2018 Escalator Series (Week 4) $560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed Level 8: 300/600 with a 75 ante | Structure Flight A Entries: 179
A good chunk of Paul Balzano’s more than $1,300,000 in reported tournament earnings has come from right here at the Seminole Hard Rock. Most notably, he final tabled the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $5,250 Championship finishing seventh for $125,000. Balzano is a regular at any pricepoint here in the room and has had a solid start in today’s $560.
Currently with about 45,000 chips, Balzano has more than doubled his 20,000 starting. He recently had a chance to grow it even higher, calling an opponent’s 10,100 turn shove on an board. Balzano had the worst of it with for a flush draw and needed to hit versus . The river was a blank and Balzano missed an opportunity to scoop a nice one.
2018 Escalator Series (Week 4) $560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante | Structure Flight A Entries: 165
Scott Levitt and Ilan Hadida earned their way into today’s $560 Escalator via final table appearances in last week’s $350. Each of the three Escalator events that preceded today’s finale boasted seats in the following week’s event for the 10 final tablists.
Last week, Levitt carded a third-place finish while Hadida bowed out ninth. Included in their roughly $33,000 and $8,000 payouts was an entry in today’s event. As luck would have it, they’ve found themselves together at a again, although this time they’re quite a ways from the final one.
2018 Escalator Series (Week 4) $560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 ante | Structure Flight A Entries: 153
The first break is behind the Escalator $560 Flight A field and play is deep into Level 5. The clock shows a strong start with with 153 entries already in the game. That accounts more than $75,000 of the tournament’s $400,000 guarantee and the figure will climb even more between now and the close of registration at roughly 3:30pm.
The clock strikes the 11 o’clock hour in South Florida and poker action is underway at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Going now is Flight A of the property’s unique Escalator Series headliner, a $560 buy-in no limit hold’em tournament. This marks the last of four month-long events and boasts the biggest of the guarantees — $400,000.
Each of the first three tournaments saw fields in excess of 1,400 entries and another 1,000+ are expected over the course of the next few days. While cards are freshly in the air for Flight A, Flight B is still to come tonight at 7pm followed Flight C, D, E and F set for 11am and 7pm Friday and Saturday.
Flight A details:
11am: Flight A – $560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed
20,000 chips and 30-/40-minute levels
Registration and re-entry available until the start of Level 9 (about 3:30pm)
Play concludes following Level 14 (6:40pm) or 10 percent of the field
2018 Escalator Series Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Week 3: $350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Entries: 1,435 Prize Pool: $430,500 March 8-11, 2018
Final results:
1st: Idris Ambraisse – $88,939* + $3,500 Seat 2nd: David Poces – $53,460* 3rd: Scott Levitt – $33,362* 4th: Donald Williams – $28,179* 5th: Joseph Gotlieb – $23,505* 6th: Butch Mitchell – $19,171* 7th: Jordan Wunder – $14,892* 8th: Bobby Leff – $11,013 9th: Ilan Hadida – $8,081* 10th: Michael Johnson – $5,531* 11th: Jonathan Snead – $4,971 12th: David Shmuel – $4,971 13th: Evan Teitelbaum – $3,314 14th: Dejan Petkovic – $3,314 15th: Jose Navarrete – $3,314 16th: Adam Mann – $2,252 17th: Juan Vazquez – $2,252 18th: Brandon Setzer – $2,252 19th: Georges Boyadjian – $1,878 20th: Alan Gold – $1,878 21st: Sean Shah – $1,878 22nd: Gabriel Caballero – $1,878 23rd: Alberto Niebla – $1,878 24th: Shlomi Bracha – $1,878 25th: Ory Hen – $1,878 26th: Michael Graffeo – $1,878 27th: Charlemagne Benjamin – $1,878 28th: Iman Dan – $1,581 29th: Salvador Hernandez – $1,581 30th: Manny Tarich – $1,581 31st: Mark Wahba – $1,581 32nd: Michael Bucar – $1,581 33rd: Franis Margaglione – $1,581 34th: Michael Babani – $1,581 35th: Mark Nahama – $1,581 36th: Ronald Campillpo – $1,581 37th: James Clark – $1,351 38th: Raymond Roberty – $1,351 39th: Alan Saltzman – $1,351 40th: Pedro Palacio – $1,351 41st: Zoltan Czinkota – $1,351 42nd: Arturo Trujillo – $1,351 43rd: Emerson Ward – $1,351 44th: Angelo Miele – $1,351 45th: Karen Mairena – $1,351 46th: Aldring Torres – $1,168 47th: Frederico Dornelas – $1,168 48th: Jordan Meltzer – $1,168 49th: Reinaldo Trutschel – $1,168 50th: Lester Trimino – $1,168 51st: Chad Starker – $1,168 52nd: Robertas Zebrauskis – $1,168 53rd: Kristopher Stupicic – $1,168 54th: Jason Ehlen – $1,168 55th: Dimitry Agracho – $1,020 56th: Jorge Gomez – $1,020 57th: Jonathan Brody – $1,020 58th: Daniel Pearlman – $1,020 59th: Bebert Benhamo – $1,020 60th: Adam Ross – $1,020 61st: Loc Nguyen – $1,020 62nd: Ross Corless – $1,020 63rd: Shariff Nassar – $1,020 64th: Michael Fryett – $871 65th: William