$1,650 Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Single Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50
Entries: 43

The ballroom is busy with the huge Event 9 restart and $360 one-day tournament, so the big buy-in players for Event 12 have convened in the more intimate meeting room across the hall.

Event 12 has a $1,650 buy-in with $500 of it going towards a bounty on that player’s head. This gives them plenty of opportunities to profit before too very long. The tournament has a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool, slow structure, and two-day format.

Players start with 12,000 stacks and the first 10 levels will last 30 minutes. Registration is open until the start of Level 11 after the dinner break but players are restricted to a single re-entry if they bust out. Level 11 will also see the blind levels increase to 40 minutes and they will stay that way until they increase to 60 minutes at the final table. Their day will come to an end after Level 16 and those with chips will return tomorrow for Day 2.

They kicked things off a few moments ago and we’ll track them along the way.

• $100,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 12,000 in chips
• Levels 1-10 will last 30 minutes; Levels 11+ last 40 minutes
• Late registration/single re-entry available until start of Level 11
• Day 1 will end after Level 16 or Tournament Director discretion
• Event 12 Structure Sheet

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 17: 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 370 of 2,923

Tony Roberto’s comeback attempt was progressing nicely at the start of the day but he ran into a monster turn.

He moved all-in for what looked like ~100,000 with a flush draw after the flop and Belhassan called with bottom set .

Ruberto was counting on his flush draw but he was shoving his stack toward Belhassan and out of his seat as soon as the turn hit the board.

Mehdi Belhassan – 240,000 (48 bb)
Tony Ruberto – Eliminated

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 16: 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 405 of 2,923

They are having a good time at Table 26 but that’s to be expected with Darryll Fish in the 1-seat and Aaron Massey in the 9-seat. And they’ve been very active.

Fish began the day with 125,000 and has run it up nicely in the first hour. The latest bump came when he called two-time SHRP champ Ido Ashkenazi’s 18,500 shove.

Fish:
Ashkenazi:

It was not a “classic” race but Ashkenazi was flipping with his two overs and clubs. The flop changed little but the turn left Ashkenazi drawing to one of the four remaining fives in the deck.

The river was not what he needed to stay in the game while the Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member pushed his stack over 300,000.

Darryll Fish – 321,000 (80 bb)
Ido Ashkenazi – Eliminated

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 468 of 2,923

It didn’t look like former SHRPO champ Dan “Miami Boss” Suied would have a tough start to his day but empty seats around his table were quickly filled by Tony Ruberto, Oliver Busquet, and Seminole Hard Rock Tampa poker ambassador Wally Maddah.

The first big battle began with Suied opening 6,000 and Ruberto moving all-in for 52,000 from the cutoff. Suied called after a short think and the cards were flipped face up.

Ruberto:
Suied:

Suied needed to hit an ace or some straight/flushy cards to knock out the tough player but blanked as the board ran all-low, mostly red to send Ruberto the double.

Tony Ruberto – 115,000 (38 bb)
Dan Suied – 113,000 (38 bb)

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 513 of 2,923

When researching the Day 2 redraw, something big popped up immediately. Table 7 has a LOT of chips in action and not going anywhere anytime soon.

James Salmon (398,000), Ray Ross (316,500), and Travis Hartshorn (303,000) all bagged up top nine stacks and hold 1,117,500 of the chips in play. And this table will not break until only 18 players remain.

Table 7 could turn into a chip grinder for shorter stacked players unlucky enough to redraw to one the empty seats.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 531 of 2,923

Chip leader Sonny Lee is staying active and not sitting back on his stack. He opened three hands in a row before March Stein pushed back.

Lee opened to 7,000 and Stein shoved in his entire 66,500 stack to put Lee deep into thought. After a few minutes, Lee called and Stein was at risk.

Lee:
Stein:

Stein had two live cards but Lee hit right on the flop to leave Stein looking for miracle running cards. The turn was not what he needed and Stein was drawing dead to the river.

Sonny Lee – 490,000 (163 bb)
Marcus Stein – Eliminated

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 549 of 2,923

After the 15-minute delayed start, cards are in the air for Event 9 Day 2. They’ll play three 40-minute levels before taking their first break and we should hit the money soon after that.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 549 of 2,923

Due to major traffic in the area because of an accident, the restart is being delayed 15 minutes to give our players a chance to safely make it to the ballroom.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 549 of 2,923

After six starting flights of Event 9, all survivors return today to play at the same time trying to make some big money. The tournament drew the exact same number of entries as last year’s run and they created a prize pool over $1.4 million with $254,000 waiting for the eventual champ.

There are 549 players returning today with only 250 walking away with cash including defending champion, and two-time SHRP winner, Ruslan Dykshteyn. Sonny Lee begins Day 2 with the chip lead, the only player over 400K, with James Salmon and Jake Schwartz as notables in the top ten of the counts.

Also returning we have Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Will “The Thrill” Failla, former WPT World Champion Asher Conniff, Harrison Gimbel, Sorel Mizzi, and Event 1 champ Hiep Doan along with Seminole Hard Rock Poker team members Mukul Pahuja, Jessica Dawley, Loni Harwood, Michael Laake, Stewart Newman, and Seminole Hard Rock Tampa poker ambassador Wally Maddah.

The tournament will switch to 40-minute levels for Day 2 and move up to 60-minute levels at the final table. They still have a lot of work to do if they want to earn the title but it will be worth it.

Players will begin unbagging their chips in a few minutes and the restart rolls at 1pm.

Update: Due to major traffic in the area, Day 2 will restart at 1:15pm.

Top ten returning stacks:

1. Sonny Lee – 424,500 (142 bb)
2. James Salmon – 398,000 (133 bb)
3. Martin Matranca – 353,500 (118 bb)
4. Jake Schwartz – 350,000 (117 bb)
5. Ariel Williams – 350,000 (117 bb)
6. Uri Kadosh – 325,500 (109 bb)
7. Ray Ross – 316,500 (106 bb)
8. Vittorio Maraone – 309,000 (103 bb)
9. Travis Hartshorn – 303,000 (101 bb)
10. Anton Serkov – 303,000 (101 bb)

Day 2 Chip Counts | Day 2 Seats | Event 9 Payouts

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50
Entries: 45

Event 11 kicked off right on time and we have 45 entries halfway through the first level. Pretty standard for a Sunday afternoon and players are more likely to come later since they only have a single re-entry option in this tournament.

A few familiar early faces are Francis Margaglione, Lawrence Whyte, and Cliff Conners. Margaglione is a three-time SHRP champ but still looking for his first Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown title. He has one Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” win and he picked up his second Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open trophy this past August.