The first World Poker Tour cash of Tony Sinishtaj’s career couldn’t have gone better, as he emerged victorious atop the 1,207-entry field in the Season XV WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 Championship to win his first WPT title and $661,283 in first-place prize money.
Included in Sinishtaj’s win was a $15,000 seat to the Season XV Monster WPT Tournament of Champions, taking place April 7-9 with nearly $200,000 in added cash and prizes, including a brand new 2018 Audi S5 Coupe.
Sinishtaj defeated Darryll Fish in heads-up play, and Fish took home $453,185 for his performance.
WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 Championship Results
1st: Tony Sinishtaj – $661,283
2nd: Darryll Fish – $453,185
3rd: Robert Mizrachi – $293,864
4th: Dan Colman – $217,686
5th: Eric Beller – $164,438
6th: Simeon Naydenov – $132,889
Sinishtaj entered the final table second in chips behind Dan Colman, but he was only a handful of chips off the pace.
Colman quickly started the final table by moving over 10 million in chips. Shortly after Colman hit eight figures, Sinishtaj followed. Colman then eliminated Simeon Naydenov in sixth place on the 13th hand of the final table when his 
held against the Bulgarian’s 
and increased to more than 11.5 million.
Colman kept pacing the field, but the next elimination was handled by Robert Mizrachi, who was trying to earn a WPT title and join his brother, Michael, in the prestigious WPT Champions Club. Mizrachi busted Eric Beller on the 26th hand of the final table, with his pocket kings holding up against Beller’s 
.
The hand after Beller busted saw Fish win a huge pot worth 5.6 million against Colman and take the chip lead. Shortly thereafter, on the 31st hand of the final table, Sinishtaj scored a big pot off Colman before assuming the pole position in the hands that followed.
The slide continued for Colman when Mizrachi doubled through him on the 44th hand of the final table, and all of a sudden Colman was the shortest stack remaining.
At the bottom is where Colman stayed for a bit of time, falling even further when he lost a pot worth 6.3 million to Mizrachi on the 67th hand of the final table. Colman fought, though, and even doubled back through Mizrachi less than 10 hands later.
With renewed life, Colman kept building, then landed another double on the 91st hand of the final table when his pocket eights held against the 
for Fish.
From the top, to the bottom, and back to the top was the story for Colman, as he resumed the chip lead on the 98th hand of the final table, but then the most important hand of the final table played out and left Colman crippled.
On the 113th hand of the final table, with the blinds at 100,000/200,000 with a 25,000 ante, Colman raised the button to 425,000 and Sinishtaj called out of the big blind to see the flop come down 
. Sinishtaj led with a bet of 550,000, Colman raised to 1.5 million, and Sinishtaj reraised all in for 8.275 million. Colman tanked, visibly pained by the decision. After more than three minutes, Colman called and rolled over the 
. Sinishtaj had the 
, but thanks to the 
on the turn and the 
on the river, Sinishtaj made a flush and Colman was left with 2.5 big blinds.
Colman was eliminated in fourth place on the next hand, taking home $217,686.
Twenty hands after Colman’s exit, Mizrachi joined him on the rail. He lost a flip with pocket fours against the 
of Fish. The money went in preflop, and the board ran out 
.
Heads-up play began with Sinishtaj in the lead. His 23.85 million was nearly double the 12.35 million of Fish.
Fish battled his way to the lead as the two continued to exchange big blows back and forth with one hand on the second-to-last WPT title of the season. At one point, Fish extended his lead to 2-1 over Sinishtaj, but then Sinishtaj turned the tables once again with a double up to take his own big lead.
Eventually, on the 173rd hand of the final table, the two found the money all in on the 
flop. Sinishtaj had two overs and a flush draw with the , and Fish had the 
. The turn was the to give Sinishtaj an unbeatable flush, and the river officially sealed the deal with the 
.
Next up for the WPT is the final table of the last WPT Main Tour event of Season XV, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $10,000 Finale. That final table of six takes place on Thursday starting at 12 p.m. ET. The final table will be streamed on twitch.tv/WorldPokerTour on a 30-minute delay starting at 12:30 p.m. ET.