All posts by BJ Nemeth

Championship Day 1A: Level 7 Begins

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 7:  250/500/75 Ante

Championship Trophy - Rock n Roll Poker Open
Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open Championship Trophy

The players return from dinner to begin Level 7, with increased blinds of 250-500 and a 75 ante.

Registration is now closed, and the tournament clock shows an unofficial Day 1A field size of 334 entries. Players who bust may re-enter as often as they’d like on Day 1B (tomorrow) until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm).

The field will play four more one-hour levels tonight before the survivors bag up their chips.

Championship Day 1A: Dinner Break Until 8:00 pm

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 7:  250/500/75 Ante

Level 6 comes to an end, and the players take a 90-minute dinner break. Action is scheduled to resume at 8:00 pm ET.

Registration remains open until the end of the dinner break, and players who bust may re-enter as many times as they’d like during the registration period.

With 219 players remaining from a Day 1A field of 320, for an average chip stack around 43,800 (88 big blinds).

Championship Day 1A: Marvin Rettenmaier & Neil Blumenfield Eliminated by William Parker

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 6:  200/400/50 Ante

William Parker
William Parker

In the final hand of Level 6, Season X WPT World Champion Marvin Rettenmaier was all in from the hijack on the turn in a three-way pot against William Parker and WSOP November Niner Neil Blumenfield.

The board showed Qs6d2d7cQd, and the river card paired the board with the Qd. Blumenfield moved all in from the cutoff, and Parker tanked for a while before he called from the small blind.

Rettenmaier showed Qs9h for trip queens, but Blumenfield turned over KhQh for trip queens with a higher kicker.

But neither hand was good. Parker flipped over Ad7d to win the pot with an ace-high flush, eliminating both players on the last hand before the dinner break.

(Registration remains open until the end of the dinner break, so both Rettenmaier and Blumenfield have the option of re-entering one last time today.)

We’re not sure yet if this pot gave Parker the chip lead, but it does put him up near 180,000.

William Parker  –  178,775  (447 bb)
Neil Blumenfield  –  Eliminated
Marvin Rettenmaier  –  Eliminated

Championship Day 1A: John Racener Wins a Multi-Way Pot

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 6:  200/400/50 Ante

John Racener
John Racener (Tampa, FL)

John Racener raised from middle position to 600, James Joyner called from the hijack, the button called, and the big blind reraised to 2,400. All three of the other players called.

All four players checked to the turn on a board of 7c5h4d3s, and it checked to the button, who bet 5,000. The big blind folded, Racener called, and Joyner folded.

The river card was the 10s, and both players checked. Racener showed 7h7d for a set of sevens, and the player on the button rechecked his cards and held onto them for a surprisingly long time (one player jokingly yelled asked for a clock) before he mucked. Racener took the pot.

John Racener  –  48,000  (120 bb)

Championship Day 1A: Lucky Hearts Champion Brian Altman Contends for the Lead

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 6:  200/400/50 Ante

Brian Altman
WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Champion Brian Altman

Brian Altman won $723,008 here at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino back in February when he won the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship, and he almost won a second WPT title last week at WPT Montreal, where he finished fourth.

Altman just knocked out a fellow WPT champion, Jared Jaffee, to build his stack up to more than 150,000.

Brian Altman  –  156,000  (390 bb)

Championship Day 1A: Rowohlt and Nomikos Side-by-Side Again

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 6:  200/400/50 Ante

Gunther Rowohlt and Christopher Nomikos
Gunther Rowohlt (left) and Christopher Nomikos

The day before Thanksgiving (two days ago), Gunther Rowohlt and Christopher Nomikos were seated side-by-side at the final table of Event 5, where they ended up finishing 3rd and 2nd, respectively, behind Ory Hen.

You can read about that final table by clicking here.

Now, on Day 1A of the Championship event, they are seated side-by-side again, just one table away from where they finished out Event 5. And both players are doing well, with above-average stacks.

Gunther Rowohlt  –  52,500  (175 bb)
Christopher Nomikos  –  51,000  (170 bb)

Championship Day 1A: Eli Levy Leads with 127,575

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

Eli Levy
Chipleader Eli Levy

The players return from break to begin Level 5, with increased blinds of 150-300 and a 50 ante. A scan of the field during the break revealed eight players with at least 75,000 in chips, and one that came in just under.

Here’s the unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Eli Levy  –  127,575  (425 bb)
2.  Robert Zlatkiss  –  103,000  (343 bb)
3.  James Gilbert  –  84,350  (281 bb)
4.  Johnny Tang  –  82,700  (276 bb)
5.  Nipun Java  –  81,600  (272 bb)
6.  Marc Duquette  –  79,575  (265 bb)
7.  Yigal Hen  –  77,525  (258 bb)
8.  Scott Menard  –  75,475  (252 bb)
9.  Krzysztof Stybaniewicz  –  74,075  (247 bb)

And some of the notables further back in the pack:

