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Richard Seymour entered Wednesday’s final table in the $3,500 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship with the shortest stack. But he still had 28 big blinds, and it proved enough to make a run at potentially the biggest win of his poker career.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer is no stranger to big wins. He’s a Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots, after all. And he is now just one bad beat away from becoming a WPT champion.
Seymour’s deep run in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship ended in second place after a crushing bad beat to Ian Cohen, the newest World Poker Tour champion who took home a career-best $645,800, plus a $10,400 seat in the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December.
Seymour was the shortest stack at the final table, while Cohen had the chip lead. That all changed early in the session when Seymour got lucky with Ax10x and doubled thru Cohen’s AxQx.
The NFL legend’s stack dipped down again, but he’d use that same Ax10x hand for another fortunate double-up, this time against Raj Vohra’s 10x10x. It appeared to be Seymour’s day to score his first major poker tournament win.
WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian Cohen | $645,800 |
| 2 | Richard Seymour | $430,000 |
| 3 | Michael Amato | $320,000 |
| 4 | Frank Funaro | $240,000 |
| 5 | Johnny Bromberg | $181,000 |
| 6 | Raj Vohra | $138,000 |
Vohra, down to just two big blinds, was all in against Seymour in a 60/40 preflop situation, and you can probably guess how this one ended. The short stack was out in sixth place for $138,000. Frank Funaro then clipped Johnny Bromberg in fifth place ($181,000), but Funaro would soon lose a chunk to Seymour in a huge pot.
Nearly 90 hands had been dealt at the final table with only two eliminations. Funaro would again double a player up, with Cohen being the beneficiary this time around. A few hands later and Funaro was out in fourth place ($240,000) when 10♦9♦ couldn’t beat A♣Q♣.
Seymour was unstoppable when it came to all-in hands. But Cohen would take his turn getting lucky, as he busted Michael Amato in third place ($320,000) when a straight beat two pair.
Heads-up play, following a short break, began with Cohen holding a slight lead. Both players had over 50 big blinds, setting up for what figured to be a lengthy battle.
Seymour, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2022, had locked up his largest career cash. He was just one spot away from his second tournament win of the year. His first came in February in a $2,200 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) event at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina
The WSOPC win paid the former defensive lineman $106,577, far less than his cash at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on Wednesday.
But if he were to join the WPT Champions Club, he’d need to outplay a formidable opponent in Cohen, who won a WSOPC Main Event in 2024.
Cohen took control early in heads-up play, but Seymour would make a play with 6x4x on a board of 4xQx5x3x, moving all in to force his bigger stacked opponent to fold JxJx.
Cohen would take more than a 5:1 chip advantage at one point. But “Big Sey” would battle back, doubling up once and then picking off a river bluff with second pair.
Seymour, on a double-paired board, called with a queen kicker in another hand, again making a tough call to snap off a bluff. He had taken over the chip lead, but it was still anyone’s game. It wasn’t long, however, before the Hall of Famer built up a massive chip lead.
The tides turned again, as Cohen started taking control of the action, which frustrated Seymour. More than two hours had passed since the final two out of 1,417 entrants began battling for the title and the largest share of a $4,534,400 prize pool.
Seymour would go on to lose a significant portion of his stack when he bluffed on the turn with no equity, drawing dead with nine-high against top pair. He’d fallen back to a 2:1 chip disadvantage.
Cohen would run into a bit of a preflop cooler with pocket 7’s when he ran into pocket 10’s, but a 7x on the flop sacked Seymour in second place, which paid $430,000. The newest WPT Champions Club member collected $645,800, while the runner-up earned $430,000.