The 2017 year saw David Peters taking down the $5,000 NLH event at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open. After just one year, Peters returned for the same tournament, wearing the same grey and black pullover, and took down the same event again. This year, Peters outlasted a strong field of 95 entries to win the $143,159 top prize after beating Guillaume Diaz in heads-up.
“It’s kind of crazy. It was a fun tournament. I’m wearing the same sweatshirt and everything. Things went pretty well at the final table early on. Then I lost a bunch of chips and I battled back and it worked out,” said the eventual winner after going back-to-back to win the same poker tournament.
For Peter, it was 7th title and 24th final-table finish of 2018.The 2016 Card Player Player of the Year winner currently sits at 5th place in ‘All Time Money List’ and holds hefty $29,387,580 in total live earnings. Peters is one of the most consistent poker players and he is now in great shape to finish in 6th place or better in the POY race for the 3rd year, having won it in 2016 and placed 6th last year.
The event had a $250,000 guarantee this year but the solid turnout took the final prize pool to $451,250. While Peters was the most talented player at the final table, he was joined by some tough opponents including the two World Series of Poker bracelet winners in William Givens (8th – $15,794) and Joey Weissman (4th – $34,972), recent World Poker Tour bestbet Bounty Scramble runner-up Jake Schwartz (5th – $27,075), team PokerStars pro Jeff Gross (7th – $18,050) and 2018 Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza I main event winner Stanley Lee (6th – $21,434).
Heads-Up Play
In the end, it came down to heads-up play between Peters and Guillaume Diaz, a 2-time European Poker Tour side event winner. While the latter started with a slight advantage in chips, Peters fought well and eventually came on top. On the last hand, Peters moved all in from with Qd 10c and Diaz called with As 6d. The board ran out 9h 8c 3h Qc 2h and Peters paired his queen to win the pot and the title. Diaz took home a cool $85,738 for his second-place finish in the tournament.
Final Table Payouts (USD):
| Place | Player | Earnings (USD) |
| 1 | David Peters | $143,159 |
| 2 | Guillaume Diaz | $85,738 |
| 3 | Alexander Haber | $54,150 |
| 4 | Joey Weissman | $34,972 |
| 5 | Jake Schwartz | $27,075 |
| 6 | Stanley Lee | $21,434 |
| 7 | Jeff Gross | $18,050 |
| 8 | William Givens | $15,794 |