Darryll Fish  –  70,150  (234 bb)
Ory Hen  –  57,750  (193 bb)
Matt Waxman  –  55,250  (184 bb)
Matt Affleck  –  51,175  (171 bb)
Erik Christensen  –  48,650  (162 bb)
Harrison Gimbel  –  46,250  (154 bb)
Aaron Massey  –  40,075  (134 bb)
Abbey Daniels  –  39,525  (132 bb)
Jessica Dawley  –  38,825  (129 bb)
Dan Shak  –  38,800  (129 bb)
Nancy Birnbaum  –  36,300  (121 bb)
Chance Kornuth  –  36,225  (121 bb)
Natasha Barbour  –  34,600  (115 bb)
Brian Altman  –  33,375  (111 bb)
Jonathan Duhamel  –  31,850  (106 bb)
Sam Panzica  –  25,700  (86 bb)
Jacquelyn Scott  –  22,450  (75 bb)
Marvin Rettenmaier  –  20,950  (70 bb)
Stewart Newman  –  18,750  (63 bb)
Vanessa Rousso  –  12,100  (40 bb)
Neil Blumenfield  –  9,725  (32 bb)
Ian O’Hara  –  4,875  (16 bb)

Championship Day 1A: Nick Yunis Bounces Back with a Boat

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

Nick Yunis
Nick Yunis

Nick Yunis is below starting stack, but he just bounced back a bit when he bet the river on a board of KhQdJh10cJc. Yunis bet 5,600 from the big blind, and his opponent tanked for a while before calling from middle position.

Yunis turned over 10h10d for a rivered full house, tens full of jacks, and his opponent mucks. Yunis takes the pot to get back up near the starting stack.

Nick Yunis  –  27,000  (135 bb)

The past two summers, Yunis has finished 1st and 2nd in the big charity event held as part of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in August.

Charity events are certainly fun, but Yunis would probably like to add a championship trophy to his resume.

Championship Day 1A: William Parker Nears 100K

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 2:  75/150/25 Ante

William Parker
Chipleader William Parker

The players return from their first break to begin Level 3, with increased blinds of 75-150 and a 25 ante.

The field size is up to 231 entries, and registration remains open until the end of the dinner break, around 8:00 pm

A scan of the field during the break revealed five players with at least 65,000 in chips, creating our first unofficial leaderboard of the tournament:

1.  William Parker  –  98,450  (656 bb)
2.  Krysztof Stybaniewicz  –  74,075  (494 bb)
3.  Dimitry Agrachov  –  71,475  (477 bb)
4.  Eric Lazarus  –  67,175  (448 bb)
5.  Michael Massri  –  65,150  (434 bb)

Parker’s quick rise to the top primarily came from a single hand, when he was part of a three-way preflop all in and cracked A-A and J-J with A-K suited — Parker made a flush to bust both players. And now he’s knocking on the door of 100,000 in chips.

Here are some of the notable players further back in the field.

Darryll Fish  –  57,000  (380 bb)
Ory Hen  –  55,300  (369 bb)
Matt Affleck  –  49,575  (331 bb)
Matt Waxman  –  46,550  (310 bb)
Dan Shak  –  41,175  (275 bb)
John Dolan  –  38,050  (254 bb)
Aaron Massey  –  32,050  (214 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui  –  31,800  (212 bb)
Kelly Minkin  –  31,350  (209 bb)
Joe Kuether  –  31,000  (207 bb)
Chance Kornuth  –  30,575  (204 bb)
Jennifer Tilly  –  30,000  (200 bb)
Jessica Dawley  –  29,925  (200 bb)
Natasha Barbour  –  29,650  (198 bb)
Adam Levy  –  29,250  (195 bb)
TK Miles  –  27,375  (183 bb)
Ari Engel  –  25,525  (170 bb)
Jason Mercier  –  25,150  (168 bb)
Matt Salsberg  –  24,625  (164 bb)
Neil Blumenfield  –  23,225  (155 bb)
Jonathan Duhamel  –  22,450  (150 bb)
Cornel Cimpan  –  20,400  (136 bb)
Marvin Rettenmaier  –  19,175  (128 bb)
Stewart Newman  –  17,675  (118 bb)
Kane Kalas  –  13,875  (93 bb)

Event 5: Recap

2015 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ’n’ Roll Poker Open”
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed Prizepool

November 23rd-25th, 2015

Total Entries:  830
Total Prizepool:  $415,000

Ory Hen - Winner
Ory Hen, Event 5 Champion

Recap:

Last year, Ory Hen won Event 1 of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open on his way to becoming the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year. This year, Hen waited until the second big-field event of the series, winning Event 5 against a field of 830 entries to win $52,153, the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” trophy, and a custom-framed winner’s photo courtesy of Image Masters.

Event 5 needed to attract 500 entries to reach the $250,000 guarantee, but over four starting flights, there were 830 entries, even with Day 2 playing down to a winner the night before Thanksgiving.

However, once the clock struck midnight (meaning it was officially Thanksgiving) and the final table was still eight-handed after playing for more than an hour, the players began serious negotiations for a chop. Eventually a deal was reached so that even the shortest stacks would receive more than fifth-place money. While the players debated how to distribute the prize money, there was no doubt as to who would claim the trophy, as Hen had nearly a million chips more than his closest competitor.

No better way for a poker player to head into Thanksgiving (and the holiday shopping season) than a big score at a final table, and the final eight all earned at least $23,261.

Happy Thanksgiving, and congratulations to Ory Hen!

Final Table Results:

1st:  Ory Hen  –  $52,153
2nd:  Christpoher Nomikos  –  $42,144
3rd:  Gunther Rowohlt  –  $38,788
4th:  Steven Bennett  –  $35,774
5th:  Nigel Murray  –  $34,523
6th:  Phil Hernz  –  $27,584
7th:  Zack Goodman  –  $26,504
8th:  Lisa Teebagy  –  $23,261
9th:  Kenneth Watson  –  $7,885