$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
End of Level 15: 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 29 of 116

Today was the start of another of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown’s flagship events, the $25,500 High Roller. By the time registration closed just before midnight, 116 entries had been tallied, making this the largest $25k tournament in Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood’s history.

Fifteen levels were played, and Jonathan Little ended the day with the biggest stack, bagging up 750,000 chips. The 40-minute structure created volatility in the stacks of many, but Little enjoyed a fairly steady climb to the top of the overnight leaderboard, a run which included a midday knockout of George Dolofan.

Dolofan re-entered after that exit, and he managed to survive the day with the shortest stack of 92,000 chips. He wasn’t the only one to re-enter, though, not by any means.

Erik Seidel tried three times without getting much going, but the fourth time was the charm for the Hall of Famer. Seidel went on a late-day rush, finishing in second place with 657,000 chips. He was pushing chips around right until the finish line, highlighted by a big confrontation with Olivier Busquet during the last level of the night.

Jake Schinder (651,000), SHRP Team member Loni Harwood (639,000), and high-rolling regular Bryn Kenney (619,000) round out the overnight top five.

Rainer Kempe and Dietrich Fast chopped the $50,000 Super High Roller, and both of them also advanced to Day 2 in this $25,500 regular-old High Roller. Kempe ended inside the top 10 with 582,000 chips, while Fast took two shots in this event and bagged up 262,000 on his second bullet.

A complete overnight leaderboard and the Day 2 seat draw can be found in the posts below.

Blinds will be 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante when play resumes, putting the average stack around 33 big blinds. Only the final 16 players will earn shares of the $2.9 million prizepool, so bursting the bubble will be the day’s first order of business.

Day 2 begins at 12 p.m. and is scheduled to continue until a winner is determined. That’s the plan, but it may be a tall task; levels will increase to 90 minutes apiece once the final table is set.