19-Year-Old Karl Creazzo Defeats Poker Vets in Debut Tourney

Summary:

• 19-year-old Karl Creazzo won the $400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em event at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. 
• Creazzo, who doesn’t have the legal age to play at most American card rooms, defeated a field that featured numerous poker veterans. 
• This was his first-ever live poker tournament. 

Via a six-way chop, 19-year-old Karl Creazzo won the $400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em, Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open’s first event. 

The young player took home exactly $146,829 at the end of his first-ever live poker tournament. While the cash game player does not have the minimum age to be allowed to play in most US card games, he proved incredible skill, clearing the table and besting a field made of plenty of poker vets. 

While his victory cannot be compared to Annette Obrestad’s accomplishment at the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event at the age of 18, Creazzo was certainly not far off either.

Creazzo, Lucky to Have Made It to Day 3

The tournament that featured $1 million in guaranteed prizes kicked off on July 31 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. 

The eight Day 1 starting flights eventually led to the final table on August 5. The field counted 5,870 entrants who generated a prize pool of $1,937,100, which means the guarantee was smashed with zero hassle. 

Day 2 only saw 588 players returning to the tables. At the end of a lengthy session, 29 players made it to Day 3, which was the final session of the $400 buy-in tournament. 

Creazzo was lucky to make it to Day 3 after losing a massive pot with a flopped top two pair against a turned straight, down to only six big blinds. 

However, he managed to advance with 28 other players to the last day of play.

That crippled me, but I got a couple of double-ups to survive.

At Monday’s final table, following George Varga busting in seventh place for a $40,600 payday, the pay jumps went up considerably since the remaining players all agreed to an independent chip model chop (ICM), considered the fairest prize chop. 

Creazzo started the final table third in chips, busting Roy Singer in the eighth position for $31,500 and moving into the chip lead. 

After that, he never relinquished the lead, even though he didn’t have to hold onto it for a long time since a chop was agreed to as soon as Varga exited the table.

The chop arrangement mentioned the chip leader would receive the trophy as well as the biggest share of the prize pool. 

Creazzo, who proposed the ICM chop after returning from the break, didn’t have a big lead over the rest of the standing players. 

This is why the top few payouts were very close in size, with Chris Miles scooping up $140,492 in second position, Kevin Gomez leaving with $140,000 for third place, David Shmuel grabbing $124,476 for fourth place, Alex Ziskin finishing in fifth for a $105,803 payday, and Ian Siegel ending on sixth for $85,720. 

Getting the trophy in my first tournament was big. If I was second in chips, I probably would have agreed to a chop, but I wouldn’t have suggested it.

The player was able to participate in the live poker tournament since the legal age for poker in Florida is set to 18 as well as for lottery and bingo games . 

While Karl Creazzo is a poker champion, he is not eligible to chase any World Series of Poker bracelets for the following two years.