$560 Buy-In Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: Blinds 100/200

Registration is almost closed and at the moment, the board reads 243 entries so far. Brian Hastings, David Diaz, Jerry Wong, and Dan Heimiller are among the latest entrants.

$560 Buy-In Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: Blinds 75/150

Among those who have recently taken their seats include Nancy Birnbaum, Dimas Martinez Jr., Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Ian O’Hara, Neville Darrell, Evan Teitelbaum, Angelo Miele, Cord Garcia, and Gregory Marcus.

$560 Buy-In Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: Blinds 50/100

Picking up the action after the turn of a board with about 6,500 in the pot, the UTG+2 player checks to Zach “Redlocks” Kessler on the button who bets 3,500. After a call from Kessler’s opponent, the river completes the board and he checks to Kessler again.

“How can I not value bet this?” asks Kessler, who bets another 3,500.

To Kessler’s surprise, however, his opponent check-raises all in for 18,050. After going into the tank for about 30 seconds, Kessler calls.

His opponent immediately mucks his hand, leading to Kessler tabling for aces and queens. Since it is an all-in situation, the dealer turns over Kessler’s opponent’s cards, which turns out to be .

With that pot, Kessler is up to about 70,000.

$560 Buy-In Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: Blinds 25/50

Among those in the field so far on Day 1C include Zach “Redlocks” Kessler, Sheddy Siddiqui, and Ylon Schwartz.

$560 Buy-In Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: Blinds 25/50

The cards are in the air for Day 1C of Event 1 of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. Players start with 25,000 in chips, good for 500 big blinds.

The board reads 97 players currently registered and that number will continue to rise through the end of registration, which is at the start of Level 5.

Welcome to Day 1C coverage of Event 1 of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Event 1 is a $500 + $60 NLH a re-entry tournament with a $1 Million Guaranteed prize pool and six starting flights. Here is a look at the schedule for those starting flights:

Day 1A: Thursday, March 27 – 286 Entries/59 players remaining
Day 1B: Thursday, March 27 – 278 Entries/59 players remaining
Day 1C: Friday, March 28 – 11 a.m.
Day 1D: Friday, March 28 – 7 p.m.
Day 1E: Saturday, March 29 – 11 a.m.
Day 1F: Saturday, March 29 – 7 p.m.
Day 2: Sunday, March 30 – 1 p.m.

After yesterday’s two starting flights, 118 players remain from 564 total entries. On top of the chip counts so far is David Shaw with 276,800 (Day 1A chip leader), followed by Robert Williams with 275,000 and Mina Akladious with 254,800 (Day 1B chip leader).

Each Day 1 flight will consist of 14, 30-minute levels. Unlimited re-entries are available through the start of Level 5 and any players eliminated after Level 5 can enter in subsequent starting flights. The chip leader at the end of each flight will receive $1,000 and players who survive will return for Day 2 on Sunday, March 30 at 1 p.m.

$560 Buy-In Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Next Blinds: 1,500/3,000/300 ante
Day 2 – Sunday 1 pm

The opening flights are in the books of the $1 Million Guaranteed kickoff event of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown.

Flight B finished the night with Mina Akladious (Boynton Beach, FL) claiming the $1,000 end of night chip lead bonus when he edged Sascha Walter (Stuttgart, Germany) by less than 8k in chips.

“I folded Ace-Queen in position,” said Akladious, who needed 7k to call a raise on the final hand. Standing pat with 255k turned out to be the right fold as Walter nearly grabbed the lead on his table’s last hand.

Walter won a 165k pot when his AK knocked out two players to finish the night just shy of the bonus with 247k. But both players trail the top two stacks from the morning session.

David Shaw  earned the Flight A $1,000 bonus with 277k, less than 2k ahead of Robert Williams’ 275k.

The day began with 286 entries in Flight A, followed by 278 in Flight B as, coincidentally, both fields finished with 59 players.

That leaves 118 players with an average stack of 119k (40 bb) when they resume play with Day 2 at 1 pm Sunday.

In the meantime, the next round of flights takes off 11 am, Friday as Flight C is the third of six starting flights in the series opener.

$560 Buy-In Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Next Level: Blinds 1,500/3,000/300 ante
59 players remaining, 118k avg (39 bb)

Position-Name-Chip Count

$560 Buy-In Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 14 Complete

Sascha Walter (Stuttgart, Germany) uses his big stack to gamble with AK and it pays off in a big way.

On the night’s final hand, Walter is part of a three-way all in.

Walter (140k): AK
Opponent 1 (60k): A8
Opponent 2 (45k): 55

Walter hits the Ace and his King kicker gets the double knockout to take his stack to 247k, good for second place just behind Mina Akladious (Boynton Beach, FL) who finishes with 255k.

Akladious earns the $1,000 bonus as the end of night chip leader.

$560 Buy-In Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 14: Blinds 1,200/2,400/300 ante
72 players remaining, 97k avg (40 bb)

The last level of the night is underway and the chase is on for the $1,000 bonus that goes to the end of night chip leader.

Mina Akladius is still out in front with ~300k and says he just “loaned” 20k to Mike LaRocca who’s had a big stack most of the night.  Also on the table is Dan Stier who was third in chips coming back from the last break.