$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 414
Total Entries: 821
It’s time for another break away from the tables. The Flight B players are away for 15 minutes and we’ll take another clean look at the stacks.
The entry count sits at 821 total, leaving the field only four entries away from hitting a $4,000,000 prize pool.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 403
Total Entries: 810
It didn’t take long to answer the question about when Joe McKeehen would re-enter the Championship.
He was not gone long and found himself standing at the feeder table with current WSOP Main Event champ Scott Blumstein. Both are on their last entry and Blumstein is now seated next to Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Sheddy Siddiqui.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 403
Total Entries: 810
The players are still coming in, the stacks are going up, but we are also seeing some players hit the rail.
John Racener is one player moving in the right direction. The 2010 WSOP Main Event runner-up sits with 65,000 and one of the bigger stacks in the room.
Meanwhile, in the meeting room we caught 2015 WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen packing up his bag and heading out the door. McKeehen did not fire today so we expect he’ll take a breather, hit the registration desk, and come back for another chance.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 392
Total Entries: 799
During the last break, we found two players searching for a second major SHRP title.
Brian Altman began his 2015 campaign with an early title when he won the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship for more than $723,000. He followed that up with his first career WSOP Circuit ring a year later.
In November 2015, Jake Bazeley captured the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” Championship title for over $263,000. He continues to pile up the big scores with the latest coming courtesy of a 25th place finish in the WSOP Main Event a few weeks ago.
Each owns a big SHRP trophy but wouldn’t mind adding something to their mantle.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 369
Total Entries: 776
Players returned to their seats and everyone is chasing nine-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Valentin Vornicu at the top of the counts. He’s the only player over 80,000 but two-time WSOP bracelet winner Shaun Deeb is a talented player not far behind.
There’s still plenty of time for players to catch up with late registration closing at 9pm and the day coming to an end at 11pm.
Top counts and random stacks:
Valentin Vornicu – 81,500 (272 bb)
Shaun Deeb – 75,000 (250 bb)
David Shmuel – 74,600 (249 bb)
Scott Wright – 71,300 (238 bb)
Jonathan Little – 71,000 (237 bb)
John Simon – 66,700 (222 bb)
Andy Spears – 60,000 (200 bb)
Andrew Frankenberger – 55,000 (183 bb)
Ryan LaPlante – 52,000 (173 bb)
Tony Dunst – 45,000 (150 bb)
Daniel Weinman – 42,500 (142 bb)
Chino Rheem – 39,000 (130 bb)
Mike Leah – 35,000 (117 bb)
Matt Affleck – 34,000 (113 bb)
Joe McKeehen – 33,500 (112 bb)
David Paredes – 33,000 (110 bb)
Phong “VIP” Nguyen – 31,800 (106 bb)
Rex Clinkscales – 30,000 (100 bb)
Brian Altman – 28,850 (96 bb)
David Prociak – 27,000 (90 bb)
Aaron Mermelstein – 22,000 (73 bb)
Cate Hall – 16,000 (53 bb)
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 345
Total Entries: 752
Championship Flight B players are taking their first break of the day and they are close to hitting 350 entries this afternoon. The prize pool is already over $3.5 million and we’ll be teasing $4 million before too long.
One player we know will not be winning the Championship. Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member and favorite son Matt Stout’s seat was empty on the last pass through, his double-shot at the tournament is complete but he will be back for the $2,650 Freeze-Out tomorrow.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 314
Total Entries: 721
Tony Dunst is a professional at whatever he seems to do.
The pro poker player Dunst won a World Poker Tour title in 2013, picked up his first WSOP bracelet last summer in Vegas, and earned the biggest cash of his career in January 2016 when he finished second to Ari Engel in the Aussie Millions Main Event.
The broadcast professional Dunst joined the WPT staff in 2010 as an analyst and now has some big shoes to fill. He has taken over the reigns at the main anchor desk, replacing Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton calling the WPT action.
Dunst is back in the ballroom today trying to advance a stack after a misfire yesterday. If he misses out, he still has the $2,650 Freeze-Out and $25K High Roller to fire.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 300
Total Entries: 707
The first Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open played on in 2013 and Blair Hinkle took home more than $1.7 million as the first ever SHRPO champion. He was among the big crowd yesterday that included all four former champions but he was unable to finish the day with a bag.
Jason Koon, Omar Zazay, and Dan Colman were the other three champs and have their seats booked for Day 2 tomorrow. Hinkle is trying to join him to give us a four-way shot at a double winner.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Flight B Entries: 281
Total Entries: 688
Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year points leader Nathan Papp is among the throngs of players who made his way to South Florida for Day 1B of the Championship.
Papp catapulted to the top of the points leaderboard following a victory in the 2016/2017 SHRP season-opening WPTDeepStacks-Immokalee in mid-2016. In addition to nearly $70,000 in prizes, Papp earned 100 points toward the 10-tournament SHRP POY race. From there, he finished runner-up in the Seminole Immokalee Poker Challenge and tacked on another 85 points toward the contest.
Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year Details and Standings
With that, Papp sits at 185 points with only this event remaining in the race. After the Championship’s conclusion, the top three finishers are set to earn a prize package with the top points earner going down in the record books as the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year.