Uselis bided his time and picked his spots well, including winning a sizeable pot from Ghazarian when he turned a set of fours. However, he was the second-shortest stack going into the first break, but all the stacks were tightly packed.

The final four became three on the 67th hand of the night. Bedir looked down at 7d-6d under the gun and decided to open-shove for 15 big blinds. Bedir’s shove folded out two of his opponents, but Jacob Ferro snap-called in the big blind with Ad-Kc. Ferro’s ace-high was good enough to bust Bedir with the board running Qs-2c-Jd-5h-4s.

Start-of-the-day chip leader Ghazarian crashed out in third place for $380,000. He limped into the small blind for 400,000, Uselis raised to 1,300,000 and called when Ghazarian four-bet shoved for 12,200,000. Ghazarian showed 2s-2c, which were in a world of pain against Uselis’ Ks-Kc. The Js-7s-7d-9d-Jd board provided no drama, and the tournament progressed to heads-up.

Neck and Neck Going Into Heads-Up

Ferro held a narrow 31,900,000 to 30,700,000 lead over Uselis going into the one-on-one section of the tournament. The pair traded blows, and Uselis began pulling away. Everything pointed towards a Uselis victory because he had the momentum. The final hand is clear evidence of that.

Hand 102 had blinds of 300,000/500,000/500,000a, and Ferro raised to 1,000,000. Uselis responded with a 3,300,000 three-bet, which Ferro shoved on for 17,500,000. Uselis called and turned over Qc-Qs, which crushed the Jd-Jh of Ferro. Both players flopped a set on the Kh-Qd-Js-6d-2s, but Uselis’ three queens were best.

Ferro fought valiantly and was worthy of his $573,605 score, the largest of his career. However, Uselis’ class shone through, and he picked up the $778,490 top prize and a place in WPT’s history books.

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

Uselis is enjoying a purple patch of form. He cashed five times at the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP), but it was another Las Vegas tournament that saw him pad his bankroll. Uselis won the $1,600 MSPT Main Event at The Venetian during the WSOP. The Lithuanian walked away with an impressive $325,428. This is not the last time we see this player taking down a major poker tournament.

Brad Johnson

You name the game, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Brad has either played it or placed a wager on it! Brad calls himself a natural gambler, and someone who gains as much enjoyment from writing about the crazy game of poker as he does playing it.

View Articles