Event 9 Day 1E: Dodging the Storm

$570 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Re-Entry
Level 7: 250/500 with a 75 Ante
Flight 1E Entries: 600

Jon Borenstein (Teaneck, NJ)
Jon Borenstein (Teaneck, NJ)

Flight E hit another milestone and will have more than 600 entrants before this is published. We don’t know how big it will get, but we’ll know in an hour when registration closes up.

There might be another reason why today is so big, besides the seven-digit prize pool. We’re seeing a lot of Northeast grinders in the ballroom today including Mike Dentale, Jon Borenstein (pictured above), and WPT World Champion Asher Conniff. They may have come for the action but they traded up for some balmy South Florida weather over the late-April snow storm hitting their area.

Good choice.

Event 9 Day 1E: Closing in on 600

$570 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Re-Entry
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 Ante
Flight 1E Entries: 585

Sean Shah (Delray Beach, FL)
Sean Shah (Delray Beach, FL)

Only 90 minutes remain for players to get a piece of the early action today and the field is quickly approaching 600 entrants. A big number that will continue to run up until they shut the doors on Flight E at 3:30pm.

Sean Shah is sitting at one of the edge tables today, fewer neighbors around him but he’s not lonely. He’s grinding away and ready for another deep run in the ballroom.

Shah was the last player sent out of a tournament in the ballroom during last year’s series when he was eliminated from the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship on the televised final table bubble. After Shah’s $169K knockout, the remaining six players moved to the Hard Rock Live arena to play it out in front of the cameras.

Event 9 Day 1E: Robbins Runs to the Front

$570 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Re-Entry
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 Ante
Flight 1E Entries: 525

Marty Robbins (Lincoln, NH)
Marty Robbins (Lincoln, NH)

There seems to be no end to the stream of players coming to play today the room is buzzing today. Flight E flew past 500 entrants after the break and it will keep going up for the next two hours.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker regular Marty Robbins came back from break with the biggest stack in the room. He’s the only player over 80,000 but Nicholas Potestio is close behind with 78,000.

Top stacks and notable counts:

Marty Robbins – 81,675
Nicholas Potestio – 78,150
Randy Rhoads – 71,675
Vasilii Leshchenko – 65,325
Rudy Sarzo – 65,150
Scott McInnis – 63,000
Gil Nagar – 61,825
Roberto Alberro – 52,500
Ruslan Dykshteyn – 52,350
Gregory McNealy – 51,850
Jose Beznos – 50,575
Joseph Buonodono – 50,550
Howard Mash – 46,300
Herbert Woodbury – 32,700
Ory Hen – 28,650
Neil Blumenfield – 22,425
David Inselberg – 22,175
Cornel Cimpan – 21,375
Jay Romano – 19,500
Lou Stadler – 18,900
Ryan D’Angelo – 18,825

Event 9 Day 1E: Packing Them In

$570 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Re-Entry
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Flight 1E Entries: 435

2016 Showdown Packed house

Most of the ballroom tables are now in use, only a small group of tables on the edge have gone unused so far, and we fully expect this to be the biggest field of Event 9 so far.

Yesterday afternoon’s run drew 491 entrants and it will be fun to see how far we get over the $1 Million Guarantee before the night flight even starts.

Event 9 Day 1E: Million Crushed

$570 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Re-Entry
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 Ante
Flight 1E Entries: 339

2016 Showdown 1 million

The term “crushed” is often overused when talking about going over a guaranteed prize pool, but today it might be worthy. We had the 338th entrant hop in today (and 339th at the exact same time) to officially put Event 9 into $1 million territory two minutes past the noon-time hour.

Every entrant now will push the prize pool higher with plenty of time to join in the fun. Registration for Flight E closes at 3:30 and the final chance session starts at 6pm.

Event 9 Day 1E: Flying High Again

$570 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Re-Entry
Level 2: 50/100
Flight 1E Entries: 260

Jay Romano (Parkland, FL)
Jay Romano (Parkland, FL)

Event 9 is going to hit the $1 Million Guarantee today, that is beyond doubt, but not many would go out on a limb to say we’d get there before the first break. That is a very real possibility with 260 entrants in the game at the end of the first level with a fast-moving line at the registration desk.

