Day 1B at Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Ends with Gjergj Sinishtaj Leading

 

Day 1B of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $10 Million Guaranteed Championship drew 690 entries, bringing the total to 1,324. At the end of the day, it was Gjergj Sinishtaj (pictured above) who finished as the chipleader with 376,000.

Day 1C needs to attract at least 676 entrants to reach the $10 million guarantee — less than the size of the Day 1B field. Since the later starting days in major tournaments tend to attract more players, it seems like the safe money is on the Seminole Hard Rock reaching the guarantee.

The official chip counts are in, and here’s a look at the top of the leaderboard for Day 1B:

1.  Gjergj Sinishtaj  –  376,000  (188 bb)
2.  Raj Vohra  –  322,000  (161 bb)
3.  Chris Dombrowski  –  266,800  (133 bb)
4.  Deborah Hinton  –  255,700  (127 bb)
5.  Neri Sanchez  –  241,200  (120 bb)
6.  Uri Kadosh  –  218,500  (109 bb)
7.  Marc Davis  –  211,600  (105 bb)
8.  Bradley Rhodes  –  199,100  (99 bb)
9.  Kelly Minkin  –  197,400  (98 bb)
10.  Ravi Raghavan  –  195,900  (97 bb)

Also surviving the day were Mike Matusow, Jared Hamby, Jamie Armstrong, Allen Bari, Allen Kessler, and Kevin Eyster, who won the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown in April. Among the many who came up empty on Day 1B were Phil Ivey, Jason Mercier, David Sands, Cliff Josephy, and the rapper Nelly.

Day 1C begins Saturday at 12:00 noon ET, and any players who busted (or are unhappy with a short stack) can re-enter as many times as they’d like until registration closes after the dinner break (8:00 pm).

For the complete list of 417 survivors from Days 1A and 1B, click here for the PDF file.