Edwards Muñiz Wins WPTDeepStacks Hollywood

WPTDeepStacks Hollywood at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, drew 1,404 entries, the fourth-largest in WPTDeepStacks history. After five days of action, Edwards Muñiz emerged victorious for the WPTDeepStacks Hollywood title and a first-place payday of $228,717, which includes a seat into the WPTDeepStacks Championship in April.

Final Table Results
1st: Edwards Muñiz – $228,717*
2nd: Jason Block – $159,206
3rd: Peter Fellows – $103,316
4th: Brian Metter – $76,627
5th: Trung Pham – $57,739
6th: Howard Mash – $46,596
7th: Alcides Gomez – $38,348
8th: Justin Bianco – $30,276
9th: Aaron Rosenthal – $22,571

* First-prize amount includes a $3,000 prize package with the winner’s seat into the Season XVIII WPTDeepStacks Championship, which will be held in April at Thunder Valley Casino Resort.

Hailing from Tampa, Florida, the 38-year-old lawyer plays poker recreationally and while he had planned to play in the Day 1C flight on Saturday, a change in his work schedule led to his arriving at the Seminole Hard Rock a day earlier to take part in the Day 1B field on Friday.

“It was a crazy week. I was actually supposed to be taking a deposition in Jacksonville on Friday,” said Muñiz after his win. “I was driving from Tampa to Jacksonville and I was on the Interstate when I got a call that the case settled, so I didn’t have to take the deposition anymore, but I had already packed and my plan was to come down here afterward, so I just came down a day early.”

Now playing on Friday in the Day 1B flight instead, a late surge from Muñiz changed the course of the entire tournament.

“It was a relatively normal day until about 20 minutes left in the last level where I won a huge flip and then coolered the chip leader, so I went from a below-average stack to the chip lead of the whole flight. From there, I’ve just been insanely lucky.”

With a big stack in the bag and a free Saturday on deck, instead of playing the Day 1C flight as he had originally intended, Muñiz jumped in a Big O side event, despite not being all that familiar with the game. He wound up chopping the tournament three-handed and as the chip leader, he was the official winner.

“Killing time by playing poker and watching football is not a bad way to spend a Saturday. I was sure that that was the peak of the poker trip, until today happened.”

When Day 2 began on Sunday, he was 9th in chips of the returning 273 players. That field was whittled down to the final table of nine players by night’s end and Muñiz was still in the hunt, albeit last in chips.

“I came in last in chips today, so my strategy had to be very different because my position changed throughout. I got some good luck early that allowed me to build and get some momentum and play a more normal game. I could take advantage of the spots that I had and everything just went really well. I won my first flip and my last flip and you’ve got to run good in those spots.”

He ascended the chip counts quickly, scoring the first elimination at the final table. From there, he steadily chipped up, winning key hands against other big stacks to pull away, eventually scoring back-to-back eliminations in consecutive hands to close it out.

“I still can’t believe it,” a humble Muñiz concluded. “I can’t even process it. It’s been a magical few days.”

Muñiz also jumps to second place in the WPTDeepStacks Player of the Year race. The WPTDeepStacks POY package includes a $10,000 passport to be used at global WPT events along with up to four nights of accommodation at select WPTDeepStacks properties. Second place in the WPTDS Player of the Year standings earns a $3,500 passport and third place takes home a $1,500 passport.

“Regarding the WPTDeepStacks Player of the Year race, it’s something I’m definitely going to look into. It sounds like a great opportunity.”

Congratulations to Edwards Muñiz on becoming a WPTDeepStacks champion!

Photography by Melissa Haereiti / PokerPhotoArchive

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