Cong Pham moves all in from the cutoff for about 1.1 million, and Eric Becks calls from the big blind with . Pham turns over , and he needs to improve to stay alive.
The board comes — Pham flops a spade flush draw, but Becks rivers a full house to win the pot and eliminate Pham in 14th place.
Eric Becks – 7,350,000 (37 bb) Cong Pham – Eliminated in 14th Place ($9,882)
With 13 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 4.5 million (23 big blinds).
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 33: 100,000/200,000/25,000 Ante
Jose Silva moved all in from the button for 1,225,000, and Cord Garcia called from the small blind with . Silva turned over , and needed his hand to hold to stay alive.
The board came , and Silva won the pot with a full house, jacks full of aces, to double up in chips.
Shortly after that, the blinds increased to 100,000-200,000 and a 25,000 ante. There are still 14 players remaining, with an average chip stack around 4.2 million (21 big blinds).
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 32: 75,000/150,000/25,000 Ante
The final 14 players have returned to the tournament area and unbagged their chips, ready to play their way down to a winner (or at least a chop) today.
There are about 15 minute remaining with the blinds at 75,000-150,000 and a 25,000 ante, and levels are 40 minutes long until they reach the final table, when they switch to 60 minutes.
Final 14 players unbag their chips for the start of Day 2.
Here are the official chip counts and seating positions, along with the remaining prizepool. Here are the official seating and chip counts for Day 3, which begins tomorrow (Monday) at 2:00 pm ET:
$250 Seniors No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 4: 100/200
It’s been a quick start to the Seniors event today with more than 125 entrants as they hit the noon-time hour. This tournament drew 164 players last year and we’re sure to cross that number before registration closes at 3:30pm.
We have yet to see last year’s champ John Cofhlin but there are a few familiar faces including Marsha Wolak, Ory Hen, “Miami John” Cernuto, Paul Balzano, and Scott Efron.
Marsha Wolak“Miami John Cernuto (left) and Paul Balzano (right)Scott Efronevent
2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $350 Big Stack Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $30,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
August 9, 2015
Total Entries: 276 Total Prize Pool: $55,200
Event 11 Champion Robert Melo
Recap:
Without a doubt there was a collision coming at some point between the two overwhelming chip leaders this evening but no one could have expected it to go down quite like it did. That battle resulted in Robert Melo cruising to the Event 11 title.
With two tables to go, Jorge Gomez was the clear chip leader sending player after player to the payout window. But with Gomez seemingly on cruise control, Robert Melo had also managed to put together the second largest stack in the room. And when Melo was moved off his table and to the right of Gomez, it formed a wall that destroyed most of the competition at their table and it looked like the two of them were headed for an epic showdown for the tournament championship.
Gomez continued his torrid pace of eliminations taking out Antonio Velazquez in 10th place and was appearing to be nearly unstoppable. But then came the hand of the night between him and Melo. Melo bet out 35,000 followed by a raise from Gomez to 100,000. Melo then fired back raising to 350,000 and Gomez went all-in. Melo quickly called and turned over and Gomez showed . With over 2,600,000 chips and the tournament essentially on the line with everyone else so far behind, Melo’s kings held up and left Gomez as the short stack in the tournament.
Gomez managed to triple up back to 101,000 but Frank DeGeorge took almost of them leaving him with only 5,000 chips. DeGeorge then finished him off with a set of aces and Gomez was out in 9th place. Mark Gaudino then took John Utley then out in 8th place but even with the eliminations by Gaudino and DeGeorge no was within shouting distance of Melo’s enormous chip stack.
Realizing the situation with Melo holding 2,800,000 of the 4,100,000 in play, the remaining players decided a chop was in everyone’s best interest and the tournament ended with Robert Melo winning the title and the other six players splitting the remaining prize money.
Melo talked about the situation that was brewing with Gomez. “Before I was moved I thought I was the chip leader and when I sat down and saw he had me covered I said what does the one guy with chips than me have to be to my left? So I knew I had to just tighten up and not get out of line. When we got moved to one table he still had position on me but it was a little better.”
He then talked about the hand that put the tournament into his control. “I was shocked that he shoved. He doesn’t have to do that and he gave up so much equity. When he shoved I wasn’t going to fold kings. I don’t want to go out on a limb and say I was going to win after that but I was a heavy favorite by a lot of horse lengths.”
Melo had a humble reaction to winning the title. “I’m not too full of myself. This is just a warm-up for next week. If I could do that next week, that’s life-changing money. It’s encouraging, it’s nice and it’s great for my confidence but it’s all about next week.”
He also had some great things to say about Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and the team here. “Excellent, wonderful. Obviously the Hard Rock has taken control of tournament poker in Florida. No one puts on better tournaments or Opens so it’s exciting.”
Congratulations to our Event 11 Champion – Robert Melo!
Results: 1st: Robert Melo (Howard Beach, NY) – $15,000 2nd: Frank DeGeorge (Las Vegas, NV) – $4,556 3rd: Nahra Habib (Awkar, Lebanon) – $4,556 4th: Mark Gaudino (Plantation, FL) – $4,556 5th: Yousri Ali (Chicago, IL) – $4,556 6th: Wally Maddah (Palm Harbor, FL) – $4,556 7th: Sanjid Acharya (Tampa, FL) – $4,556 8th: John Utley (Morganfield, KY) – $1,656 9th: Jorge Gomez (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)- $1,104 10th: Antonio Velazquez (Toa Baja, PR) – $718
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 32: 75,000/150,000/25,000 Ante
Day 2 of Event 10 comes to an end with a little less than 15 minutes remaining in Level 32. With 14 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 4.2 million (28 big blinds).
Chipleader Eric Becks
Here are the official seating and chip counts for Day 3, which begins tomorrow (Monday) at 2:00 pm ET:
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 32: 75,000/150,000/25,000 Ante
Mukul Pahuja moved all in UTG+1 for 1,290,000, and Mike Ortiz called from the hijack with . Pahuja turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive.
The board came — Pahuja paired his king on the flop, but Ortiz paired his ace on the turn to win the pot and eliminate Pahuja in 15th place.
Mike Ortiz – 4,450,000 (30 bb) Mukul Pahuja – Eliminated in 15th Place ($9,882)
Mukul Pahuja
With 14 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 4.2 million (28 big blinds). There are about five minutes left before Day 2 comes to an end.
, and he needs his hand to hold to stay alive against the 
of Kevin Butler in the cutoff.
, and Butler pairs his ace on the flop to win the pot and eliminate Prystal in 13th place.
, and he needs his hand to hold to stay alive against the 
of Peter Walsworth.
, and Walsworth pairs his seven on the turn to win the pot and eliminate Silva in 12th place.
, and he needs to improve to stay alive against the 
of Peter Walsworth on the button.
— Pham flops a spade flush draw, but Becks rivers a full house to win the pot and eliminate Pham in 14th place.
. With over 2,600,000 chips and the tournament essentially on the line with everyone else so far behind, Melo’s kings held up and left Gomez as the short stack in the tournament.
. Pahuja turned over 
, and he needed to improve to stay alive.
