Event 1 Day 1A: Marzilli Ends with the Lead

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
End of Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining: 63 of 326

Joseph Marzilli ends Flight A with the chip lead
Joseph Marzilli ends Flight A with the chip lead

Play has come to an end in the opening flight of Event 1 with 63 players moving on to Day 2 on Sunday.

Joseph Marzilli stormed ahead late and put 315,000 in a bag for the return. Tablemate Raymond Clause was a close second with 304,000 while 2015 SHRPO Championship runner-up Brian Phillis moved his stack up to 272,000 by the end of the day.

Full Flight A chip counts will be posted when they are official.

Event 1 Day 1B: Shandra Seay Eliminated, Promptly Re-Enters

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50
Day 1B Players: 147

Shandra Seay’s stay in Flight B of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open opener was short lived. A mere 20 minutes into play, Seay looked down at [qs,]Qh in the small blind. On a flop of 5s3c2d, Sheay got all in versus the big blind’s [as,]Ac.

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The Jd turn and 8h river didn’t change a thing and the dealer counted down the stacks. Seay was slightly covered and went down as one of the first eliminations of the event.

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The unknown player in the big blind now sits on a stack of more than 800 big blinds just a few hands into the night.

Undeterred, Seay quickly re-entered is back among the field with a 20,000-chip starting stack.

Event 1 Day 1B: Shuffle Up and Deal

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50
Day 1B Players: 70

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It’s 6pm in South Florida and Flight B of the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $360 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed event is underway! Today’s 11am flight drew 326 entries and is nearing its end as Flight B is freshly off and running.

Like the 11am installment, players in tonight’s play begin with 20,000 chips and log 30-minute levels throughout the night. Play is set to conclude just before 2am local time with those fortunate enough to advance returning for Day 2 Sunday at 1pm.

Day 1B details:

6PM: Event 1 Day 1B – $360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

  • $500,000 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 1 Structure Sheet

Updates throughout the flight’s completion will be available right here at SHRPO.com!

Event 1 Day 1A: Gomez Building Late

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 13: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining: 81 of 326

Al Gomez climbing up the counts
Al Gomez climbing up the counts

Al Gomez was looking at an early end to his day. He was moved to a table at the front of the room and sat with only 8,000.

“I’m on one bullet today,” Gomez commented.

“This is it,” he said pointing at his stack.

But that wasn’t the end, he has since pushed his stack better than ten-fold higher and caught a nice hand for a triple.

An opponent three-bet shoved with 6s6c and it was an easy call for Gomez with KcKs. To juice up the pot, a middle position player came along with TdTh.

Gomez saw bad news on the QdJh6d flop but he came from behind on the Kd turn. That card also gave the tens a lot of outs with a flush draw, open-ended straight draw but it didn’t get there on the 2h river.

A big hand that pushed Gomez’ stack over 87,000.

Event 1 Day 1A: Parker Continues to Lead

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 12: 800/1,600 with a 200 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining: 99 of 326

Jennifer Parker (Cutler Bay, FL)
Jennifer Parker (Cutler Bay, FL)

Flight A is back in action and the next stop is the end-of-day bagging process. The average stack is still above 40 big blinds but they are getting them in the middle often.

Jennifer Parker continues to lead the opening session with more than 260,000 and a few players without shouting distance.

Event 1 Day 1A: Yorra Sends One Out

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 10: 500/1,000 with a 100 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining: 135 of 326

2016 SHRPO Matt Yorra double

The Flight A field is quickly shrinking after they closed up registration. Less than half of the starting entrants are still around and Matt Yorra got them one player shorter.

There were four players to a flop of Tc7h3h and his opponent moved all-in for his last 18,700. Yorra quickly moved all-in behind for 46,200. This caused the other two player to take a long, hard think before they eventually let their hands go.

Yorra tabled JhTh and his opponent’s head dropped.

“That’s pretty much the worst case scenario,” he said when he flipped over 6h5h.

Instead of a flush draw/gutshot draw, he was looking for a non-heart four to stay alive.

The board finished Ac and Ah to send Yorra up to 120,000.

Event 1 Day 1A: Registration Closed; Parker Leads Big

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Total Day 1A Players: 326

Jennifer Parker (Cutler Bay, FL)
Jennifer Parker (Cutler Bay, FL)

Players are back in their seats after the second break of the day and registration is officially closed for the first flight. A total of 326 entries puts Event 1 well ahead of the pace needed to crush the $500,000 guaranteed prize pool.

We were going to speak of Ido Ashkenazi and his pre-break big hand. He knocked someone out and took a ton off another player when his AhQc held against KsTh and Ts9s. The hand moved Ashkenazi up near 80,000 but it didn’t last long.

We went to grab a pic of the man after the break only to find him shaking his head and hitting the rail. His quick exit came at the hands of Jennifer Parker when his full house was crushed by her bigger boat. The hand moved Parker up to 287,000 and she is the clear leader with six more levels to play in the flight.

Parker has only one recorded tournament cash, but it was a nice one. She finished 19th out of 819 players two weeks ago during the 2016 WSOP Ladies Championship.

Event 1 Day 1A: Last Early Chance

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 8: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Total Day 1A Players: 324

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

Level 8 is soon coming to an end leaving players with only a little time remaining to get into the early flight.

Marty Robbins is one of the players to push us over 300 after the first break. Robbins has a handful of SHR Poker final tables and picked up his biggest cash last year during the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. He final tabled the massive $150 buy-in Event 5 and was the second biggest stack when they made a five-handed deal