2019 Showdown Live Updates

Event 24: Neal Corcoran Continues to Lead

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 19: 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 34 of 645

Steve Yagudaev

We had a short delay to the restart of Event 24 for some technical issues but cards are back in the air.

Neal Corcoran began the day with the lead, extended it by bursting the bubble, and he still leads are the first break with 830,000. Steve Yagudaev sits in second with 650,000 followed by Daniel Perez with 605,000.

Event 24: Four Tables Remain

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 18: 4,000/8,000 with a 8,000 ante
Players Remaining: 36 of 645

Event 24 reached the last four tables shortly before the first break of the day. They got there when Dominic Cote’s kings could not fade AQo.

The remaining are now taking a break and will return for the trip to a champ,

37th: Dominic Cote – $387
38th: John Iglesias – $387
39th: Alan Greenstein – $387
40th: Vendel Johnson – $387
41st: Marty Robbins – $387
42nd: Nir Peleg – $387
43rd: Michael Garcell – $387
44th: Pedro Perez – $387
45th: Robert Leff – $387

Event 24: Neal Corcoran Bursts the Bubble

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 17: 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 ante
Players Remaining: 45 of 645

Neal Corcoran

Greg Rosen limped from middle position and Neal Corcoran raised to 26,000 from the hijack. The big blind called, Rosen folded after thinking about coming along, and the flop came QcJs6s. The big blind looked at his stack and pushed it in for 121,000 to get the shrug/call from Corcoran.

Corcoran: Th9s
Big Blind: KsQd

The big blind was ahead with his top pair but needed to dodge Corcoran’s open-ended straight draw. The 2d turn was safe but the Kd river completed the straight for Corcoran. His opponent sat there for a minute with no chips in front as he contemplated his bubble luck.

Tournament staff broke a table and Event 24 is down to the last five tables of the tournament.

Neal Corcoran – 891,000 (149 bb)

Event 24: Money Bubble Time

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 17: 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 ante
Players Remaining: 46 of 645

Angela Acosta tried to ride her short stack into the money but she fell a few spots short. She went out in 47th place to put the rest of the field on the bubble.

Tournament staff paused the clock and they will take two minutes off for each round of hand-for-hand until we lose one player.

Event 24: Chuck Goldhammer Eliminated by Mitchell Smith

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 16: 3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining: 50 of 645

Mitchell Smith

Chuck Goldhammer three-bet shipped for 32,000 from the cutoff after a Mitchell Smith open and another call. Smith reshipped on top to isolate and the cards were flipped up.

Smith: 8s8d
Goldhammer: KsKd

Goldhammer was in great shape but the dealer put an eight right in the window on the 8h7s2s flop. The board finished 4s turn and 5d river to send Goldhammer out short of the money.

Mitchell Smith – 178,000 (36 bb)
Chuck Goldhammer – Eliminated

Event 24: Nearing the Bubble

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 16: 3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining: 55 of 645

Melisa Singh

Event 24 lost nearly a table of players in the first level and the money bubble is getting closer. They are only nine knockouts away from going into hand-for-hand mode trying to make them some money.

Melisa Singh is one of the many talented players returning today and she has some nice poker jewelry at home. While technically not an official ring event, Singh won the Ladies Event title when we threw the WSOP Circuit series in 2017. She might be considered a ring winner but that doesn’t make the ring any less shiny.

Event 24: Cards in the Air

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 15: 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 ante
Players Remaining: 62 of 645

The clock hit 5pm and Tournament Supervisor Jordan Cutter put cards in the air for the last time this series. Excluding the Championship final table in May.

We have 62 players with 45 getting paid. Blinds are at 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 big blind ante and 30-minute levels.

Event 24: Day 2 is Set to Go

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 15: 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 ante
Players Remaining: 62 of 645

Chips

The big WPT Poker Showdown Championship might be on hold for the final table but we still have some business to handle. Event 24 was the last multi-flight tournament on the schedule and Day 2 kicks off at 5pm.

The tournament drew 645 entries to the $150 buy-in tournament to easily surpass the $50,000 guaranteed prize pool. They combined to put $77,400 up for grabs and players will begin earning some money later tonight.

Of the 645 starters, we have 62 returning to The Poker Room with 45 getting paid.

Neal Corcoran leads the field with some tough competition near the top including Sean Shah, former RRPO final table member Greg Rosen, and WSOP Circuit Hollywood Ladies Event champ Melisa Singh.

Action gets back underway soon and we will bring you all the action for the last day of the series.

Top ten returning stacks:

  1. Neal Corcoran – 411,000
  2. James Guerrero – 349,000
  3. Daniel Perez – 333,000
  4. Steve Yagudaev – 331,000
  5. Seah Shah – 331,000
  6. Alon Nelson – 319,000
  7. Greg Rosen – 299,000
  8. Avi Hakmon – 288,000
  9. Sebastian Gallego – 282,000
  10. John Iglesias – 282,000

Day 2 Chips | Day 2 Seats | Payouts

Championship: Meet Your Final Table

The 2019 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship has come down to a very talented group of players for its final table. There are six players remaining that have nearly $15 million in combined earnings including two former WPT Champions.

They will return to action on May 30 at the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas where the winner will take home more than  $700,000 and put their name on the WPT Championship Cup.

Here are your final table members:


Seat 1: Maria Ho
Chip count – 16,650,000

From Los Angeles, she is a Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductee, reigning Global Poker Awards Broadcaster of the Year, and two-time SHRPO Big 4 final table commentator. Ho is a WPTDeepStacks champion and LAPC $25K High Roller winner with more nearly $3.3 million in career earnings.


Seat 2: Chad Eveslage
Chip count – 3,350,000

From Fort Lauderdale via Indiana, Eveslage has $1.3 million in live career earnings with a WSOP Circuit win, a $100K score for a deep run in the 2013 WSOP Main Event, and two dozen final table appearance. As an online pro during the Moneymaker Boom, he banked $3.3 million in career earnings


Seat 3: Jerry Wong
Chip count: 3,225,000

From nearby Davie FL, Wong has $3.7 million in careers earnings and isbest known for his November Nine appearance during the 2016 WSOP Main Event. He has five six-digit scores to his credit including a $250,000 payout for winning the 2017 Lucky Hearts Poker Open Ultimate Re-Entry tournament.


Seat 4: Eric Afriat
Chip count – 4,425,000

From Montreal with $2.8 million in career earnings, Afriat is a two-time WPT Champion and his first title came right here in this event when he won the WPT Poker Showdown Championship in 2014 for more than $1 million and his biggest career cash. Afriat picked up his second WPT last January at the Borgata and finished fifth in The Closer WSOP tournament last summer.


Seat 5: Ami Alibay
Chip count – 8,175,000

Another Canadian at the final table, Alibay is a nightclub and restaurant owner with nearly $500,000 in career earnings and he final tabled a PokerStars Canada Cup High Roller for his biggest cash. When asked about his favorite player, he listed Eric Afriat to his right at this final table.


Seat 6: James Carroll
Chip count – 18,525,000

From Las Vegas via Massachusetts, Carroll is another WPT Champion at the final table. He won his first at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event in 2014 for $1.3 of his $3.2 million in career earnings. Carroll finished second in the WSOP Monster Stack tournament last summer and just missed another WPT final table when he finished seventh in the LAPC Main Event last month.