2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Kickoff

SHRPO pickSeminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is home to some of the biggest events in poker and today kicked off the premiere festival of the year. The 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open consists of 27 main tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $150 up to $25,400.

The prize pools will continue to increase; starting with the $350 buy-in Event 1 and its $500,000 Guarantee, going up next week with the $570 buy-in Event 10 playing for at least a $1 million prize pool, but everyone is looking forward to the Big 4 events and Charity Series of Poker tournament during the final weekend.

The Charity Series of Poker is making a return to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on August 14 and this fun tournament allows players to raise money to benefit Habitat for Humanity while having a great time. In addition to the payouts and donations, Seminole Hard Rock Poker is providing more than $25,000 in additional prizes including a seat in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship.

The Big 4 tournaments consist of four events with combined guaranteed prize pools of $7.5 million plus national TV exposure for each those final tables.

The Big 4 kicks off with the Championship Event on August 15 and will feature a $5 million Guarantee, the biggest prize pool of the entire series. The tournament has a $5,250 buy-in and will play with a freeze-out format. Only one entry per player will give every player a chance at the $1 million first place money. The Championship has a four-day structure with one starting day and a deep structure for plenty of action.

If players don’t make it through Day 1 of the Championship, August 16 gives them another big money opportunity with the $2,650 buy-in, $1 million Guarantee Event 22. This tournament is also a freeze-out with no re-entries available and will play out over three days.

August 17 completes the Big 4 tournaments with two big events with huge money on the line and re-entries available this time. Event 23 is a $1,100 buy-in tournament with a $500,000 Guarantee and slow, deep structure.

Running at the same time is our High Roller Event 24 to close out the Big 4. That $25,400 buy-in tournament has a $1 million Guarantee and will draw some of the biggest names in the game. The winner will take home at least $350,000 when the two-day tournament is complete.

Those four tournaments feature $7.5 million in prize pools and the champion of each event will capture the crown in front a national TV audience. All four final tables will play out at the same time on August 18 in the massive Hard Rock Live arena in front of the Poker Night in America cameras, the hottest new poker show on TV. The action will be broadcast on CBS Sports Net with 14-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth calling the action.

Big 4 participants will be playing for a lot of money over those four days but it will not be limited to just the big bankrolled players. Seminole Hard Rock Poker will be running qualifiers into all Big 4 events throughout the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open including 75 Championship seats guaranteed in satellites on August 13 and 14.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Big 4 Schedule:

August 14: $300 Charity Series of Poker
August 15: $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship
August 16: $2,650 Event 22 with $1 million Guarantee
August 17: $1,100 Event 23 with $500,000 Guarante
August 17: $25,400 High Roller with $1 million Guarantee
August 18: Big 4 final tables in Hard Rock Live Arena

Event 1 Day 1B: Terrific Trio

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200

As we near the first break of the flight, a few more standouts have been spotted in fray this evening.

Zach “Redlocks” Kessler, a mainstay here at Seminole Hard Rock, is looking to get this series off to a great start.  Nancy Birnbaum is also primed to make her run at Sunday’s Day 2.   Victor Figueroa, who wanted to make sure we got at least one of him smiling, is also hoping to get another happy picture with him as the Event 1 champion.

Flight 1B is now up to 260 player and climbing with registration open until the start of Level 9.

Zach Kessler
Zach Kessler
Nancy Birnbaum
Nancy Birnbaum
Victor Figueroa
Victor Figueroa

Event 1 Day 1B: More Moneymakers

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150

Two more past champions here at Seminole Hard Rock in the mix tonight in Flight 1B.

First is the player who won Event 1 in the Lucky Hearts Poker Open in January, Evan Teitelbaum.  Teitelbaum took home over $150,000 in his victory earlier this year and hopes to kick off this year’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in similar fashion.

Allen Bieler is also ready to get things rolling this series.  Bieler has two recent titles here at Seminole Hard Rock winning Event 14 in last year’s Rock ‘N Roll Poker Open and Event 7 in this year’s Lucky Hearts Poker Open.

