$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 150/300 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 466
Aaron Mermelstein shoved for his last 925 and Joe Ebanks raised to 2,500 from the button and the rest of the table folded.
Mermelstein tabled 
and needed to get lucky against Ebanks’s 
.
The board ran out 
and Ebanks’s ace kicker played to eliminate Mermelstein.
Joe Ebanks – 16,500
Aaron Mermelstein – Eliminated
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 463
On a final board reading 
with around 11,000 in the pot, the small blind bet 6,000. Jake Bazeley 2015 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Champion moved all in from the cutoff for 21,150.
The small blind called with 
for two-pair but was no good against Bazeley’s 
set of eights.
Jake Bazeley – 54,000
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 441
Scott Davies gets around. The poker pro returned to SHRP poker this afternoon trying to expand his impressive résumé.
Davies owns six tournament titles that he won on five different continents. He has an LAPT title from South America (Peru), an EPT victory in Europe (Monte Carlo), APPT win in Asia (Macau), his first WSOP bracelet in Australia, and a WSOP Circuit ring right here in the states.
Davies is missing only Africa and Antartica, the latter probably a pretty tough get.
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 424
The blinds are up and so is the entry count. We crossed over 400 for the day and the prize pool is nearing $3.5 million for the Championship.
Michael Cohen is in the field today and another one of our players who freerolled the Championship after a top finish in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year race. He finished second to the previously mentioned Nathan Papp after a couple final tables and deep runs during the year.
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 382
The Championship moved over 1,000 combined entries after the first break and we see a steady parade of players joining the fun. With late registration open till 9:15pm, we expect some players are sleeping off their Friday night before hitting the Event Center.
SHRP regular Nancy Birnbaum wasted no time taking her seat. She was here at the start and can get comfortable at a table that will not break today. The three-time WSOP Circuit winner kicked off her series with a nice run, a final table in the Omaha/8 followed by a last two-table finish in the big WPTDeepStacks Event, and she wouldn’t mind closing it out with a WPT final table.
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:75/150 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 367
Flight B players returned to their seats and they are all chasing Michigan native Philip Wojtuniecki at the top of the counts. He’s closing in on 100,000 and holds nearly 25,000 more than second place Tony Tran.
James Kirvin, Ken Bruno, and Daniel Chalifour round out the top five with Matt Affleck’s 61,000 just outside.
Top five stacks:
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:75/150
Flight B Entries: 334
The clock ran out on Level 2 and Flight B players are taking a walk outside of the Event Center to enjoy the nearby amenities for the next 15 minutes.
There are 980 combined entries in the Championship with the next milestone 20 away.
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:75/150
Flight B Entries: 307
Flight B is cruising right along and heading towards the first break of the day. More than 300 entries so far and showing no signs of slowing.
Nathan Papp is back in the Championship and still enjoying his freeroll thanks to his reign as the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year. Papp picked up those honors last year with first and second place finishes in the two Immokalee events, a great run at his home casino. The POY title earned him a seat in all SHRP major Championships throughout the year and he’s using his Showdown seat this afternoon.
The current POY race has WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Champ Darryll Fish at the top of the leaderboard followed by SHRP regular Brett Bader.
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:75/150
Flight B Entries: 292
With ten minutes gone in Level 2, the 292nd entry went into Flight B to put the combined total up to 938 for the Championship. That number is good enough to surpass the $3 million guaranteed prize pool and they will continue pushing it higher throughout the day.
Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 around 9:15 this evening.
Seminole Hard Rock staff hosts the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown player appreciation party tonight from 10pm-12:30am. The party is open to all Poker Showdown participants (present tournament receipt for entry) with passed Kuro appetizers and two free drinks.
That you for playing at the Seminole Hard Rock!