A Few Familiar Faces in the Field

It is no secret that when given the option professional poker players will choose the later start time for a tournament day that has two starting flights. Today is another case in point. After there were dozens of familiar faces on Day 1A, which started at 7 p.m. on Thursday, the notables are far and few between on Day 1B, which started at 11 a.m. this (poker) morning. Here is a look at who did make the early wake-up call at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.

Noah Schwartz – The poker professional has won $3.5 million in live events and another half million online. He won his first major title last year on the World Poker Tour and he had a strong summer in Las Vegas where he finished runner up in a $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event and he took 52nd place in a field of 6,352 players in the $10,000 Main Event.

Ylon Schwartz – Ylon made his claim to fame in the poker world when he took fourth place at the 2008 World Series of Poker main event as a member of the November Nine. He took home $3.7 million for that score and he has traveled the tournament trail consistently since that time, pushing his all-time earnings past $4.6 million.

Alex Bolotin – Alex is a professional poker player from Brooklyn, New York who has close to $2 million in career tournament earnings. He has appeared at many final tables on the major tours and he won the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament at the World Series of Poker in 2009.

Matthew Burnitz – Burnitz found success on the World Poker Tour during Season XI. He cashed at the Borgata in Atlantic City twice. He took second place at the Borgata Poker Open, which was good for $488,850 and followed that up with a 46th place finish at the Borgata Winter Poker Open to add another $10,287.