$25,000 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 17: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 13 of 94

After a long, 15-hour day of poker, Day 1 of the $25,000 High Roller No Limit Hold’em comes to a close with the final 13 players all in the money.

Brian Benderoff is leading the pack with 1,279,000 in chips and is joined at the top of the leaderboard by Yevgeniy Timoshenko (1,140,000) and John Dolan (887,000).

The tournament was played eight-handed and Day 1 was originally scheduled to play down to the final table of eight players, but as the day moved along, the staff decided to alter the schedule and play until they burst the money bubble.

The money bubble burst just after 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning to wrap up the day’s action and leave the remaining 13 players all in the money.

The survivors of the day will come back on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. to play down to a winner. They are all guaranteed at least a min-cash of $58,750, but they all have their sights set on the first place prize of $658,000.

Here are a look at the chip counts for the start of Day 2:

• Brian Benderoff – 1,279,000
• Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 1,140,000
• John Dolan – 887,000
• Nick Petrangelo – 860,000
• Nick Yunis – 771,000
• Lazaro Hernandez – 764,000
• David Malka – 758,000
• Tim West – 731,000
• Sylvain Loosli – 636,000
• Dan Shak – 544,000
• Steffen Sontheimer – 490,000
• Jake Schindler – 358,000
• Fedor Holz – 188,000

$25,000 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 17: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 14 of 94

Action folded around to the blinds where Jason Mercier moved all in for about 145,000 in the small. David Malka called in the big, putting him at risk.

Mercier:
Malka :

The flop came , giving Mercier a flush draw in addition to his two live cards. He could not catch up, though, as the turn and river completed the board. Malka won the pot with aces up, eliminating Mercier on the direct money bubble.

The 13 remaining players are now guaranteed to earn at least $58,750, but the payouts will have to wait until tomorrow. The bags are out on the tables, signaling the end of Day 1.

David Malka – 758,000 (47 bb)
Jason Mercier – Eliminated

$25,000 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 17: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 14 of 94

Nick Petrangelo opened to 38,000, and the player behind him called. Joe McKeehen moved all in for about 300,000, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko re-shoved for 698,000 in the big blind. The two players in the middle folded, and McKeehen was heads up for his tournament life.

McKeehen:
Timoshenko:

The board ran out blanks, and Timoshenko won the pot with his pair of queens. McKeehen was eliminated in 15th place, putting the remaining field squarely on the money bubble.

Play is now being dealt hand for hand to burst the bubble, and Day 1 will conclude following the next elimination.

Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 1,100,000 (69 bb)
Joe McKeehen – Eliminated

$25,000 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 17: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 16 of 94

Bryn Kenney moved all in for 208,000 in the cutoff, and Steffen Sontheimer re-shoved for 215,000 on the button. Larry Klur called both shoves, having Sontheimer covered by just a few chips and seeking the double knockout.

Kenney:
Sontheimer:
Klur:

The board ran out , and Sontheimer’s queens held to earn him the knockout and a triple up.

Steffen Sontheimer – 664,000 (42 bb)
Larry Klur – 31,000 (2 bb)
Bryn Kenney – Eliminated

2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #26
$350 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Total Entries: 262
Total Prize Pool: $78,600

Frankie Flowers won the $350 No Limit Hold’em in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but his sights were set much higher than that.

Flowers bested a field of 262 players in a heads-up deal to take home the trophy and $20,479. He’s got high hopes for that prize money.

“We are going to try tro run it up,” said the 42-year-old poker pro. “I think we might go fire it into the $25K in the morning. I don’t know what the blinds are, but we are going to give it a shot.”

When he was informed that the registration for the High Roller event was already closed, he couldn’t do anything but laugh.

After several cackles, he had another idea for the prize money.

“I’m just going to spin it up and try to roll this up,” he said with laugh. “We’ll just fly to Vegas and bet it all on [Steph] Curry. See how many points he can score in the next game.”

All of this was said with lots of laughter and joy with his win, but one thing he was serious about was taking home the trophy. Flowers is a regular in tournaments on the East Coast and is very well known in the northeast part of the country.

Flowers just missed out on a WPT final table back in 2007 at Foxwoods, finishing 10th in the World Poker Finals main event for $60,429.

Despite the success, this is the first time Flowers gets to take home some hardware.

“This is my first trophy,” said Flowers on a more serious note. “I’ve won a bunch of tournaments where we’ve made deals and then played for the trophy and I’ve always lost. This is the first time I get to take home the hardware.”

Flowers first trophy didn’t come easy. He came into the final table with the chip lead, but still had to top a table that featured WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hui and local tournament regular Michael Newman.

He then got the better part of the deal against Richard Arno heads-up, who puts a bow on a solid series of his own with two final tables.

Heads-up play didn’t last very long before a deal was made, allowing Flowers to be crowned the champion and take home the largest share of the prize pool.

Here is a look at the results:

1st: Frankie Flowers – $20,479
2nd: Richard Arno – $14,500
3rd: Ryan Sherman – $7,467
4th: Evan Young – $6,052
5th: Raymound Ruszkowski – $4,716
6th: Allan Dungo – $3,930
7th: Michael Newman – $3,144
8th: Phillip Hui – $2,358
9th: David Reeder – $1,572
10th: Edwin Roman – $1,022
11th: Nicholas Mahabee – $1,022
12th: Ido Ashkenazi – $1,022
13th: Daren Stabinski – $865
14th: Marc Kropf – $865
15th: Matthew Yorra – $865
16th: Sheldon Gorss – $786
17th: Dolphus Powers – $786
18th: Ory Hen – $786
19th: Xiaoyan Wang – $707
20th: Sheraz Nasir – $707
21st: Michael Ortiz – $707
22nd: Michel Esper Saad Jr. – $707
23rd: Jonathan Ounjian – $707
24th: Howard Darnold – $707
25th: Homero Molina – $707
26th: Paul Shafran – $707
27th: Haim Toorgeman – $707

Event 26 Final Results

$25,000 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 17: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 18 of 94

Nick Petrangelo opened to 38,000 in early position, and Joe McKeehen three-bet to 100,000. Petrangelo moved all in for 590,000 total, and McKeehen quickly called to put him at risk.

Petrangelo:
McKeehen:

The board ran out , and Petrangelo doubled up with jacks full. He’s now the overall chip leader with three tables remaining in play.

Nick Petrangelo – 1,220,000 (76 bb)
Joe McKeehen – 335,000 (21 bb)

$150 No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry
Returning to Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 67 of 625

$150 No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry
Returning to Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 67 of 625