Championship Day 1A: Olivier Busquet vs. Mohsin Charania

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Flight A Entries:  371

Olivier Busquet vs. Mohsin Charania
Olivier Busquet (left) and Mohsin Charania

With the board showing 8d5c3s3h on the turn, Olivier Busquet bet 6,500 under the gun. Mohsin Charania called from UTG+1, and a third player folded in late position.

The river card was the 4d, Busquet bet 7,500, Charania raised to 18,000, and Busquet folded. Charania took the pot to reach 140K in chips.

Mohsin Charania  –  140,000  (233 bb)
Olivier Busquet  –  23,500  (39 bb)

Championship Day 1A: Scott Baumstein Doubles Through Mike Leah

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 300/600 with a 600 ante
Flight A Entries: 368

Mike Leah (left) and Scott Baumstein (right)

Mike Leah raised to 1,500 from the hijack, Scott Baumstein three-bet to 3,800 from the cutoff and Leah called.

The flop was Ks6c3c and Leah check-called 2,000 from Baumstein.

The turn was the 8c, Leah led for 3,900, Baumstein raised all in for 12,600 and Leah called.

Leah: 8d6d
Baumstein: AcJc

Baumstein led with an ace-high flush against Leah’s two pair.

The river was the 7d, safe for Baumstein to double up.

Scott Baumstein – 38,300 (64 bb)
Mike Leah – 81,400 (136 bb)

Championship Day 1A: Matt Brady Shoves on Brian Ray

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 300/500 with a 500 ante
Flight A Entries: 361

Matt Brady

Jared Jaffee raised to 1,300 from middle position, Matt Brady called from the button and Brian Ray (who was the chip leader at the break) three-bet to 5,500 from the big blind. Jaffee folded and Brady called.

The flop was 7s6s5c and Ray continued for 5,000. Brady called.

The turn was the 4c, Ray checked, Brady bet 15,000 and Ray called.

The river was the 3h, Ray checked, Brady shoved for about 65,000 and Ray thought it over for a bit before he folded.

Matt Brady – 118,000 (236 bb)
Brian Ray – 88,000 (176 bb)

Championship Day 1A: Brian Ray Leads; Blair Hinkle Close

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 300/500 with a 500 ante
Flight A Entries: 348

Brian Ray

Trent Smith dipped and Brian Ray rose up. We have a new leader after the second break and it is Brian Ray with 140,000. That is good enough to put him up top but 2013 SHRPO Champ Blair Hinkle is not far behind with 134,000.

Other notable big stacks include Ben Tarzia (128,400), Matt Berkey (110,000), Nipun Java (108,000), Sergio Giha (108,000), Kitty Kuo (105,000), and Igor Merda (104,000),

Championship Day 1A: Second Break

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Flight A Entries: 342

Matthew Wantman (left) and Matthew Waxman (right), the Matthew W***mans together

Flight A of the Championship is enjoying the second break of the day as the entry count continues to click higher. They will return to play two more levels before the 75-minute dinner break.

Championship Day 1A: Loni Harwood Eliminated by Matthew Zarcadoolas and Nipun Java

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Flight A Entries: 342

Loni Harwood (left) versus Matthew Zarcadoolas (center) versus Nipun Java (right)

Loni Harwood raised all in for 2,000 from under the gun, Matthew Zarcadoolas three-bet to 6,500 on her immediate left and Nipun Java four-bet to 21,500 on his immediate left.

Action folded back to Zarcadoolas who thought for a bit before he reraised all in for about 41,000. Java called.

Harwood: KsQh
Zarcadoolas: AhKh
Java: AdKc

The board came down 5c10s4dKd7h, no help to Harwood, chopping up the pot for Zarcadoolas and Java.

Nipun Java – 104,000 (260 bb)
Matthew Zarcadoolas – 42,000 (105 bb)
Loni Harwood – Eliminated

Championship Day 1A: Player of the Year Contenders

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Flight A Entries: 331

Jason Young

The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship is the last of nine points eligible events on the 2018-2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker schedule. It’s been a great season for Florida residents Jason Young and Chad Eveslage who current sit 1st-2nd on the leaderboard. Up for grabs is a huge prize packaged valued at over $25,000 and inclusive of an entry into all 2019-2020 SHRP Championships/Main Event and a load of Seminole Wild Card comp dollars.

Young holds the lead thanks to a win in the 2019 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood Main Event and a third-place finish in the 2019 WSOP Circuit Coconut Creek Main Event. Eveslage is right on his tail with a sixth place in the same WSOP Circuit Coconut Creek Main Event and he finished sixth in the WPT Poker Showdown Championship.

Current Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year Standings

Chad Eveslage

Championship Day 1A: Trent Smith Leads

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 200/300 with a 300 ante
Flight A Entries: 290

Trent Smith

The first break is complete and Championship players are back in their seats. Out of all of them, it seems Trent Smith had the best time so far. He ran his 40,000 starting stack all the way up to 134,000 in two hours for 447 big blinds at this point.

Smith is having a nice run this week; besides his fine start today, he won SHRPO Event 10 a few days ago. That win earned him $9,200 along with his seat today in the Championship.

Other big stacks include Mike Del Vecchio (98,100), Jacob Naumann (81,000), Mike Leah (80,000), and Mike Graffeo (78,000).

Championship Day 1A: First SHRPO Champ

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight A Entries: 269

Blair Hinkle

As with all things, there had to be a beginning. The first Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open was held at the end of August in 2013, an ambitious debut that featured a $10,000,000 guaranteed prize pool for a $5K Championship. The prize pool rose to $11,920,000 by the time registration closed, the biggest we’ve ever run.

Blair Hinkle outlasted the 2,384-entry field to become our first ever SHRPO Champion and he banked $1,745,000 for the feat. He returns every year hoping to be the first two-time SHRPO Champion and 2019 is no different.

Championship Day 1A: Table 17 Lineup

$5,250 SHRPO Championship (Single Re-Entry)
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight A Entries: 233

Darryll Fish (left) and Nancy Thomas (right)

The Event Center is filling in as the Championship moves into Level 2. With any tournament of this quality, you’re always going to find a table or two with a stacked lineup. Today that is Table 17.

They are still waiting for a few players to draw their seat there but the lineup is already a tough one. From around the horn, we have Jonathan Dobson, Brian Hastings, Ralph Massey, Ian O’Hara, Darryll Fish, and Nancy Thomas.

That is a combined $12.5 million in career earnings, four WSOP bracelets, two WSOP Circuit rings, one WPT title, and one Aussie Million champion all sitting at a six-handed table.

Jonathan Dobson (left) and Brian Hastings (right)
Ralph Massey (left) and Ian O’Hara (right)