Farnan – $871 66th: Charles Horton – $871 67th: Chas Samuel – $871 68th: Paul Balzano – $871 69th: Scott Efron – $871 70th: Nicolas Yunis – $871 71st: John Dermody – $871 72nd: Haim Nagar – $871 73rd: Jordan Keller – $790 74th: Michael Newman – $790 75th: Kenneth Bruno – $790 76th: Roberto Martelo – $790 77th: Adam Koppel – $790 78th: Quyen Hoang – $790 79th: Brian Appel – $790 80th: Andre Rakusa – $790 81st: Alexander Ruth – $790 82nd: Anthony Perrotta – $744 83rd: Bryan Reinsel – $744 84th: Joshua Robins – $744 85th: Christian Rodriguez – $744 86th: Thomas Schlesinger – $744 87th: Paulius Bikus – $744 88th: Juan Rodraguez – $744 89th: Vincent Spadavecchia – $744 90th: Shawn Defoe – $744 91st: Eduardo Kock – $710 92nd: Stephen Novak – $710 93rd: Brian Eisenberg – $710 94th: Frederico Dabus – $710 95th: Michael Mizrachi – $710 96th: Justin Harvell – $710 97th: Marvin Young – $710 98th: Rafael Calero – $710 99th: Andrew Dakoski – $710 100th: Juan Peralta – $710 101st: Dennis Rodriguez – $680 102nd: Colby Covington – $680 103rd: Marc Anderson – $680 104th: Richard Leger – $680 105th: Shadrach Samuel Tercy – $680 106th: Steve Karp – $680 107th: Witold Wasik – $680 108th: Bran Crudden – $680 109th: Haim Toorgeman – $680 110th: Dylan Drazen – $680 111th: Robert Kessler – $654 112th: Vitaly Chaika – $654 113th: Jonathan Williams – $654 114th: Marcus Stein – $654 115th: Joseph Rahman – $654 116th: Edgar Varas – $654 117th: Scott Zakheim – $654 118th: Francisco Castillo – $654 119th: Steven Bennett – $654 120th: Chad Freedman – $654 121st: Randy Burstein – $637 122nd: Antonio Colon – $637 123rd: Blake Kouwenhoven – $637 124th: Michael Kopjanski – $637 125th: Vito Polera – $637 126th: Ievgenii Geletek – $637 127th: Anthony Astarita – $637 128th: Sheldon Gross – $637 129th: Eric Mutschler – $637 130th: Brent Philbin – $637 131st: Nicolas Nieto – $629 132nd: Peter Chin – $629 133rd: Tomislav Krizanic – $629 134th: Adam Reitoral – $629 135th: Christopher Brown – $629 136th: Rayme Silvestre – $629 137th: Nissim Gozlan – $629 138th: Antonio Albanes – $629 T139th: Lawrence Klur – $315 T139th: Kharlin Sued – $315 T140th: Lee Cain – $314 T140th: Wlidir Guerra – $314
*Prize value is inclusive of $560 Escalator Week 4 seat
2018 Escalator Series (Week 3) $350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed Level 32: 75,000/150,000 with a 20,000 ante Players Remaining: 1 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts
The flop laid . Idris Ambraisse checked and David Poces bet 400,000. Ambraisse raised to 1,000,000 and Poces called.
The turn was the . Ambraisse lead for 500,000 and Poces moved all-in. Ambraisse called and had the title within reach.
Ambraisse: for a fullhouse Poces: for two pair
River:
Ambraisse’s boat was best and he earned the outright win in the Escalator $350 scoring $88,939 and a $3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship seat in the process. Poces, meanwhile, scored $53,460 for the runner-up finish.
2018 Escalator Series (Week 3) $350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed Level 32: 75,000/150,000 with a 20,000 ante Players Remaining: 2 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts
Short stack Scott Levitt was all-in from the button holding against Idris Ambraisse’s in the small blind.
Runout:
Ambraisse’s ace-high held and Levitt was eliminated in third place. Ambraisse took the chip lead into heads-up play versus David Poces.
2018 Escalator Series (Week 3) $350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed Level 31: 60,000/120,000 with a 20,000 ante Players Remaining: 3 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts
Idris Ambraisse was on the button and raised to 250,000. David Poces called from the small blind as did Scott Levitt from the big.
The final three saw a flop of . Poces and Levitt checked. Ambraisse C-bet 200,000. Both Poces and Levitt called.
The turn fell the . It again checked to Ambraisse and he again bet, this time 400,000. Poces quickly folded, but Levitt mixed it up raising to 1,200,000. Ambraisse called and it was river time.
The river came the . Levitt lead for 1,000,000. Ambraisse jammed for 2,890,000 more. Levitt had Ambraisse covered, but just slightly. After some time in the tank, he called.
Ambraisse: for sixes full Levitt: for trip fives
Ambraisse doubled to take a sizable chip lead while Levitt was left short.
Idris Ambraisse – 11,600,000 (96 bb) David Poces – 8,375,000 (69 bb) Scott Levitt – 1,550,000 (12 bb)
2018 Escalator Series (Week 3) $350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed Level 31: 60,000/120,000 with a 20,000 ante Players Remaining: 3 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts
Scott Levitt was first to act and opened to 500,000. Donald Williams promptly shoved the button for 2,020,000 total. Levitt verified the all-in bet, then called. Williams was at risk.
Levitt: Williams:
Runout:
Levitt’s eights were best and Williams was eliminated in fourth place.
Scott Levitt – 8,550,000 (71 bb) Donald Williams – Eliminated in 4th Place ($28,179)