$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 29: 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 1,207

Tony Sinishtaj opened the cutoff to 200,000, and SHRP Team member Darryll Fish three-bet to 565,000 in the small blind. Sinishtaj asked Fish for a little help with his count, then moved all in for 4,135,000 effective. Fish immediately called to put himself at risk for that amount.

Sinishtaj:
Fish:

The board ran out , and Fish locked up the pot one card early. He doubled up with a set of aces, taking another big bite out of Sinishtaj’s once-mighty stack.

Tony Sinishtaj – 6,925,000 (87 bb)
Darryll Fish – 8,420,000 (105 bb)

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 29: 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 1,207

Action folded around to the blinds where Darryll Fish moved all in from the small and Dan Colman called from the big, putting himself at risk for his last 1,020,000 chips.

Fish:
Colman:

The board ran out , and Colman turned trip nines to lock up the pot one card early. He doubled up at Fish’s expense.

Dan Colman – 2,110,000 (26 bb)
Darryll Fish – 3,600,000 (45 bb)

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 29: 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 1,207

Tony Sinishtaj raised to 175,000 under the gun and Rob Mizrachi called from the big blind.

The flop was and Mizrachi checked. Sinishtaj bet and Mizrachi called.

They both checked the turn and the came on the river. Mizrachi checked and Sinishtaj bet 375,000. Mizrachi quickly called.

Sinishtaj showed , giving him eights and fives, and Mizrachi mucked his hand.

Tony Sinishtaj – 10,600,000 (132 bb)
Robert Mizrachi – 2,900,000 (36 bb)

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 29: 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 1,207

Robert Mizrachi opened to 180,000 in early position, Tony Sinishtaj called next to act, and Eric Beller defended his big blind to create three-way action.

The flop was . Beller checked, Mizrachi continued for 300,000, Sinishtaj called, and Beller folded out of the way. The turn was the , and Mizrachi checked. Sinishtaj bet 1,200,000 effective, and Mizrachi shrugged and called all in for that amount to put himself at risk.

Mizrachi: (pair of aces)
Sinishtaj: (pair of jacks)

The river was safe for Mizrachi, and he doubled up.

Robert Mizrachi – 3,650,000 (46 bb)
Tony Sinishtaj – 10,050,000 (126 bb)

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 29: 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 1,207

Matt Affleck raised to 175,000 from the hijack and Dan Colman called on the button. Eric Beller called out of the small blind and Simeon Naydenov defended his big blind.

The flop was and Beller checked. Naydenov checked, Affleck checked and Colman bet 275,000. Beller called and Naydenov check-raised all in for 1,730,000. Colman called and Beller folded.

Naydenov showed and needed a club against Colman’s .

The turn was the , giving Naydenov the nuts, and the river was the to secure his double up, leaving Colman as the short stack at the table.

Simeon Naydenov – 4,505,000 (56 bb)
Dan Colman – 1,430,000 (17 bb)

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 29: 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 1,207

Tony Sinishtaj raised to 250,000 from middle position and James Mackey moved all in for 950,000 from the hijack. Action folded back to Sinishtaj, who called, and the cards were tabled.

Sinishtaj showed and was in bad shape against Mackey’s .

The flop was and Sinishtaj picked up a gutshot along with his over. The turn was the and Sinishtaj took the lead, leaving Mackey with one out to scoop the pot and a few more to chop.

The river was the and Sinishtaj won the pot with a pair of aces and eliminated Mackey in seventh place. Mackey took home $86,874 and Sinishtaj regained the chip lead.

With one more elimination, play will conclude for the night.

Tony Sinishtaj – 11,950,000 (149 bb)
James Mackey – Eliminated

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 29: 40,000/80,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 8 of 1,207

Tony Sinishtaj raised to 200,000 from the hijack and Dan Colman defended his big blind.

The flop was and Colman checked. Sinishtaj bet 250,000 and Colman called. The rest of the hand was checked down as the board was completed with the and the .

Sinishtaj showed 9d8h, good for a flush, and Colman mucked his hand.

Tony Sinishtaj – 11,000,000 (137 bb)
Dan Colman – 3,700,000 (46 bb)

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale
End of Level 8: 500/1,000 with a 100 Ante
Remaining Players: 176 of 332 (registration still open)

Sunday was the start of the second World Poker Tour event on the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown calendar. The $10,000 WPT Finale has drawn a field of 332 players so far, with late registration still available until the start of Day 2.

David Laka leads after Day 1, ending atop the counts with 223,200 chips. Laka is followed by Matt Haugen (215,200) and Farid Jattin (203,600), and those three are the only three who ended with more than five times their starting stack.

James Romero is right behind the trio of leaders, though. Romero turned his 40,000 starting chips into 196,000 by the end of the day, good for fourth place on the overnight leaderboard. Romero is a Season XV WPT Champion, winning close to $2 million for his victory at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic back in December. He’s put himself in a good position to compete for another title, but there’s a long way to go between now and the hoisting of the trophy.

Both the SHRP Team and the World Poker Tour were well represented in the field on Day 1. The day was mostly unkind to the patched-up players, though. Chance Kornuth, Faraz Jaka, Jared Jaffee, Matt Stout, and Loni Harwood are all among the 150 or so who were eliminated over the course of the day.

Mukul Pahuja did advance to Day 2, though, bagging up 85,700 chips. The same can be said for Sheddy Siqqiqui, who finished with 62,900 at the end of the night. The WPT’s Tony Dunst (120,300) and Mike Sexton (91,200) also survived the day.

The list of remaining heroes is too long to mention them all, but a complete leaderboard can be found in the posts below, along with the Day 2 seat draw.

A total of 176 players made it through the eight-level day, and a handful more are expected to enter straight into Day 2. Action resumes Monday with 600/1,200 blinds and a 200 ante, giving new players just over 33 big blinds with which to work.

Late registration closes when the cards go in the air at 12 p.m. sharp.

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 28: 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 8 of 1,207

On a flop of , Eric Beller checked from the big blind and Matt Affleck bet 150,000 from the cutoff. Beller check-raised to 300,000 and Affleck called.

The turn was the and Beller led out for 500,000. Affleck moved all in for 1,280,000 and Beller quickly called. Affleck showed , good for a set of sevens, and had Beller’s drawing dead.

The river was the irrelevant and Affleck doubled up.

Matt Affleck – 3,540,000 (59 bb)
Eric Beller – 9,200,000 (153 bb)

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 28: 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining: 8 of 1,207

James Mackey raised to 140,000 from under the gun and Eric Beller three-bet to 450,000 from the hijack. John Gordon called from the small blind and Mackey folded.

The flop was and Gordon checked. Beller moved all in for effectively Gordon’s remaining 2,250,000.

Gordon called and showed , but he was in bad shape against Beller’s .

“How do you have that hand?” asked Gordon. “How do you just jam? How do you not just bet that hand?”

Beller doesn’t respond and his hand held up with the on the turn and the on the river. Gordon was eliminated in ninth place and took home $64,636. Beller takes the chip lead with the pot.

Eric Beller – 11,200,000 (186 bb)
John Gordon – Eliminated