Deal good for $65K in South Point’s Benny Binion poker tourney

Ian Steinman had the shortest chip stack for a while Saturday, but he left with the biggest payday.

Steinman officially won the $2,200 buy-in Benny Binion Summer Shootout at the South Point, earning $65,000 in a three-way deal with Patrick Gunraj and Kyle Grosshanten.

The players had nearly identical stacks when they agreed to halt play in the No-limit Hold’em tournament, but the more experienced Steinman negotiated a bigger piece of the pie for himself.

Gunraj, who was officially second, and Grosshanten each received $55,000. Under the original payouts, first place would have received $100,000, second $50,000 and third $25,000.

Steinman won top overall player honors for the U.S. portion of the World Series of Poker Online last year, claiming his first WSOP bracelet along the way, and he has more than $900,000 in career tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database.

So Steinman wasn’t concerned when he had the fewest chips of the four remaining players Saturday.

“The table was great to grind on,” he said. “… I knew I could survive on the short stack because of the great structure.”

Grosshanten took a commanding chip lead after winning a series of clashes with Zachary Andrews, who ended up fourth for $18,000. But Steinman won a big pot with two pair against Gunraj’s top pair, then picked off a big bluff from Grosshanten on the river.

After a few more skirmishes brought all three stacks close together, they worked out the deal instead of risking going home with just $25,000.

The tournament was played under a unique shootout format. In the first four sessions, play continued at each table until only four players remained, and they advanced to the next round. The final eight players returned for the finale Saturday.

Steinman said he thought the tournament might be a good opportunity because of the unusual format and because many tournament grinders would be at The Venetian for a $1,600 Mid-Stakes Poker Tour event.

“I thought maybe nobody here would know what they’re doing,” he joked. “It worked out.”

The South Point is hosting a Summer Tournament Mini Series through June 22 with increased guaranteed prize pools on its daily tournaments, including a $50,000 guaranteed $250 No-limit Hold’em Mega Stack event every day at 6 p.m.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.