Level 7 comes to an end, and Level 8 begins with increased blinds of 250-500 and a 75 ante.

The tournament clock shows 612 entrants in the Day 1A field, and registration remains open until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm). Players who bust may re-enter as many times as they’d like until registration closes on each of the three starting days.

The players return from their second break to begin Level 7, with increased blinds of 200-400 and a 50 ante.

The tournament clock shows 599 entrants in the Day 1A field, and registration remains open until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm). Players who bust may re-enter as many times as they’d like until registration closes on each of the three starting days.

The rapper Nelly stopped for a quick photo on the red carpet outside the tournament room before taking his seat on Day 1A of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open’s $10 Million Guaranteed Main Event.

Level 4 comes to an end, and Level 5 begins with increased blinds of 100-200 and a 25 ante. The tournament clock shows 562 entrants in the Day 1A field, though that number will certainly increase since registration remains open until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm).

The players return from break to begin Level 4, with blinds of 75-150 and a 25 ante. There are currently 538 players in the field here on Day 1A, and that number will increase throughout the day as registration remains open until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm).

Level 2 comes to an end, and Level 3 begins with increased blinds of 75-150. Play continues without a break.

The tournament clock shows 515 players in the Day 1A field so far, and registration remains open until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm). Players who bust are free to re-enter as many times as they’d like.

Level 1 comes to an end, and Level 2 begins with increased blinds of 50-100. The tournament clock shows that the field size has been steadily growing and is now up to 455 players.

This tournament features unlimited re-entries — players who bust are free to re-enter as many times as they’d like as long as registration is open. Registration remains open on each starting day until the end of the dinner break, which is about 8:00 pm.

Even though it’s a massive field for a $10 million guaranteed main event, the action started right on time at 12:00 noon. The tournament clock shows 380 players in the field as play begins, though that number will certainly grow as registration remains open until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm).

The players begin with 30,000 in chips, and the opening blinds are 25-50, so there is 600 big blinds in each starting stack.

The levels are 40 minutes long until the dinner break (which should be around 6:30 pm), and then 60 minutes long for the next day and a half until the end of Day 2. From Day 3 forward, levels will be 90 minutes long. It’s an excellent structure that provides a lot of room for the players to play, especially deep in the tournament when the stakes are the highest.

HardRock 10million guarantee Day1a. Nice hotel, nice chips, prompt start, lots of cash games, hope this becomes an annual stop.

— Tyler Patterson (@TylerPoker) August 22, 2013

The mega-satellite that started at 12:00 noon today attracted a field of 626 players, and will be awarding 62 seats into the $10 Million Guaranteed Main Event that starts tomorrow.

Whoever finishes 63rd will receive $3,180, and whoever finishes 64th will get nothing.

There are currently 68 players remaining as they color-up the black (100) chips, and the average chip stack is about 69,000 (11 big blinds). Play will slow down as the satellite bubble approaches, but it shouldn’t take too long to burst it with this many tables in action.

There are several other satellites underway, but this is the big one for the day. We expect there to be a loud celebration when 62 more players win seats into one of the most hotly anticipated poker tournaments of the year.