Will one them add this tournament’s trophy to their mantle?  We’ll be watching as the tournament rolls on.

Evan Teitelbaum
Evan Teitelbaum
Allen Bieler
Allen Bieler

 

Event 1 Day 1B: Triple Vision

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150

Four eyes are better than two.  Six could be a tad much.

Robert Lee has decided to triple check his work as he’s going with the dual sunglasses look here in Flight 1B.  His opponents are going to have time getting a tell from him since they’ll have no idea which eyes to look into tonight.

We’ll see if his unique approach of eyewear can get him through to Sunday’s Day 2 this evening.

Robert Lee
Robert Lee

Event 1 Day 1A: Done for the Day

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 14: 1,200/2,400/400 Ante

Tournament staff paused the clock with 10 minutes remaining and announced three more hands before bagging up.

As they completed those hands, it was obvious that Jorman Cano and Thao Le would be the end of Day 1A leaders with each over 300,000. Le picked up most of his late chips against Eric Brewster.

It was a three-way pot when the hijack moved all-in with a short stack and Brewster fatted on the button with two aces after a short think. Le was in the big blind, plus the only one who had Brewster covered at the table, when he moved all-in over the top with jacks.

The king-high flop was harmless but the former leader Brewster was sent to flight 1B when a jack hit the turn.

The hand pushed Le over 300,000 and he will be among the leaders when they return on Sunday for Day 2. The first flight has 61 players surviving the day with a chance at the first Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open title.

Jorman Cano – 346,000 (144 bb)
Thao Le – 316,000 (132 bb)
Antonio Albanes – 240,500 (100 bb)
Eric Riley – 200,500 (84 bb)
Robert Aron – 185,000 (77 bb)

Jorman Cano
Jorman Cano end Day 1A with the chip lead

 

Thao Le
Thao Le

Event 1 Day 1B: Second Flight in the Air

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50

The second flight of Event 1 is underway in the ballroom and it is looking to add to the 336 entrants from 1A. That was a great start to the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open and we expect the crowds to grow.

The $350 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament has a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool and this is the second of six starting flights. Players begin with 20,000 in their stacks and play 30-minute levels throughout the day.

Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9, approximately 10:30 this evening, and they will end the day after Level 14.

Cards are in the air for the first evening session of Event 1 and it should be a good one.

Event 1 Day 1A: Albanes Storms Ahead

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 13: 1,000/2,000/300 Ante

Day 1A is back in action with just two more levels left in the flight. Antonio Albanes is your new leader and the only player over 200,000, and not by a little bit.

Former leader Dustin Murphy continues to stay in contention with just under 200k and Thanh Nguyen is not far behind.

Antonio Albanes – 257,100 (129 bb)
Dustin Murphy – 197,800 (99 bb)
Thao Le – 171,300 (86 bb)
Thanh Nguyen – 169,700 (85 bb)
Yves Fequiere – 160,100 (80 bb)
Hunter Cichy – 152,500 (76 bb)
Jose De Hombre – 149,600 (75 bb)
Robert Alberro – 139,100 (70 bb)
Aubrey Custalow – 138,300 (69 bb)

Antonio Albanes
Antonio Albanes
Thanh Nguyen
Thanh Nguyen

Event 1 Day 1A: Clock Ticking Down

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 12: 800/1,600/200 Ante

Day 1A has leveled up and players continue to hit the rail at a decent clip. They are down to just 117 at the start of Level 12 with 90 minutes of action for them to work up their stack or load another bullet for the 6pm flight.

Everyone at Table 29 must be happy, it was one of the latest to break to shuffle their big stacks and top names into rest of the field. Juliet Yarina was unable to make it that far but Dustin Murphy, Stuart Paterson, and Abbey Daniels are now apart.

Table 29 kept everyone on their toes
Table 29 kept everyone’s attention