$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts End of Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante Players Remaining: 70 of 395
Stacy Matuson had no interest in returning for Day 2 with her short stack of 16,800, and she announced she was all in dark from early position. Jason Koon called from the button to put her at risk.
“I hope you were (all in dark),” he said. “Because I’m gambling with you.”
Matuson: Koon:
The board ran out , and Koon won the pot with two pair. Matuson was eliminated on the last hand of the night.
The final few hands are complete at each table, and the survivors are in the process of bagging up their chips for the overnight soak. A recap of the day’s action will follow, along with the chip counts and seat draw for Day 2.
Koon will be among the big stacks in that list.
Jason Koon – 220,500 (92 bb) Stacy Matuson – Eliminated
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante Players Remaining: 77 of 395
Jason Koon
Jason Koon who is our reigning $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open champion is celebrating his 32nd birthday attempting to bag chips in this event. There is only 30-minutes left in the night, and Koon is in good shape to succeed.
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts Level 13: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante Players Remaining: 90 of 395
Jack Duong
The player on the button opened to 5,500, and Marvin Rettenmaier called in the small blind. From the big blind, Jack Duong three-bet to 19,000, though, and the button folded out of the way.
Rettenmaier, though, pondered for long enough that the clock was called on him. A few seconds after the floor person arrived, Rettenmaier four-bet shoved for just less than 100,000. Duong shrugged and called, having Rettenmaier slightly covered and at risk.
Rettenmaier: Duong:
The board ran out , and Duong came out on the good side. He nearly doubled up, eliminating Rettenmaier in the process.
Jack Duong – 205,000 (103 bb) Marvin Rettenmaier – Eliminated
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts Level 12: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante Players Remaining: 108 of 395
The cutoff opened to 4,100, Darren Elias three-bet to 10,500 from the button and the small blind shoved for less. It checked around on the flop.
The hit the turn and Elias bet 12,000 winning himself the small sidepot. Elias turned over and was in good shape against his opponent’s . The came on the river giving Elias the winning straight, eliminating his opponent.
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Payouts Level 13: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante Players Remaining: 99 of 395
Paul Balzano shoved for just less than 20,000 in early position, and Matt Smith re-shoved for more than 50,000 behind him. The rest of the table folded, leaving Balzano heads-up for his tournament life.
Balzano: Smith:
The board ran out , and Balzano ran down a wheel to double up.
Paul Balzano – 42,0000 (21 bb) Matt Smith – 36,000 (18 bb)
$5,250 SHRPO Championship $3 Million Guaranteed | Payouts Level 20: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante Players Remaining: 30
Aaron Mermelstein
Day 2 saw 266 players return in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship, and after another ten levels of play the field was sliced all the way down the final 30. The top 111 players made the money, and we had three players fall simultaneously on the money bubble earlier today (including 2015 SHRPO Champion Omar Zazay), so they split the min-cash of $7,528.
The field played deep into the money tonight, and Aaron Mermelstein leads the pack at the end of play with a big stack of 2,706,000. Mermelstein came on strong late in the day when he eliminated Ashton Griffin in 45th place to grow his stack to 1.8 million. Mermelstein never looked back once he secured the chip lead, and he is the only player to bag up over 2 million. Here is a look at the top 10 chip counts at the end of play.
Aaron Mermelstein – 2,706,000 Adam Levy – 1,960,000 Yi Chi Li – 1,816,000 Matt Berkey – 1,795,000 Samuel Bernabeu – 1,285,000 Odie Dardon – 1,154,000 David Sands – 1,044,000 Glenn Becker – 1,029,000 Michael Aron – 1,000,000 Diana Shirey – 923,000
Joe Kuether
Top storylines to keep an eye on tomorrow include the quest of Joe Kuether to make his second final table of The Big 4 in this SHRPO Championship event. He already made the final table in the $1,100 event that will play out on Tuesday, so if he makes the final nine in this tournament life could get tricky for him in two days. Kuether bagged up 615,000 at the end of play.
Glenn Becker
Glenn Becker is the last player alive in the SHRPO Championship who can catch Nathan Papp for the SHRP Player of the Year award. Becker ended Day 2 with 1,029,000, and he will have some extra incentive to keep his deep run going on Monday.
Other big names still in the hunt to keep an eye on include David Diaz, Odie Dardon, Scott Clements, Shannon Shorr, Nicholas Palma, and Joel Harwood (Loni’s father).
Notables that cashed today included Christian Harder, Keven Stammen, Harrison Gimbel, Taylor Paur, Neil Blumenfield, Kane Kalas, John Gordon, John Hennigan, Kevin Saul, Jean Gaspard, Allen Bari, Asher Conniff, Paul Volpe, Jonathan Jaffe, Jason Brin, Kurt Jewell, Shaun Deeb, Ari Engel, Matt Waxman, Event 1 winner Nipun Java, and the final Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member standing – Chance Kornuth.
Day 3 begins on Monday at Noon ET, and the returning field will play down to the final table of nine no matter how long it takes. Catch all of the live updates, chip counts, photos, and videos right here from the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Live Updates team.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship $3 Million Guaranteed | Payouts Level 20: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante Players Remaining: 31
The tournament clock has been paused, and the field was just informed that they will six more hands before the end of Day 2. Stay tuned for chip counts, and a recap of the day.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship $3 Million Guaranteed | Payouts Level 20: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante Players Remaining: 33
Nipun Java
Nipun Java raised all in preflop for 170,000 UTG+1, and Daniel Blum reraised all in over the top of him for 500,000 from the cutoff. Kuether pondered a call on the big blind, but he decided to fold so the two remaining players revealed their cards.
Blum: Java:
Board:
Java was eliminated in 34th place, good for $19,531, and Blum stacked up just over 700,000 after collecting the pot.
Daniel Blum – 710,000 (44 bb) Nipun Java – Eliminated in 34th Place ($19,531)
, and Koon won the pot with two pair. Matuson was eliminated on the last hand of the night.
, and Duong came out on the good side. He nearly doubled up, eliminating Rettenmaier in the process.
hit the turn and Elias bet 12,000 winning himself the small sidepot. Elias turned over 
. The 
came on the river giving Elias the winning straight, eliminating his opponent.
, and Balzano ran down a wheel to double up.
, and Altman won the race to double up.
