Event 1 Day 1B: Closing in on 400 Entries

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 9: 500/1,000/100 Ante

More familiar faces are in the field as Jerry Wong, Stewart Newman and Jean “Prince” Gaspard are among the recent arrivals. There are now 396 entries on Day 1B.

Also in the field is Loni Harwood, fresh off bagging 120,000 on Day 1A. For each additional stack a players bags, they receive $2,500. The best stack moves forward, while the lesser stacks are pulled out of play.

Late registration is open until the start of Level 13, roughly 11:45pm.

Event 1 Day 1A: In the Money

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Paused in Level 16: 4,000/8,000/1,000 Ante

Jonathan Sanches eliminated Al Gomez on the 1A bubble
Jonathan Sanchez (top middle) eliminated Al Gomez (top right) on the 1A bubble

It took three hands to get there but Flight A is now in the money with the clock was paused at 15:35 remaining in the level.

Martin Carnero took a two shots but no one looked up him before the big came on Table 2. Jonathan Sanchez put Al Gomez all-in with the board reading Qd9h8h. Gomez went into the tank for several minutes before Sanchez called the clock.

He called the bet as the tournament supervisor was counting down from ten and saw he was in trouble. Sanchez was ahead with QsQh and Gomez was left with a gutshot draw holding TsTh. No help on the 4s turn or 5c river and Gomez was out in 51st.

The remaining 50 players are guaranteed a piece of the prize pool and will return on Monday to play out. Chad Freedman finished as the chip leader with 639,000 and Sanchez bagged the second biggest stack at 424,000.

Event 1 Day 1B: Evan Teitelbaum Among the Chip Leaders at the First Break

Evan Teitelbaum (Parkland, FL)
Evan Teitelbaum (Parkland, FL)

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 5: 150/300/25 Ante

Charles Lee – 51,500 (172 bb)
Zachary Mullennix – 50,700 (169 bb)
Josh Redlitz – 49,600 (165 bb)
Even Teitelbaum – 47,500 (158 bb)
Samuel Bernstein – 46,600 (155 bb)

No stranger to tournament poker success at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Teitelbaum is fresh off of a victory at the Fun in the Sun Poker Series in December for nearly $20,000. Since the players have returned from break, Teitelbaum has chipped up further to about 68,000.

Event 1 Day 1B: Notables in the Field

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 4: 100/200

Among those we have spotted so far include David Jackson, Zoltan Czinkota, Jorge Gomez, Tim Kegel, Josh Hillock, Jason Young, Larry Klur, Evan Teitelbaum, TJ Shulman, Raminder Singh, Mike Beasley and Seminole Hard Rock Poker Tampa ambassador Wally Maddah.

The field is up to 267 entries and is approaching their first break. Registration for 1B closes at roughly 11:45pm.

Event 1 Day 1A: Freedman Shrugs

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 14: 2,000/4,000/500 Ante

Chad Freedman and the ever-climbing chip castle
Chad Freedman and the ever-climbing chip castle

Chad Freedman just shrugged when staff sent us to check him out. The chip leader is starting to run away from the 70 plus remaining and by knocking out a steady stream of players. He’s over 550,000 with the chip average is around 100,000.

Flight A is moving along quickly and we should see some hand-for-hand action before to long on the money bubble.

Event 1 Day 1A: Freedman and Bennett Over 200K

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 13: 1,500/3,000/500 Ante

Chad Freedman (Miami, FL)
Chad Freedman (Miami, FL)

Registration closed for Flight A and they hit a nice, even, clean 500 entrants a minute before they returned.

That puts $150,000 towards the $500,000 Guarantee with seven more flights to go. We’re going to have a very big number when all the accounting is done.

Chad Freedman was the third break chip leader with 250,000 and was joined by local regular Steven Bennett as the only other player over 200,000. Freedman didn’t wait around and milk that stack, he pushed it over 350,000 while we were snapping his picture.

2016 LHPO 500

Event 1 Day 1A: Closing Reg

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
End of Level 12: 1,000/2,000/300 Ante

Flight A players on the third break of the day and registration will close when they get back underway. The clock currently shows 498 entrants to leave us very close to a nice round number.

Tournament staff are coloring off the black chips and we’ll see who is leading among the approximately 100 players remaining.