We’ll keep one eye on the clock as we near the magic number of 338 today to get there.

We ran into Jay Romano as the action was getting underway and the former Seminole Hard Rock Poker champion is ready to “blind monkey” his way to another.

Jay Romano brought a friend today
Jay Romano brought a friend today

Event 9 Day 1E: Aiming for a Million

$570 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Re-Entry
Level 1: 25/50

The final starting day of the $1 Million Guarantee Event 9 is ready to go and we’ll cross into seven-digit prize pool territory before too long. The first four flights drew 1,662 entrants to leave the field 338 entrants shy of hitting the mark with a full day of action left to go.

We move over that well before registration closes on the afternoon flight, then starting piling on to increase the prize pool through the evening run.

Joshua Hood continues to lead the 315 players who have already booked their spot in the Day 2 field on Sunday with David Battaglia the only other player to bag up more than 300,000.

Entrants will sit down to 20,000 starting stacks and play 30-minute levels. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 3:30pm and play will conclude for the penultimate flight after Level 14. Those still around with stacks will put them in a bag and come back tomorrow at 1pm to play it down.

We expect a huge crowd for some Saturday afternoon action. Tournament staff and dealers are ready to go, cards will be flying shortly.

Combined chip counts through Flight D

  • $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
  • Event 9 Structure Sheet

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Day 10 Schedule

Main Event Schedule

11AM: Event 9 Day 1E – $570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

  • $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
  • Event 9 Structure Sheet

6PM: Event 9 Day 1F – $570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

  • $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
  • Event 9 Structure Sheet

Secondary and Satellite Schedule

9AM: Event 58 – $140 Event 9 Turbo Satellite (1-in-5)

  • 2 seats guaranteed into $500,000 GTD Event 9
  • Players begin with 7,500 in chips and 15-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • Satellite will be held in the The Poker Room
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 58 Structure Sheet

3PM: Event 59 – $250 Pot Limit Omaha/8 (Re-Entry)

  • Players begin with 10,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 59 Structure Sheet

8PM: Event 60 – $1,050 Turbo Satellite into WPT Finale (1-in-10)

  • 1 seat guaranteed into the $2 Million GTD WPT Finale
  • Players begin with 10,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 60 Structure Sheet

Event 9: Combined Chip Counts Through Flight D

$570 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack Re-Entry

The $1 Million Guarantee Event 9 drew 1,662 entrants through the first four flights with 315 making it through to Day 2.

