A champion has finally been decided in the 2025 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 no-limit hold’em championship which began nearly two months ago. The final table was set back on April 8, but did not resume until May 29 in Las Vegas, where the action was filmed for television. In the end, Art Peacock defeated the field of 1,755 entries that turned out to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood for this prestigious event. The 66-year-old Florida resident earned a new career-best $776,000 payday as the last player standing.
This was the first WPT triumph for Peacock, who will now have his name added alongside the many other worthy winners who adorn the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup. He now has more than $2.4 million in recorded tournament earnings to his name, with his previous top score being the $358,700 he won as the champion of last year’s Moneymaker Poker Tour main event at the MGM Grand Summer Festival. Peacock also took down the 2025 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Pompano Beach main event on his birthday this February for another $230,794.
“There are so many great people at the Seminole Hard Rock — they run really great events,” said Peacock after coming out on top. “They do such a great job. I am happy for me, and I am happy for them.”
The strong turnout for this South Florida event resulted in a final prize pool of $5,616,000, blowing away the $3.5 million guarantee posted by event organizers. The top 221 finishers made the money in this event, with notables like triple crown winner Harrison Gimbel (32nd), bracelet winner David Moses (21st), WPT champion Asher Conniff (19th), bracelet winner and three-time WPT champion Brian Altman (18th), two-time bracelet winner Frank Funaro (11th), and five-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon (9th) all running deep.
Peacock was the chip leader when the action was halted with six remaining. He came into the final table with over a 100 big blinds to work with, and was quick to apply pressure.
Jefferey Fritz
The first big clash of the day pitted A♠K♦ for Daniel Marcus against the Q♥Q♦ of Romania’s Mihai Niste. Neither player connected and Niste doubled into second chip position. Marcus, a personnel evaluator for the National Basketball Association’s Memphis Grizzlies, still had plenty of chips to work with after losing the flip.
Jeffery Fritz, who began the day in third chip position, was unable to get anything going during the first few hours of play. The 36-year-old Michigan native got the last of his stack in ahead with Q♠Q♣ leading the A♦9♥ of Peacock, but an ace-high runout sent Fritz to the rail with $164,000 for his sixth-place showing.
Niste won another key race for the next elimination, with 10♠10♣ holding against the K♥J♦ of Texas resident Jared Hemingway on a queen-high runout. Hemingway secured $215,000 as the fifth place finisher, growing his career earnings to nearly $1.2 million in the process.
Peacock cracked pocket queens with A-X for the second time at the final table when his A♦3♠ outran the Q♣ Q♦ of start-of-day short stack Mitchell Hynam. Peacock flopped a three and turned another to win the pot with trips. Hynam walked away with $285,000, the largest score yet for the 33-year-old Bristol, England resident.
Mitchell Hynam was eliminated from the WPT Poker Showdown Championship in fourth place for $285,000 when his queens couldn’t hold against Art Peacock’s ace-three.@WPT live stream: https://t.co/wJN3cOAgS8 pic.twitter.com/B7esPtkWzG
— Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (@shrpo) May 30, 2025
The next knockout didn’t take place for a couple of hours. The stalemate was finally broken after Marcus was left short thanks to running flopped trips into the turned flush of Niste. Soon after that, Marcus called off his last couple of big blinds with 10♥9♥ after Niste raised the button and Peacock called from the small blind. The flop came down K♦7♠3♣ and Peacock check-folded to a bet from Niste, who revealed K♠8♦ for top pair. The 8♠ turn gave Marcus an open-ended straight draw, but the 4♥ on the end was a blank that sent him packing in third place. The $380,000 he secured with this deep run was a new high-score for the 36-year-old based in Las Vegas. His previous top score came when he finished fourth in a $1,600 mystery bounty event at last year’s WPT World Championship festival for $106,057.
Heads-up play began with Niste holding 52,600,000 to Peacock’s 34,700,000. The two battled for 95 hands, with plenty of lead changes along the way. About midway through the match, Peacock doubled with A-4 against pocket nines to take nearly a 2:1 lead. Niste found a couple of double-ups after getting short to keep his hopes alive.
Niste also got a shove through with two pair, somehow drawing a fold from the rivered straight for Peacock. Had Niste’s shove been called, the tournament would have been over right there. Instead, it lasted another 17 deals.
WHAT HAPPENED 🤯🤯🤯
After nearly a three hour heads-up battle, this hand went down that could’ve ended it all early for @ArtPeacock 😳😳 pic.twitter.com/d2czIPQynd
— World Poker Tour (@WPT) May 31, 2025
The final hand of the tournament saw Niste three-bet shove over Peacock’s button raise with 4♥4♦. Peacock called with 8♥8♦. The board ran out A♥A♣K♣9♥7♠ and the larger pocket pair held up to see Niste eliminated as the runner-up. The $515,000 payout was his largest live score yet. He now has more than $2.3 million in recorded cashes under his belt.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize Money | POY Points |
| 1 | Art Peacock | $776,000 | 1,620 |
| 2 | Mihai Niste | $515,000 | 1,350 |
| 3 | Daniel Marcus | $380,000 | 1,080 |
| 4 | Mitchell Hynam | $285,000 | 810 |
| 5 | Jared Hemingway | $215,000 | 675 |
| 6 | Jeffery Fritz | $164,000 | 540 |
Photo credit: World Poker Tour.
