Pot Limit Omaha moves pretty fast. The tournament began with two tables of action and we have our first knockout followed by a re-entry.
Luis Santino was all-in preflop against five other opponents, not great odds to stay alive. The flop came and the 7-seat bet out 750 to drop all but one other player with chips. “I need runner runner,” Santino told his neighbor. The other players checked the turn followed by a pot sized bet on the river.
The 5-seat rolled over for the full house and Santino mucked without showing. The local is back at it on Table 39 with a re-entry and a third table is now running with 26 players in the field.
The second Omaha tournament of the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” is underway. Event 9 is a $350 Pot Limit Omaha tournament with a $15,000 guaranteed prizepool. Players begin with 16,000 stacks, 40-minute levels, and four hours of late registration or re-entry.
Pot Limit Omaha has become one of the most popular variants of the game with plenty of action and big pots. Fates can change quickly and big draws often trump big hands. The pace will be fast and we will be here all day bringing live updates on SHRPOLive.com.
Event 6 drew the biggest field of the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” other than Event 1 and its eight starting days. A total of 211 entrants put up the $150 buy-in to create a $25,320 prizepool for the 27 players good enough to make it into the money.
It was a long process to play down to the final three tables but once there, the action picked up as the short stacks slid began to get their chips in the middle now that they were in the money. The bigger stacks were picking them off when they could to build their lead for a final table run.
One day wasn’t enough to crown a champion and the tournament was shutdown at 3am with 13 players still in the mix. The players bagged and tagged their chips before a 10-hour break. The returned at 3pm and the table dynamics were a little skewed thanks to the random table draw.
Andrew Frier began the final day with the chiplead (212,000) but the other five players at his table were all under 10 big blinds. The second table held the majority of the chips in play with five players holding six-digit stacks.
Even with the unbalanced tables, it was the big stack table that produced the first knockout when Joshua Smith put his chips in the middle with the lead but fell in 13th to an unlucky river. Frier’s table then did the rest of the heavy lifting, Homer Molina specifically, when there was a double elimination of Albert Palma and Philip Tyson.
The last 10 players combined to form the unofficial final table and there was immediate talk of making a deal. Nothing came of it and Mike Filipelli was out not long after in 10th place. Action really moved along after Filipelli’s elimination with Frier taking out both Ron Blankenship and Derrick Simon when his Big Slick caught on the flop.
There were two short-stacks remaining and they were quickly taken care of as Lawrence Cone dropped in 7th and Paul Stanechewski in 6th. The remaining stacks were close in relation to the blinds and talk of a deal was begun in earnest.
Frier was the chipleader and the driving force behind a fair deal for all. Tournament staff did the math on a chip chop and all were satisfied with how to divide up the top five spot. Frier was declared the winner followed by Homer Molina, Arthur Rodriguez, Norman Guigui, and Keith Wagner.
Frier is a local regular in The Poker Room at Seminole Hard Rock and plans to come back for more series action. When asked what he would do with the money, he response was simple. “Play more poker,” he commented, “and buy some groceries.”
It was a great tournament where players were given a big prize pool for a small buy-in with a great structure. There are still two more weeks left in the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” for players of all bankrolls to get their tournament fill.
Event 7 is now on a 40-minute dinner break with 41 players remaining in the field. They will comeback to Level 13 with blinds at 800/1.6k/200 ante and an average stack of ~66,000.
Table 38 is having a good time, including Juliet Yarina (left) and Zach Kessler (right)
The 7-seat at Table 37 had a bad feeling about the 9-seat and his Kings, “I know they’re losing.” His was up against all-in preflop when he made his prophetic comment. The flop came out prompted him to say “Here it comes.”
The 9-seat was on his feet when the hit the turn and was packing up courtesy of the on the river.
Event 7 is down to 45 players with Nigel Murray as one of the recent casualties. They will play another 15 minutes before taking off on their dinner break.
The popular Black Chip Bounty tournament is underway in The Poker Room at Seminole Hard Rock and the $240 No Limit Hold’em Event 8 has a $15,000 guaranteed prizepool. Have of the buy-in will go towards the prizepool while the other half will be paid out in the form of bounties, players will receive $100 for every opponent they eliminate.
There are 30 players currently registered with two hours of late registration or re-entry.
Nigel Murray likes to have a good time at the table. Anyone who has played with him in The Poker Room at Seminole Hard Rock knows this and knows how to handle it.
He talks. A lot. But it’s part the local’s personality which gets him in trouble on occasion but sometimes it catches his opponents. The board read when Murray had enough chips moved forward to cover his opponent in the 4-seat. He was going through his chatter when his opponent tabled his without actually calling.
Murray flipped over his to begin the debate among players, staff, and dealer. His opponent was given the opportunity to fold his hand, saving his last 20k, but was given a one orbit penalty for exposing his cards. The hand moved Murray up to 90,000 but it could have been a little more.
Murray has over $250,000 in career earnings and a regular at Seminole Hard Rock including a win in the 2013 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Double Stack Turbo and 3rd place in the Big Slick this September for $21,883.
Players are still hitting the rail at a regular pace despite the deep stacks. Just 63 players remain as staff race off the green chips and players head off on their second break of the day.
Mike Filipelli is the current chipleader with 110,000 with a few more stacks not far behind. Players will come back to blinds at 400/800/100 ante and an average stack of ~43,000.
Zach Kessler (left) and Derrick Simon (right), fresh from his 8th place finish in Event 6
Event 7 is down to nine table with 81 players left in The Poker Room at Seminole Hard Rock. Huge preflop all-in pots have been rare with the average stack hanging around 66 big blinds. Table 35 did find a way to get three stacks in the middle at once as a short-stack shoved with but was up against and .
No bad beat stories as the Kings held and the 6-seat knocked out two opponents, telling the dealer, “I want to tip you so bad.”
and the 7-seat bet out 750 to drop all but one other player with chips. “I need runner runner,” Santino told his neighbor. The other players checked the 
turn followed by a pot sized bet on the 
river.
for the full house and Santino mucked without showing. The local is back at it on Table 39 with a re-entry and a third table is now running with 26 players in the field.
was up against 
all-in preflop when he made his prophetic comment. The flop came out 
hit the turn and was packing up courtesy of the 
on the river.
when Murray had enough chips moved forward to cover his opponent in the 4-seat. He was going through his chatter when his opponent tabled his 
to begin the debate among players, staff, and dealer. His opponent was given the opportunity to fold his hand, saving his last 20k, but was given a one orbit penalty for exposing his cards. The hand moved Murray up to 90,000 but it could have been a little more.
.