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

This year’s Championship set one milestone in the middle of the second level and quickly heading for that $2,000,000 guarantee. The 268th entrant put us over last year’s count of 601 and we’ve added another ten on top since that point. We are 11 players away from busting through the big number and might get there before the first break.

We have two ambassador back today after falling short in yesterday’s action. Sheddy Siddiqui and Matt Stout took their seats early today for a final shot at making Day 2.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 1: 50/100

Level 1 is coming to a close and the board is a few entrants away from hitting the 250 mark. That leaves the Championship less than 50 away from hitting the $2,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and boosting it higher.

Erica Lindgren is one of our out of town players in the game this weekend, choosing to dodge the December weather in Las Vegas for some sun and fun in South Florida. She’s looking to add to her $850,000 in career earnings that include a WSOP final table and two cashes this summer. The former Miss Schoenberg is the fairer half of the Lindgren family with Erick, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 1: 50/100

“We registered three day apart and look what happened.”

Nancy Birnbaum was commenting about finding herself at the same table as good friend Jessica Meir. The two are sitting side-by-side at Table 7 which will not break until late, if at all.

The two friends have success at the tables with Meir picking up two Seminole Hard Rock Poker titles and a 99th place result in Event 1 last weekend (out of 3,022 entrants). Birnbaum has earned three WSOP Circuit rings to go along with her six-digit career cash total.

The two of them are part of the 230 entrants at the midpoint of the first level and we feel pretty confident the $2,000,000 guarantee will be toast by the time registration closes at 8pm.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 1: 50/100

Players are jumping in the game at a faster pace then yesterday and we had 160 entrants in the game at the start of play. It jumped near 190 at the 15-minute mark with a constant stream of players hitting the registration desk.

Ralph Massey is an early entrant and looking to duplicate (or better) the success of his brother Aaron in yesterday’s flight. Aaron bagged up 75,300 late last night, right at the average stack line, and set to return tomorrow.

The two have combined for nearly $3 million in career earnings with Ralph earning a WSOP Circuit ring in 2013. Aaron has two of his own plus two HPT titles to earn that tour’s Player of the Year honors in 2014.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 1: 50/100

It’s almost time for the final flight of the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship and we’re expecting a big day. We had a great turnout for yesterday’s opening flight and a Saturday afternoon of poker should bring out even more players.

Flight 1A drew 334 entrants to the $2,000,000 Guarantee event and 124 players booked their spot for Day 2 tomorrow afternoon. Fabrizio Gonzalez’ 283,900 stack was the biggest when play concluded with plenty of top players giving chase.

They will sit down to deep 30,000 stacks and play 60-minute levels throughout the day. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 7 at 8pm following the 90-minute dinner break. Once the registration desk has closed for the Championship, we will know exactly how much money is up for grabs.

Play will conclude at the end of the Level 10 and everyone with chips will bag them up for a return on Sunday.

Players are filing into the ballroom and cards will soon be in the air.

Flight 1A end of day chip counts

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 10: 500/1,000/100 Ante

Play has ended in Day 1A and Fabrizio Gonzalez finished with the top chip stack in today’s flight of the the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship Event.

Gonzalez bagged 283,900 chips to lead the way with Nipun Java finishing second at 265,900.  William Parker put away at 213,500 chips for third place followed by Dan Ishaki at 211,400 and James Calderaro at 187,900.

Here is a list of other notables surviving the flight:

Robert Zlatkiss – 179,000
Mike Massri – 169,000
Jewook Oh – 162,700
Brian Cohen – 162,600
Jack Doung – 159,000
Ronald Sullivan – 158,400
Mohsin Charania  –  158,100
Adam Monaghan – 155,800
Chris Bolek – 151,900
Eric Christensen – 149,400
Josh Kay  –  128,900
Dan Shak  –  128,500
Darryll Fish – 101,500
Stewart Newman  –  101,000
Chance Kornuth  –  93,600
Ory Hen  –  90,600
Mukul Pahuja  –  89,000
Cord Garcia  –  80,300
Allen Kessler  –  79,800
Aaron Massey  –  75,300
Marvin Rettenmaier – 68,800
Brian Altman  –  67,500
Matt Affleck  –  59,800
Adam Levy  –  49,800
Jonathan Duhamel  –  47,800
Stu Paterson  –  43,800
Vanessa Rousso – 43,800
Byron Kaverman  –  43,000
Jessica Dawley  –  39,200
Mike Chiappetta  –  31,400
Kane Kalas  –  28,400
Gunther Rowohlt  –  18,400
Natasha Barbour  –  13,400

Unofficially, 124 players advanced out of 334 entries. Day 1B kicks off Saturday at noon and players returning for Day 2 will be back in action at noon on Sunday.

Congratulations to everyone who advanced to Day 2!

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 10:  500/1,000/100 Ante

In one of the final hands of the night, a player moved all in after four players saw a flop of . Everyone folded except for Fabrizio Gonzalez, who called with for an overpair. The short stack turned over for a pair of fours, and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The turn was the , the river was the , and the pocket nines held up for Gonzalez to win the pot and knock out the short stack and secure the Day 1A chip lead.

Fabrizio Gonzalez  –  285,000  (285 bb)

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 10: 500/1,000/100 Ante

The Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n Roll Poker Open” Championship Event is winding down to a close for Day 1A but is certainly not lacking for star power.

Among the players still standing are Jason Mercier, Vanessa Rousso and Dan Shak along with Jonathan Duhamel, Darryll Fish, Jared Jaffee and many others are looking to wrap up their spots in Day 2.  135 players remain with around 30 minutes left to play.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 10: 500/1,000/100 Ante

We’ve reached the final level of play here in Day 1A.  One hour stands between our players and a chance to continue on in our Championship Event.

144 players remain as the clock ticks down to the end of play this evening.