$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 ante Flight C Entries: 280
David Bradshaw
The new Hard Rock Event Center is filling up and it’s looking like we’re going to have a huge Friday field. We have 280 in before the first break with a solid, fast-moving line at the registration desk.
David Bradshaw made his way across the state and grinding away this afternoon. He had a nice run last year and finished third in the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year race, mostly due to his win at the Tampa Winter Poker Open.
The Omaha/8 tournament kicked off at the same time as Flight C of Event 1. It’s a smaller field but it has some talent in the game early.
Poker social media guru Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers made his way to South Florida and he was one of the first players to get in the game. He discounts his chances at the title but we have a little more faith.
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 1: 25/50 Flight C Entries: 113
Eric Piderit
Flight C got underway at the top of the hour with more than 100 entries in the game at the start. That is a better pace than the first two flights so we should see a huge crowd before registration closes this afternoon.
SHRP regular Eric Piderit was in his seat at the start and shooting for another title. He has three tournament wins to his credit with all three coming right here. Piderit’s last trophy came in this series last year when he won the $570 Black Chip Bounty event.
While some will be playing in the third flight of Event 1, a talented group of players will take their shot at the next Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown trophy in the new Event Center.
For those who have already bagged in Event 1 and those who prefer their poker with four starting cards, Event 3 is a $300 buy-in Limit Omaha/8 game that will draw a fun field.
The Omaha/8 players will sit down to 10,000 starting stack and the tournament will run 30-minute levels. Late registration is open until the start of Level 9 at 3:30 pm and players are limited to a single re-entry if they bust their stack. A dinner break is scheduled after Level 12 and the remaining players will return to grind it out to a winner later this evening.
They will put cards in the air at 11 am and the one-day tournament will end with a new Showdown champion.
Players begin with 10,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
Late registration/SINGLE re-entry available until start of Level 9
This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
Yesterday, we wrapped up two flights in the $1 Million Guarantee opening event of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown and we have two more today looking to push the prize pool closer to that guarantee.
The two opening flights combined to put 743 entries into the tournament and 148 of them have already advanced to Day 2 on Sunday. Today’s players look to join them.
They will start out with 20,000 deep stacks and all day one levels will last 30 minutes long. Late registration is available until the start of Level 9 at 3:30 pm and players can re-enter as often as they wish during that time of they bust out. They will play 14 full levels and survivors will bag up their chips for a return on Sunday.
Cards go in the air at the top of the hour and we expect another big day in the new Event Center.
$1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
Players begin with 20,000 in chips
Day 1 levels last 30 minutes; Day 2 levels last 40 minutes
Late registration available until start of Level 9
Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure End of Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante Flight B Players Remaining: 71 of 348
When registration closed on Day 1B of the $570 no-limit hold’em, there were 348 entries in the second of six starting flights. By the day’s end, only 71 remained with Richard Alati leading the way with 268,500.
Alati just edged out Kharlin Seed for the 1B chip lead. Seed finished in second with 268,000. They are the only two players to finish Day 1B with over 200,000. Javier Ramirez (188,500), Peter Eichardt (187,000) and Michael Rafferty (186,000) round out the top five stacks.
Other notables to survive the day’s action include Phil Hui (134,000), Loni Harwood (124,500), Pete Walsworth (109,500), Dylan Drazen (100,000), Joe Ebanks (94,500), Mukul Pahuja (70,000), Jeffrey Trudeau (66,500), Ryan D’Angelo (57,500), Scott Zakheim (54,000) and Evan Teitelbaum (52,000).
They all still trail Janet Fizgerald, who bagged up 325,000 in Day 1A. There are two more flights on both Friday and Saturday before the surviving players return on Sunday for Day 2.
2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, FL Event 2 $300 No-Limit Hold’em Seniors Entries: 177 Prize Pool: $43,135 April 5, 2018
Bruce Freedman wins $300 Seniors Event
In the early hours of Friday morning, Bruce Freedman took home the first trophy of the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. The recently retired lawyer from nearby Plantation defeated a field of 177 entries and earned the trophy in a heads-up chop with Jeff Kessler to take home $9,768.
Freedman is a regular at the Seminole Hard Rock, but doesn’t always make an appearance in the tournament area. He reserves most of his time playing tournaments for some of the larger buy-in events.
“I’m pretty much a cash player,” said Freedman after his win. “I come here almost every day. I play in a lot of the bigger events, not the smaller ones. This one, I just had the day off. For $300, you come out and have a good time.”
Even though he’s used to playing against some of the best competition South Florida has to offer in high-stakes tournaments, he finds the smaller stakes challenging in a different way.
“I actually think it’s much harder playing in these smaller events because you have no idea what anybody has,” said Freedman.
Freedman came into the final table in the middle of the pack, but lasted long enough to get down to three-handed play as the short stack. He doubled up once and then cracked Zoltan Czinkota’s aces to send him home in third place and take the chip lead for good.
“I cracked aces near the end. He slowplayed his aces. Never do that,” joked Freedman.
Freedman is no stranger to success at the Seminole Hard Rock, having won several trophies earlier in his career. His most recent came at the 2012 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, taking down the $300 Pot-Limit Omaha for $7,373.
Freedman got down to heads-up play against Kessler with a big chip lead. Kessler made a good river call to double up and put himself right back in the match. With the clock ticking later into the night and both wanting to take shots at tomorrow’s flights of the $570 no-limit hold’em, the two agreed to a deal.
Final Results:
1st: Bruce Freedman – $9,768* 2nd: Jeff Kessler – $9,767* 3rd: Zoltan Czinkota – $4,626 4th: James Kirvin – $2,814 5th: Jacobo Fernandez – $2,173 6th: Greg McCann – $1,801 7th: Dennis Johnson – $1,535 8th: Steven Harmell – $1,350 9th: Boyd Rose – $1,169 10th: John Selix – $993 11th: Howard Talesnick – $993 12th: Charles Reed – $993 13th: Mark Nahama – $835 14th: Michael Turcol – $835 15th: Edwin Decarbo – $835 16th: Michael Preston – $700 17th: Scott Robbins – $700 18th: Donald Lehn – $700 19th: Allan Carmel – $564 20th: Luiz Sa – $564 21st: Peter Bloom – $564 22nd: Sandy Matza – $428 23rd: Ismail Patel – $428
