Event 1 Flight F: Charlemagne Benjamin Can’t Get One Through

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1: 25/50

Charlemagne Benjamin is back this evening for another try, and he’s splashing around early, it appears.

On the tail end of a pot, the board showed 7c4d3h6h4h, and there was just over 5,000 in the middle. Benjamin was heads-up, and he bet 4,500 as he carried on a conversation with a railbird behind him. His opponent spent a long while deliberating, then called to see what was what.

Benjamin tabled 8dTd and returned to the conversation he was having over his shoulder. His opponent showed AcKd to win the pot with his high cards.

Charlemagne Benjamin – 11,000

Event 1 Flight E: Last Level and Fogel Leads

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante
Flight E Entries: 735
Players Remaining: 170

Jeffrey Fogel

Flight E is into the last level of the day with 170 players remaining and 30 minutes to run up a stack.

It looks like Jeffrey Fogel has moved into the lead. His 285,000 has surpassed Armando Camejo but it’s anyone’s game at this point.

Live Music Tonight at L Bar

The Day 1E flight is just about to play their last level of the night, and those who bag up chips will have earned themselves an evening away from the poker tables. It’s Saturday in South Florida, so it’s the perfect time to relax at L Bar with a drink and some live music.

L Bar is the cocktail lounge and live music venue housed in the lobby of Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood — the perfect backdrop to sip handcrafted cocktails while mixing and mingling.

This season, L Bar’s musical offerings bring live musicians to play alongside the evening’s DJs on select nights, showcasing a fusion of acoustic instruments and electronic beats.

Tonight is one of those nights, with a double performance featuring DJ Pee Wee from 7-10 p.m. and 808 Effect from then until 2 a.m.

If you’re playing the Day 1F flight and want to sneak down there during a break, L Bar’s new spirit-free mocktails are a good way to stay cool without losing your edge, too. Try the Watermelon Cilantro Fresca, for starters.

Event 1 Flight F: Final Chance to Advance

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1: 25/50

Jon Borenstein

Five flights are down with one to go in the huge opening event of the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. There are 2,439 entries already from the first five flights and the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool is in the rear view mirror.

Tonight’s flight will only pile the money higher.

The tournament is on the verge of surpassing the 2,724 entries it generated last August and it should get there early. Getting to 3,000 is a possibility.

Jon Borenstein (pictured above) is the current leader when he bagged up 338,000 in Flight D last night. Tonight we will see if he will be the returning Day 2 leader.

Entrants sit down to 20,000 starting stacks and play 30-minute levels throughout the day. Late registration is open until the start of Level 9 at 10:30pm with unlimited re-entries available during that time. They will play 14 full levels and survivors will return tomorrow at 1pm for Day 2.

They are set to go in the meeting room and front of the ballroom. Once registration closes down, we can report exactly how much is up for grabs.

Chip counts through Flight D

  • $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
  • Event 1 Structure Sheet

Event 1 Flight E: Armando Camejo Way Out Front

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 12: 800/1,600 with a 200 ante
Flight E Entries: 735
Players Remaining: 288

Armando Camejo

Players returned to their seats and it looks like everyone is trying to chase to Armando Camejo with three more flights in the day. He’s sitting on 270,000 with few players over 200,000.

We’ll keep track of the players as they make their way through the last levels of the day and see if anyone can catch Camejo.

Event 1 Flight E: Last Break

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 ante
Flight E Entries: 735
Players Remaining: 288

The remaining Flight E players are on their last break of the day with plenty of players still around with a chance to back up. We still expect around 150 to make it through but they don’t seem to be in any hurry to fire up the evening session.

They’ll return to play three more levels and everyone with chips will bag them up at the end of Level 14.

Event 1 Flight E: Phil Hui Builds; Field Shrinks

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 500/1,000 with a 100 ante
Flight E Entries: 735
Players Remaining: 333

Phil Hui

Nearly an hour after registration closed, the ballroom is still packed but tables are breaking to free up some needed space for the last flight at 6pm.

Phil Hui is doing his best to stick around. We caught him opening a hand in late position, firing bets all the way down until the board read AdKh9hKs8s, and the small blind sticking around all the way to the river. He released his hand, missing whatever he was aiming for, and the WSOP bracelet winner/four-time WSOP Circuit champ stacked up to 75,000 with plenty of time to run it up.

While the ballroom is still hopping, tournament staff are clearing out the meeting room and only four of the 14 tables are still in action. That is the first step to preparing for Flight F and that expected big group of players.

Four remaining tables in the Meeting Room

Event 1 Flight E: Big Field Numbers

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Flight E Entries: 735

The doors are locked for the penultimate flight of the $1 Million Guaranteed opening evening with a huge crowd of 735 entries. The tournament easily surpassed the $1,000,000 prize pool early in the day and it will best the 2,724 from this event last year before too long into Flight F.

We expect to have around 150 players advance from this flight to make for a busy Day 2 tomorrow at 1pm.

Day/TimeFlightEntriesAdvanced
Thurs at 11amA44188
Thurs at 6pmB29659
Friday at 11amC45889
Friday at 6pmD50996
Saturday at 11amE735TBD
Saturday at 6pmF
Total 2,439332

Chip counts through Flight D

Event 1 Flight E: Color Up Break and Closing Reg

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
End of Level 8: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Flight E Entries: 715

Flight E players are taking their second break of the day with a big crowd of 715 entries a few more expected during the 15 minutes away from the tables.

Quarter chips are coming out of play and registration will close when they return.

Event 1 Flight E: Young Loses a Few

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Flight E Entries: 703

Jason Young

WSOP Shootout bracelet winner Jason Young is back in the ballroom but not having a lot of success with this attempt. We caught him drop a bit after he opened the action from early position and found three callers, including the button and big blind.

The big blind checked the As7c2c flop, Young bet 1,325 and only the button player came along to the Jc turn. This time Young bet 3,000 and the button player called after double checking his cards.

They both checked the Th river, the button produced Ah3d and Young was not amused.

“Queens with the Qc,” Young told the table.

The hand dropped him below starting stack with registration open for 30 minutes.