$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 5:  150/300/50 Ante

The players return from break to begin Level 5, with increased blinds of 150-300 and a 50 ante. The tournament clock shows 370 entries so far (for a two-day total of 704), and registration remains open until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm).

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after Level 6 (about 6:30 pm), and action is scheduled to continue until the end of Level 10 (about 12:15 am).

Here is the unofficial leaderboard from the break, with every player who had at least 75,000 at the break:

1.  Zhenjie Hou  –  104,425  (348 bb)
2.  Jose Salazar  –  96,800  (323 bb)
3.  George Dolofan  –  95,275  (318 bb)
4.  Karl Manouchakian  –  87,500  (292 bb)
5.  Nick Yunis  –  86,625  (289 bb)
6.  Eyal Revah  –  84,425  (281 bb)
7.  Sergh Baranov  –  83,650  (279 bb)
8.  Luke Brereton  –  79,000  (263 bb)

And here are some of the notables further back in the pack:

Phil Laak  –  72,875  (243 bb)
Ty Akbasli  –  71,675  (239 bb)
Barry Hutter  –  62,775  (209 bb)
Matt Salsberg  –  57,800  (193 bb)
Andy Frankenberger  –  53,150  (177 bb)
Jennifer Tilly  –  48,650  (162 bb)
Ralph Massey  –  48,450  (162 bb)
David Farber  –  48,325  (161 bb)
T.J. Shulman  –  44,700  (149 bb)
Ray Ruszkowski  –  42,875  (143 bb)
Matt Stout  –  40,850  (136 bb)
Aaron Mermelstein  –  39,325  (131 bb)
Phil Hui  –  37,950  (127 bb)
Matt Glantz  –  37,475  (125 bb)
Faraz Jaka  –  34,500  (115 bb)
Erica Lindgren  –  31,425  (105 bb)
John Dolan  –  29,750  (99 bb)
Noah Schwartz  –  29,675  (99 bb)
Will Failla  –  28,025  (93 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui  –  27,075  (90 bb)
John Racener  –  26,150  (87 bb)
Neil Blumenfield  –  25,125  (84 bb)
Tristan Wade  –  23,725  (79 bb)
Joe Kuether  –  20,675  (69 bb)
David Tuthill  –  17,125  (57 bb)

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
End of Level 4:  100/200/25 Ante

Players are off on the second break of the day with 369 entrants showing on the clock to push the prize pool near $2.3 million.

We’re tracking down the next round of big and notable stacks.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 4:  100/200/25 Ante

Erica Lindgren raised under the gun to 700, and the big blind called. The flop came , the big blind checked, Lindgren bet 1,100, and the big blind called. The turn was the , and the big blind bet 2,000. Lindgren called.

The river was the , the big blind bet 2,500, and Lindgren tanked for a while before she called. The big blind showed to win the pot with two pair, queens and threes, and Lindgren mucked.

Erica Lindgren  –  29,500  (148 bb)

After a flop of , Matt Glantz checked the cutoff, Harrison Gimbel bet the button, and Glantz called, making the pot worth a little more than 16,000. The turn card was the , and both players checked.

The river card was the , and Glantz bet 14,100. Gimbel thought for a bit before he folded, and Glantz took the pot.

Matt Glantz  –  37,500  (188 bb)
Harrison Gimbel  –  29,500  (148 bb)

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

We shouldn’t be surprised if Mike Dentale makes a big run this weekend in the Championship. He’s coming off some pretty decent results over the last two weeks.

Dentale travels north to Canada and finished eight for a close call making the WPT Montreal televised final table. He traveled back home and promptly shipped the Borgata Fall Poker Open Main Event just a few days ago.

After taking a big piece of Canada and New Jersey, he’s down here looking to do the same to South Florida. The Borgata win pushed him over $1 million in career earnings, good enough for 85th on the New York all-time cash list,

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

The Lindgren’s aren’t the only big couple in poker these days, you also have the powerhouse Taylor-Brady match up of successful poker players (and nice people).

While Matt Brady hangs back in the frigid North East, Esther Taylor-Brady is down here in the warm confines to play the Championship and Poker Night in America cash games later this weekend.

Taylor-Brady has over $500,000 in career earnings including a fifth place finish in the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open and a deep run in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $1,100 Big Four event.

The Championship count will cross 350 entrants for today to get us close to a $2.2 million prize pool with more than four hours to register.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 3:  75/150/25 Ante

After a flop of , Nancy Birnbaum checked the cutoff, the button bet 2,000, and Birnbaum called.

The turn card was the , Birnbaum checked, the button bet 6,000, and Birnbaum moved all in. The button called all in for 18,575 with (set of jacks). Birnbaum turned over (pair of kings), but she was drawing dead.

The meaningless river card was the , and the button won the pot to double up in chips.

Nancy Birnbaum  –  2,400  (16 bb)

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 3:  75/150/25 Ante

The players return from break to begin Level 3, with increased blinds of 75-150 and a 25 ante. The tournament clock shows 308 entries so far, and registration remains open until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm).

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after Level 6 (about 6:30 pm), and action is scheduled to continue until the end of Level 10 (about 12:15 am).

Here is the first unofficial leaderboard of the day, with every player who had more than 70,000 at the break:

1.  David Farber  –  82,050  (547 bb)
2.  Eyal Revah  –  77,225  (514 bb)
3.  Nick Yunis  –  74,925  (500 bb)

And here are some of the notables further back in the pack:

Pedro Palacio  –  68,300  (455 bb)
Jose Salazar  –  66,125  (441 bb)
Jose Lopez  –  65,025  (434 bb)
Ty Akbasli  –  62,800  (419 bb)
Ian Searing  –  61,500  (410 bb)
Gerald Aiello  –  60,925  (406 bb)
Neil Blumenfield  –  54,150  (361 bb)
Will Failla  –  39,850  (266 bb)
Ralph Massey  –  39,650  (264 bb)
Matt Glantz  –  38,975  (260 bb)
Harrison Gimbel  –  38,800  (259 bb)
John Dolan  –  36,550  (244 bb)
Phil Laak  –  33,350  (222 bb)
Ryan Van Sanford  –  32,275  (215 bb)
Noah Schwartz  –  31,700  (211 bb)
Michelle Shah  –  31,125  (208 bb)
Vinny Pahuja  –  30,175  (201 bb)
Matt Stout  –  30,075  (201 bb)
John Racener  –  29,125  (194 bb)
Jennifer Tilly  –  25,350  (169 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui  –  25,200  (168 bb)
Joe Kuether  –  20,925  (140 bb)
Ari Engel  –  20,575  (137 bb)

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 3:  75/150/25 Ante

The second flight is closing on yesterday’s number of 334 and we will flirt with 400 before registration closes at 8pm.

Will “The Thrill” Failla was kind enough to bring his brand of poker fun to South Florida and ready to run it up. He’s looking for his first Seminole Hard Rock Poker title though he came close with a runner-up finish in an event here in April. Failla has $4.9 million in career earnings including a 2nd place finish in the WPT Season X Player of the Year race.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 2: 75/150

Championship players are on their first break of the day as the entrant count climbs over 300 for the final flight. We’re on the look out for the biggest stacks in the room while we still have players at the registration desk.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 2: 75/150

Just like that, we’ve hit the $2,000,000 guarantee and every entrant after #291 is adding money to the prize pool. With six hours remaining in registration, we’re going to run it up to a big number.