FlightsTotal EntriesAdvanced
Flight A – Thursday, 11AM37971
Flight B – Thursday, 6PM33458
Flight C – Friday, 11AM49193
Flight D – Friday, 6PM45893
Flight E – Saturday, 11AMTBDTBD
Flight F – Saturday, 6PMTBDTBD
Running Total1,662315
RankFirst NameLast NameCount
1JoshuaHood389,500
2DavidBattaglia301,000
3NigelMurray288,000
4DannyNguyen272,500
5RichMeyer269,000
6JimmyKim251,000
7OliverBerens240,500
8KathyLiebert227,000
9DavidGelley226,500
10JoeMarchese225,500
11AlexanderBeece225,500
12AlanDobrow225,000
13ItzhakDickstein225,000
14OmarZalikha224,500
15TimothyFarrenkopf222,500
16IdoAshkenazi219,500
17JeffKessler213,500
18RyanVan Sanford213,000
19DaniDayan213,000
20CarlMartel210,500
21DerekEcenarro210,000
22NancyBirnbaum207,000
23MichaelShea206,500
24VitorCoelho204,000
25RobBrown204,000
26RaminderSingh203,500
27SheddySiddiqui202,500
28A.J.Kelsall200,500
29JorgeBriones197,500
30DongshenLin196,000
31MatthewWinslow188,000
32JamesSalmon188,000
33TedGillis188,000
34MattWaxman187,500
35ZackGoodman186,000
36MikeParekh183,500
37GregLenne183,000
38DarenStabinski181,500
39PeterStriano181,500
40OktayAltinbas180,000
41MikeBeasley177,000
42SamZalmanov176,500
43JohnDePersio174,500
44YitzhakQuinn171,000
45KolarMilan170,500
46NicholasVisconti170,500
47DevonShalmi170,500
48KevinOdonnell170,000
49RoyCohen170,000
50AaronMermestein168,500
51BobNielsen168,000
52RamonMunoz168,000
53JohnHolley167,000
54CaseyCarroll166,500
55EricLazarus166,500
56RonitChamani165,500
57JonathanZanger163,500
58MattEzrol163,000
59SeanPosner162,500
60MichaelNewman161,000
61DanielGriggs161,000
62WilliamSmith161,000
63JermaineGerlin160,500
64JohnPappas158,500
65EmersonWard156,000
66GregLehn154,500
67EvanBraunstein152,500
68KarlManouchakian152,000
69VivianNguyen151,000
70JoeEbanks150,500
71KeithWagner148,000
72AroonMaharas148,000
73JohnDibella148,000
74NipunJava147,000
75TannerMillen146,500
76LongTran143,500
77DAvidShaw143,000
78MichaelAmato141,500
79ZackWilson141,500
80JohanssyJoseph141,000
81StuartPaterson141,000
82StewartNewman140,500
83MichaelScheinberg140,000
84ScottWyler139,500
85GregBaird139,000
86JonathanGrasso139,000
87MichaelLaake137,000
88JohannCastrillon133,500
89ZacharyMullennit132,000
90LeonardBenitez131,000
91ToddBreyfogle130,000
92ArielRosello130,000
93DavidRing130,000
94KevinHo129,500
95EliBuhadahah129,000
96JoelDickerson129,000
97KazuOshima128,500
98NoahSchwartz128,500
99PeteWalsworth128,500
100FredericoDabus127,000
101LarryKusch126,500
102SaschaWalter126,500
103JerryYang126,000
104MichaelWetcher125,500
105KennethWatson125,500
106FrancisAnderson125,500
107AnthonyValiente122,000
108WilliamCotter121,500
109HansWinzeler120,500
110JustinMaddox120,000
111ScottMenard119,500
112AntonioCopo118,500
113MarkSmyriski118,000
114MichaelDavid117,500
115MariaGarrido116,500
116LiamHe116,500
117JoshBridge116,500
118JoelHarwood114,000
119DAvidDiBernardi113,000
120CarlosRodriguez112,500
121JohnPizano111,000
122CraigBagn110,000
123GeorgeHortelano110,000
124GaryTrivisonno109,500
125MichaelKane109,000
126IvanMartin109,000
127MarkWahba108,500
128BrettBader108,500
129KrisBradshaw108,000
130VinnyHa107,500
131MarioJames107,000
132JonathanGraham104,500
133JeffSilverstein104,500
134JasonWandling104,000
135JohnMagnetta103,500
136DanWeitzenkorn102,000
137HyndiKhomutetsky101,000
138IraSchwartz100,500
139BryceMcVay100,500
140BryanSchultz100,000
141LuisSantoni99,000
142LeonardoEmperador99,000
143BrandonByars99,000
144JoseTronilo99,000
145MarcSacheli98,500
146CarlosRuiz98,000
147BrianPhillis97,500
148ChrisBlik97,000
149PaulNunez97,000
150BuckRamsay97,000
151DenKim97,000
152StevenBennett96,000
