2013 SHRPO Live Updates

Event 6, Day 1D: Chipleaders at the Break

by

There were 278 entrants in the Day 1D field of Event 6 ($125 No-Limit Hold’em w/ $150K Guarantee), which started at 11:00 am. Now that the field is on its second break, there are 79 players remaining.

The average chip stack is about 35,200, but there are already a couple players knocking on the door of the 100,000 mark. Here’s a look at the chipleaders, along with a couple of notables who are still in the field. (Blinds are 400-800 with a 100 ante.)

1.  Kyle Fleischmann  –  95,500  (119 bb)
2.  Chris Carey  –  93,900  (117 bb)
3.  David Jackson  –  91,500  (114 bb)
4.  Andres Garcia  –  80,000  (100 bb)
5.  Brandon Kingston  –  74,700  (93 bb)

Ylon Schwartz  –  56,000  (70 bb)
Derek Buonano  –  29,000  (36 bb)
Marsha Wolak  –  10,500  (13 bb)

2013 SHRPO Live Updates

Event 6: Guarantee Achieved

by

There are currently 79 players remaining in the field of 278 in the Day 1D flight of Event 6 ($125 no-limit hold’em – $150,000 guaranteed) as the players go to break. The Day 1E flight already has 198 players seated in the early stages. That puts the total number of players in the event at 1,505 for a prize pool $150,500. That makes the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open six-for-six on hitting guaranteed prize pools so far. With four more starting flights left to play this event should double the guarantee the as what happened in Event 1.

2013 SHRPO Live Updates

Event 6 Day 1E: Play Begins

by

The Day 1E starting flight for Event 6 ($125 no-limit hold’em – $150,000 guaranteed) has begun with blinds at 25-50 and starting stacks worth 10,000. They will play 14 30-minute levels with a 15-minute break every two levels this afternoon and play should end just before 7 p.m.

The total field size is already 1,307 players so the prize pool us up to $130,700. There are still quite a few starting flights that will take place during the next two days so that number could grow to 3,000 and double the guaranteed prize pool. Here is a breakdown of the remaining schedule.

Tuesday, August 13: Day 1F – 7 p.m.
Wednesday, August 14: Day 1G – 11 a.m.
Wednesday, August 14: Day 1H – 3 p.m.
Wednesday, August 14: Day 1I – 7 p.m.

Players can re-enter in any of these starting flights. Stay tuned tonight for further coverage from all of Tuesday’s starting flights and see which players advance to join the 115 that have already made it to Day 2 on Thursday, August 15.

2013 SHRPO Live Updates

Event 6 Day 1D: Field Size Set

by

Registration is now closed for the Day 1D flight for Event 6 ($125 no-limit hold’em – $150,000 guaranteed) and the field size is 278 players. That takes the total for Event 6 through four flights up to 1,307 players. The prize pool is now at $130,700 with five more starting flights left to run. There are currently 162 players left in the hunt to advance to Day 2 on Thursday, August 15.

2013 SHRPO Live Updates

Meet Your Event 1 ($350 No-Limit Hold’em) Champion Derek Buonano

by

Derek Buonano Wins $90,000 in Event #1 of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open

The first event of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open attracted 3,391 entrants and lasted five days, and when the dust settled on Monday it was 31-year-old Derek Buonano of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, who won the event to earn $90,000.

Buonano, who served in Iraq as a member of the U.S. Air Force before he became a professional poker player, won the trophy not with cards, but with chips.

The day began with 19 players remaining, and there was a steady pace of eliminations until they reached the official final table of nine players. The most experienced player at the final table was David Diaz, a WSOP bracelet winner who also has two televised WPT Final Tables on his poker resume.

The final table began with more than half a million dollars in prize money still at stake, but the action stalled for nearly two levels as the short stacks were winning every all-in situation.

“Everyone was shallow,” said Buonano. “There were a lot of short stacks doubling up. That’s basically what made me make the decision to think about doing a deal.”

When the nine players took their first final table break, they started discussing a deal to end the tournament right there, dividing up the $500,875 prizepool based on ICM, or Independent Chip Modeling.

ICM is a mathematical formula that professional players use to figure out how much money each player could expect to win in a particular tournament, on average, based on their current chip counts.

The players counted their chip stacks and computed their ICM values, and then began negotiating from there. Chipleader Buonano negotiated an extra $8,300 because he had been holding a large chip lead for a while and was reluctant to stop playing.

The entire deal-making process took about 20 minutes, and when everyone finally agreed to the same terms, the final nine players all received at least $38,787. That’s nearly four times as much as 10th-place finisher Alcides Gomez received ($9,766).

But the biggest piece of the pie went to Buonano, who received $90,000 in prize money and the trophy, which, in typical Seminole Hard Rock style, is shaped like an electric guitar.

For Buonano, this ranks as the biggest score of his career, surpassing the two deep runs he made at the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker, where he earned a combined $72,065 for a pair of 12th-place finishes.

“It’s amazing,” said Buonano. “It’s not every day you can get through thirty-four hundred players to actually be there, the one person at the end, which we all strive to be. To actually be that person feels amazing.”
– – – – – – – – – – – –
Here are the official results from the final table of Event #1 ($350 No-Limit Hold’em w/ $500,000 Guarantee):

1st:  Derek Buonano  –  $90,000
2nd:  Steven McKoy  –  $64,001
3rd:  Jaime Campos  –  $58,418
4th:  Zack Goodman  –  $58,323
5th:  John Liu  –  $57,557
6th:  David Diaz  –  $50,047
7th:  Jeff Yeh  –  $42,742
8th:  Kevin Ho  –  $41,000
9th:  Daniel Navarrete  –  $38,787

2013 SHRPO Live Updates

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Early Champions

by

Here is a look at the winner of the first five events at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Event 1 ($350 no-limit hold’em – 3,391 entries): Derek Buonano – $90,000 (winner by 9-way chop)

Event 2 ($1,100 no-limit hold’em – 98 entries): Ben Stark – $27,000 (winner by 6-way chop)

Event 3 ($240 turbo no-limit hold’em – 249 entries): Steve Cardarelli – $4,928 (winner by 8-way chop)

Event 4 ($240 seven-card stud – 41 entries): Kevin Painter – $2,287 (winner by 7-way chop)

Event 5 ($240 bounty no-limit hold’em – 252 entries ): Christopher Carey – $7,053