Ian Cohen Denies NFL Legend Richard Seymour For WPT Seminole Hard Rock Title

Richard Seymour is no stranger to staring down an opponent on a green battlefield with a major title on the line. The 46-year-old Football Hall of Fame member and three-time Super Bowl winner was a defensive end in the NFL from 2001-2012, making five All-Pro teams along the way. After moving on from the grass of the football field, he now competes over the felt and has found plenty of success. Seymour has accumulated more than $1.4 million in career tournament cashes, including winning a World Series of Poker Circuit ring in 2026. That triumph saw him beat out 234 entries in a $2,200 buy-in event at Choctaw Durant in Oklahoma to earn $106,577.

Seymour nearly came away with his first major poker title in late April. He ultimately finished one spot shy of the win in the 2026 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 main event. He placed second from a field of 1,417 entries to earn a career-best score of $430,000. Ian Cohen defeated Seymour heads-up after an exciting showdown for the title, earning $656,200 for his first WPT victory.

Cohen, a Florida resident, now has nearly $1 million in lifetime cashes after this breakthrough victory on the circuit. He also added his name to the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup with this triumph. The 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points that came with the trophy in this event moved Cohen inside the top 100 in the 2026 POY standings presented by CoinPoker.

“I’m so grateful. It’s been an amazing ride,” Cohen told WPT reporters after his win. “I’m sure it will settle in a few days. It hasn’t yet, but it’s been quite an unreal experience.”

Seymour Involved In Several Massive Pots Early

The strong turnout for this event across two starting flights saw the $3 million guarantee surpassed by over $1.5 million. The top 178 finishers earned a share of the $4,534,400 prize pool, with notables like Ryan Hoenig (20th), Farid Jattin (15th), Will Failla (13th), Dylan Smith (10th), and Eugene Katchalov (9th) running deep.

The final day began with six remaining and Cohen in the lead. The first big all-in confrontation pitted a short-stacked Seymour against Cohen, with A♥10♣ trailing A♠Q♣. Cohen’s superior holding remained best through the flop and turn, but the 10♠ on the river gave Seymour a winning pair and the pot. With that, Seymour surged into second chip position.

Seymour soon clashed with the one player who still had him out-chipped in Michael Amato. An under-the-gun min-raise to 500,000 from Seymour’s A♦Q♠ was met with a three-bet to 1,700,000 by Amato on his left. Seymour then four-bet to 3,800,000, only to have Amato shove with the covering stack. Seymour found the fold, but not before committing a sizable chunk of his stack to the pot. He then attempted a multi-street bluff against Cohen that was sniffed out, seeing him fall back down to the bottom of the leaderboard.

After nearly two hours of six-handed play, the first elimination of the final day finally arrived. It came shortly after Seymour’s A♠10♦ outdrew the 10♥10♣ of Raj Vohra. That left the bracelet winner on fumes. He got all-in on the following deal with A♦6♣ against Q♥J♥ for Seymour. The board came down 7♦5♦4♥J♠K♣ and Vohra was sent packing in sixth place ($138,000). This score grew his recorded earnings to more than $2.3 million.

Funaro Picks Up Steam, Then Crashes

The next knockout pitted the A♣6♣ of Johnny Bromberg against A♠J♥ for Frank Funaro. A jack-high flop only made matters worse for Bromberg, who had outlasted 2,937 entries in a $800 buy-in event earlier this series to earn $258,125. A blank on the turn left Bromberg drawing dead, and he headed to the payout desk to collect $181,000 as the fifth-place finisher. He now sits just shy of $2 million in career cashes.

On the 75th deal of the day, Funaro defended his big blind with 2♠2♣ facing a button min-raise to 800,000 by Amato, who held A♦3♦. The flop came down Q♣J♦J♣ and Funaro check-raised Amato’s 500,000 continuation bet to 1,300,000. Amato called and the 5♦ rolled off on the turn. Funaro checked and Amato bet 1,500,000 with his newfound flush draw. The Q♦ brought in that flush after Funaro called, while also putting two pairs on the board. Funaro was playing the board with his pocket deuces and elected to go for a big bluff. He fired 5,400,000 into the pot of 7,800,000. Amato went into the tank and eventually folded, sending the hefty pot to a surging Funaro.

Above the rim poker here at the $3,500 @WPT Seminole @HardRockHolly Poker Showdown Final Table 😵 pic.twitter.com/xmkM2tau6v

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) April 29, 2026

That momentum soon stalled, though. In a limped pot between the two blinds, Cohen led after a J♥9♠3♦ flop with J♠6♥. Funaro called the 500,000 min-bet with 9♦5♥ and the turn brought the J♦. Cohen bet 2,000,000 with his trips and Funaro came along to see the 3♣ double-pair the board. Cohen quickly moved all-in for 7,500,000 and after some consideration, Funaro made the call. With that, Funaro slid to the bottom of the chip counts while Cohen regained the chip lead. 

Funaro’s final stand saw him three-bet shove for 9,100,000 with 10♦9♦ from the big blind facing an under-the-gun open to 1,200,000 from Seymour, who called with A♣Q♣. The Q♥7♥4♣2♠5♠ runout gave Seymour top pair, top kicker and the pot. Funaro settled for $240,000 as the fourth-place finisher. The two-time bracelet winner now boasts over $5.3 million in lifetime earnings.

Three To One

Seymour held the chip lead going into three-handed action. He was soon surpassed, though, thanks to a massive clash between Cohen and Amato. Cohen picked up Q♠10♦ and raised to 1,100,000 from the button. Amato called with A♠9♠ from the big blind and the pair saw a flop of J♥9♦4♠. Cohen bet 2,000,000 when checked to and Amato called with middle pair. The A♥ turn improved Amato to aces and nines. He checked and Cohen fired 3,000,000 with his straight draw. Amato called and the K♠ on the end improved Cohen to the nuts. He moved all-in fairly quickly and Amato made the call to finish third for a career-best score of $320,000.

Heads-up play began with 87 big blinds for Cohen and 53 for Seymour. Cohen was able to expand that advantage early, but Seymour bounced back with a double-up when his A-Q held against A-9. Seymour then sniffed out a bluff attempt, calling an overbet on a A♣10♣8♦Q♣6♠ board on the end with Q♠5♣ to best the 5♥4♠ of Cohen. After dragging that pot, the two were more or less on even footing.

Seymour then pulled away for a bit, only to have Cohen double back into the lead with flopped top pair against a stone bluff. The two battled back and forth before the decisive hand of the match finally arrived. Cohen limped in for 1,200,000 from the button with 7♠7♥ and Seymour raised to 10,000,000 with 10♦10♣ out of the big blind. Cohen jammed with the ever-so-slightly covering stack and Seymour quickly called for 34,200,000 total. The flop came down 7♦6♥2♦ and Cohen flopped top set to turn the tables and take a commanding lead. The J♥ on the turn left Seymour in need of a ten on the river, but the Q♣ rolled off instead to bring this event to a close.

In addition to the $430,000 second-place payout, Seymour also secured 1,200 POY points for his performance. With 1,584 total points, he is now ranked 69th in the overall POY standings.

Final Table Results

Check out the full final-table broadcast below via the WPT YouTube channel.

Photo credits: WPT.