$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 6: 200/400/50 Ante

Once again, three world champions are in the house today.  Jamie Gold has joined Jonathan Duhamel and Ryan Riess to take a stab at adding “WPT Champion” to their resumes.  Another world champion, Carlos Mortensen, bagged chips yesterday so we could potentially see at least four of the players who have won poker’s biggest prize be back for Day 2 on Sunday.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 6: 200/400/50 Ante

We got to the table with Tony Cousineau in the small blind and facing one player. The dealer fanned out a flop of and Cousineau put out a bet of 650. His opponent went deep into thought prompting the veteran poker pro to say “I’ll show you one time.”

That wasn’t good enough to get the job done as his opponent made the call and the dealer put out the on the turn. Cousineau bet again, this time for 2,100. His opponent went into full-blown acting mode.

“Really sh***y card dealer,” he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Bet you were beat before that card,” said Cousineau.

“Call,” said his opponent.

The river was the and Cousineau quickly checked. His opponent grabbed his remaining chips, all 18,100 of them, and splashed them carelessly into the pot.

“Wow, you had the queen,” said Cousineau, eventually letting go of his hand. His opponent did indeed have the queen as he showed for the turned Broadway straight.

379 entrants for this flight are showing on the tournament clock with approximately 45 minutes before the dinner break.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300/50 Ante

Victor Cianelli is taking his turn atop the chip count leaderboard, just one of three players over 100,000 at the second break. He’s followed by Carlo Nini and Brian Hastings. We’ve heard rumblings of Jared Jaffee jumping his stack up after the break and we’ll track him down.

Notable counts:

Victor Cianelli – 154,000 (513 bb)
Carlo Nini – 126,425 (421 bb)
Brian Hastings – 102,025 (340 bb)
Marco Rodriguez – 99,250 (331 bb)
Ryan Franklin – 97,700 (326 bb)
Long Nguyen – 93,650 (312 bb)
John Radvansky – 87,850 (293 bb)
Vanessa Selbst – 86,275 (288 bb)
Jared Jaffee – 83,225 (277 bb)
William Pilossoph – 80,375 (268 bb)
Michael Moed – 65,125 (217 bb)
Jonathan Duhamel – 62,675 (209 bb)
Kevin Eyster – 60,150 (201 bb)
Esther Taylor-Brady – 56,050 (187 bb)
Matt Salsberg – 54,250 (181 bb)
Jamie Gold – 51,125 (170 bb)
Angela Prada-Moed – 49,950 (167 bb)
Jared Hamby – 40,850 (136 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 37,225 (124 bb)
Chris Moorman – 34,625 (115 bb)
John Dolan – 34,550 (115 bb)
Abbey Daniels – 33,225 (111 bb)
Aaron Massey – 32,350 (108 bb)
David Diaz – 29,850 (100 bb)
Tom Koral – 27,625 (92 bb)
Ryan Riess – 26,950 (90 bb)
Chino Rheem – 25,575 (85 bb)
Daren Stabinski – 25,375 (85 bb)
Erik Cajelais – 24,525 (82 bb)
Shannon Shorr – 23,075 (77 bb)
“Sheddy” Siddiqui – 11,125 (37 bb)
Ian O’Hara – 9,975 (33 bb)

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300/50 Ante

“It’s funny, I don’t usually play my hometown tournaments,” said Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi as he mucked his cards to the dealer. He decided this tournament was too good to pass up though and cut a trip short to Panama with friends and family to take part in the poker action here this week. He’s currently sitting with a starting stack of 30,000 ready to cause havoc.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300/50 Ante

We arrive at the table with close to 6,000 already in the pot and the board showing . Jared Jaffee put out a bet of 3,600 and was up against the ever-discerning eye of Kevin Eyster. The quiet pro quietly put out a stack of chips – a raise to 7,700 – and waited to see how Jaffee responded.

Respond he did, with a reraise of his own, to a total of 17,000. Eyster didn’t think too long before letting his hand go.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

Players are heading off on their second break of the day just after 1B crossed over 350 entrants. More chip counts when they return.

34k->100k in 2 hands @SHRPO, including calling a 4bet with ATo and calling 3 streets for almost all my chips on 86259 board (he had Q4o) #LG

— Brian Hastings (@brianchastings) April 17, 2015

Was down to 13k @shrpo @wpt but caught a nice double. Just above starting stack.

— Abbey Daniels (@abbeydaniels1) April 17, 2015

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is a South Florida legend and its well deserved. He has over $14 million in career earnings including five seven-digit victories. Three WSOP bracelets and two WPT titles.

It’s unclear whether he will jump in the action today but he is walking around the room greeting his friends and opponents.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

Day 1B has moved up levels as the 330th player enter the tournament. They’ll play one more hour than take another break.

Dealers are doing an exceptional job at this @shrpo @WPT Main Event. Are they trained by @TeamMizrachi Dealer School?

— Jesse Martin (@MazeOrBowie) April 17, 2015

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 3: 75/150/25 Ante

David Diaz is back in the Championship again, for at least his third bullet. The WSOP bracelet winner was in yesterday’s field but was unable to cash, then busted his first entry today when his Aces were cracked by Jacks.

Diaz is back in the ballroom and currently sitting with former November Niner Chino Rheem.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 3: 75/150/25 Ante

Day 1B hit 300 entrants 20 minutes into the third levels with plenty of time remaining in registration.

John Radvansky is indeed the leader at the first break with pro David Paredes on his heels and Jamie Gold enjoying his first two levels.

Notables stacks:

John Radvansky – 94,475 (630 bb)
David Paredes – 71,625 (478 bb)
George Dolofan – 70,725 (472 bb)
Jamie Gold – 70,675 (471 bb)
Vanessa Selbst – 63,900 (426 bb)
David Powers – 61,625 (411 bb)
Michael Moed – 58,300 (389 bb)
Curt Kohlberg – 50,275 (335 bb)
Steven Karp – 44,500 (297 bb)
Jonathan Duhamel – 43,950 (293 bb)
Nancy Birnbaum – 41,925 (280 bb)
Jess Martin – 41,800 (279 bb)
Anthony Spinella – 36,150 (241 bb)
Angela Prada-Moed – 34,575 (231 bb)
Shannon Shorr – 34,500 (230 bb)
Trevor Pope – 32,825 (219 bb)
Kevin Eyster – 31,750 (212 bb)
Micah Raskin – 31,050 (207 bb)
Brian Hastings – 30,550 (204 bb)
Alex Bolotin – 30,100 (201 bb)
Tim West – 29,850 (199 bb)
Aaron Massey – 29,575 (197 bb)
Jared Jaffee – 29,000 (193 bb)
David Levi – 28,750 (192 bb)
Ryan Riess – 28,375 (189 bb)
Matt Salsberg – 26,625 (178 bb)
Erik Cajelais – 26,425 (176 bb)
John Dolan – 25,625 (171 bb)
DJ MacKinnon – 24,900 (166 bb)
“Sheddy” Siddiqui – 24,275 (162 bb)
Ian O’Hara – 24,050 (160 bb)
Kelly Minkin – 23,100 (154 bb)
Abbey Daniels – 21,975 (147 bb)
Zo Karim – 21,300 (142 bb)
TK Miles – 16,300 (109 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 7,575 (51 bb)