153GregoryAnda96,000
154MatthewVetstein96,000
155KobiRibak96,000
156RaymondRuzkowski95,700
157CarloRidriguez95,500
158EddyMroczkowski95,000
159JoeReddick95,000
160GregOstrander94,500
161JonyFarah94,000
162GuiSocarras93,500
163MukulPahuja93,500
164OrlandoMaldonado93,500
165JosephZelnick93,000
166EdwardMalloy93,000
167DrewMichael92,500
168MatthewGraham92,500
169MichaelAlcantara91,000
170JosephCasella90,500
171MatthewElsby89,500
172AdamLevy89,000
173FernandoAlfonso88,500
174JeromeClark87,500
175SteveLegault86,500
176TimKegel86,000
177JohnTempleton86,000
178BrentPhilbin85,500
179UriKadash85,500
180PinchesChakchakov84,500
181JoshPalmer84,000
182MartinCarnero84,000
183DerekAlley84,000
184LazaroHernandez83,000
185BobBounahra82,000
186MattFriendly81,500
187MohammedJaafar81,000
188JohnnyCasquilla81,000
189DarrenDeLucia80,500
190PhilRigby80,500
191DavidHarting80,000
192JoseSilverman78,500
193AaronKorff78,500
194JanineGelb78,000
195JasonLindsley77,500
196CoryBlum76,500
197AlbertDestrade76,500
198ChristopherNomika76,500
199MichaelMonaco76,000
200JonathanGaviao76,000
201EfrainLopez75,000
202CharlemagneBenjamin75,000
203FranckVon Matt75,000
204JessicaMeir73,500
205ScottKateian73,500
206MikeLaRocer73,000
207JerryWong71,500
208HaroldEvans71,000
209AlbertoRodriguez70,500
210SeemIruih70,000
211DonteLarsen70,000
212AlcidesGomez69,500
213RonaldCampillo69,500
214BradleyRhodes69,000
215DarrenRabinowitz69,000
216JulioSanchez69,000
217GregRosen68,000
218AndresJava67,500
219NolanJames67,000
220MarkCostello66,500
221DavidDiaz66,500
222TrentBaker66,000
223SantanaNoronha66,000
224YvonneMcQuillan66,000
225BradFreundlich65,000
226JohnnyLayne65,000
227GilbertBarret65,000
228PerlaRodriguez64,500
229DerrickCutler64,000
230PeterVitantonio64,000
231JohnMarquez64,000
232AlexiHernandez63,000
233NealFreeman63,000
234StevePollack62,500
235DavidBradsha62,000
236RandySpain62,000
237RonHirsch61,000
238ScottSommer60,500
239AbrahamBeddaout60,500
240DionJagrod59,500
241DmitrySavbcyzv59,500
242JoshHillock59,000
243DerekFelbinger58,500
244AyedShweihat58,000
245LukasPiller58,000
246WendyFreedman57,000
247TorasPetru56,500
248DarryllFish56,500
249LeonardClavel56,000
250HaydenFortini54,500
251JeffreyCohen54,000
252MicheleMassimo54,000
253JoseSerratos53,000
254MattBond53,000
255PaulaAlibrandi53,000
256SethGilson52,500
257JoseDelaid52,000
258ArtemMaksimov52,000
259JorgeLeidi51,000
260ChristopherMull50,500
261AndrewGordon50,500
262AlexFindlay50,500
263ThomasJohnson50,500
264JohnDolan50,000
265JamesScott49,500
266CarbelAzzi48,500
267StefanAlvarez48,500
268KenBruno48,500
269EdwardGilfillan47,500
270JosephCaiello47,000
271ZackFish46,000
272JosephMammon46,000
273RandyPfeifer46,000
274JayMerchant45,000
275AlexandreArsenault44,000
276JoseParra43,500
277AndrewGlauberg42,000
278CarlosLoving42,000
279VietVo41,500
280MatthewLombardi41,500
281JonathanBrody41,500
282JoshSexton41,500
283DaltonMills41,000
284RyanDunn41,000
285ErikChristensen40,000
286BrandonMiller39,500
287SebastianKos39,000
288RyanWelsh37,500
289HunterCichy37,500
290GabrielSack37,500
291GaryAlter37,500
292LuisBergolla36,000
293RobertLevin34,500
294JeffreyTrudeau Jr33,500
295GiliPrizanent33,500
296FrankMuir33,000
297JohnWaryas33,000
298DavidGantz33,000
299FrankSilverstein32,500
300KevinChan32,500
301GabrielChildress31,000
302BruceSnell30,500
303JulioDelgado30,000
304JustinCuster30,000
305RobertWiercinski28,500
306JimmyCarradi28,000
307SheldonGross27,500
308BernardLubitz27,500
309StelvioGiacbello27,000
310StanleyLee26,000
311WalterBravo25,000
312SebastianSanchez24,500
313JamesBlick22,500
314MichaelRizzuto20,500
315LenolClark20,500