SHRPO $5 Million GTD Championship
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Players: 800

Championship players are back in their seat after a brief respite from the grind. We found the five biggest stacks in the room and the each sit with over 100,000.

Pablo Fernandez leads them all, coming back to 140,900 out front with Harold Klein sitting in second. There’s still plenty of time to catch them and a lead now is not indicator of future Championship success.

Pablo Fernandez – 140,900 (470 bb)
Harold Klein – 116,425 (388 bb)
Brandon Hall – 111,100 (370 bb)
Alex Smith – 104,775 (349 bb)
Jonathan Kamhazi – 100,800 (336 bb)

SHRPO $5 Million GTD Championship
End of Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Players: 795

The first four levels are complete, and the field is on their second 15-minute break of the day. When they return, they’ll play two more levels before taking a 75-minute dinner break.

The board shows 795 entries so far, with late registration available until 10:00 p.m.

SHRPO $5 Million GTD Championship
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Players: 790

During the first level, Ari Engel got involved in a pot with Adam Geyer that cost him all but 575 of his 30,000-chip starting stack. One could be forgiven for writing Engel off at that point.

Engel doubled up on the very next hand, though, and he hasn’t looked back since. Each successive check on his stack has returned a bigger number, and he’s nearly worked his way back to where he began. Engel is up to 24,500 at last count, and his full table now includes John Racener and Dan Colman in addition to Geyer.

Ari Engel – 24,500

SHRPO $5 Million GTD Championship
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Players: 788

Richard Seymour (middle position) and Jon Borenstein (cutoff) were heads up on the turn of a board. Seymour checked, and Borenstein bet 8,100 into a pot of 13,650. The bet sent Seymour deep into the tank, and he deliberated for long enough that the clock was called on him. When the countdown hit, “Five,” Seymour called.

The river was the , and Seymour moved all in. Borenstein had 17,500 chips left in front of him, and now it was he who needed some time in the tank. “Doesn’t make any sense,” he said at one point.

“I should have jammed on the turn,” Seymour said.

After a couple minutes, Borenstein folded, and Seymour dragged the pot.

“Eight-nine?” someone at the table asked.

“One card,” someone else prodded. “Show one card.”

Seymour just smirked as he began stacking the chips. “No free cards.”

Richard Seymour – 74,850
Jon Borenstein – 17,500

SHRPO $5 Million GTD Championship
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Players: 780

Another quick walk through the room this afternoon was good enough to locate two former Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open champs.

Blair Hinkle won the 2013 Championship for more than $1.7 million while Dan Colman followed his big WSOP summer in 2014 with a SRHPO win one month later. Both players also hold WSOP bracelets, Hinkles from 2008 and Colman’s coming in the $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop.

SHRPO $5 Million GTD Championship
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Players: 782

Jason Mercier lost most of his stack early this afternoon, and he had been nursing between 3,000-5,000 for the last couple levels. He finally lost a crucial pot that left him with just 275 chips, and he was all in from the big blind on his final hand.

David Bradshaw called in early position, and Sam Ho raised to 1,400 a couple seats over. Bradshaw called the remainder to see a flop. It came , and Bradshaw led out for 2,050. Ho moved all in for 7,150, Bradshaw folded, and Mercier was heads up and at risk for his tournament life.

Ho:
Mercier:

The on the turn gave Mercier two outs to survive, but the river was a miss. Mercier, who is Florida’s all-time winningest tournament player, was eliminated.

Sam Ho – 12,850
Jason Mercier – Eliminated

SHRPO $5 Million GTD Championship
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Players: 774

Shaun Deeb opened with an early-position raise, and Seminole Hard Rock Poker Team member Michael Laake defended his big blind.

The flop was . Laake checked, and Deeb continued for 1,000. Laake check-raised to 2,600, Deeb three-bet to 6,800, and Laake four-bet to 14,900. Deeb inquired about Laake’s stack, then called.

The turn was the , and Laake bet 12,100. Deeb called.

The river was the , and Laake moved all in for just over 30,000. Deeb had almost exactly the same count, and he let out a big sigh before plunking his stack down across the line.

Laake showed for the nut straight, and Deeb tabled for the same hand, though he was freerolling a flush after the turn. They split the pot.

“I don’t know why you’d shove that,” Deeb said with a shake of his head. “Bluff, I guess.”

“Nice call, Shaun,” Justin Young said from across the table.

Shaun Deeb – 60,000
Michael Laake – 60,000

SHRPO $5 Million GTD Championship
End of Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Players: 770

Players returned from their first break as the count climbs towards 800 players. Several of them had a very nice run over the first two hours with Adam Schwartz, Joshua Gibson, and Julian Manolio each running up their 30K starting stack over 80,000 in the first two levels.

Tim Burt, Nancy Birnbaum, Shaun Deeb, and Ryan Dunn are a few other notables to build up a nice stack in early action.

Top stacks and some notable names:

Adam Schwartz – 81,000 (270 bb)
Joshua Gibson – 80,000 (267 bb)
Julian Manolio – 80,000 (267 bb)
Tim Burt – 79,350 (265 bb)
Rainer Kempe – 78,900 (263 bb)
Larry Hirschfield – 77,800 (259 bb)
Larry Lipman – 72,325 (241 bb)
Nancy Birnbaum – 72,000 (240 bb)
Michael Newman – 70,000 (233 bb)
Alexander Khanas – 69,500 (232 bb)
Shaun Deeb – 68,700 (229 bb)
Ryan Dunn – 65,000 (217 bb)

SHRPO $5 Million GTD Championship
End of Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Players: 739

The first two levels are complete, and the field has been sent on their first 15-minute break of the day. The board shows 739 players so far, with late registration available until 10:00 p.m.

A list of big and notable chip counts will be posted shortly.