Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship (Freeze-Out)
Level 21: 10,000/20,000/3,000 Ante

Day 2 of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open comes to an end with 43 players remaining from the field of 907. The chipleader is Rick Alvarado (who lives in Las Vegas but is originally from Ontario, California), who is on a hot streak as he just won SHRPO Event 16 three days ago. You can read more about Alvarado’s victory by clicking here.

Day 3 begins tomorrow (Monday) at 12:00 noon in the same tournament room, with one-hour levels. When the field reaches the final three tables (27 players), the levels will increase to 90 minutes. Day 3 will play for as long as it takes to reach the final nine players for Tuesday’s televised final table.

Here are the official chip counts for the final 43 players, as the blinds will start tomorrow at 10,000-20,000 (3,000 ante).

1.  Rick Alvarado  –  2,011,000  (101 bb)
2.  Mark MacDonnell  –  1,495,000  (75 bb)
3.  Brian Phillis  –  1,385,000  (69 bb)
4.  Joseph Couden  –  1,369,000  (68 bb)
5.  Ari Engel  –  1,142,000  (57 bb)
6.  Chris Csik  –  1,100,000  (55 bb)
7.  Paul Volpe  –  997,000  (50 bb)
8.  Randy Pfeifer  –  986,000  (49 bb)
9.  Daniel Colman  –  966,000  (48 bb)
10.  Alberto Rodriguez  –  949,000  (47 bb)
11.  Lucas Fauth  –  910,000  (46 bb)
12.  Michel Bittan  –  856,000  (43 bb)
13.  Arman Sogomonian  –  785,000  (39 bb)
14.  Tim Seidensticker  –  733,000  (37 bb)
15.  Thayer Rasmussen  –  710,000  (36 bb)
16.  Joseph Cheong  –  709,000  (35 bb)
17.  Brannon Sawyer  –  692,000  (35 bb)
AVERAGE  –  633,000  (32 bb)
18.  Aditya Prasetyo  –  623,000  (31 bb)
19.  Cheng Liu  –  565,000  (28 bb)
20.  Jeff Griffiths  –  551,000  (28 bb)
21.  Anthony Maio  –  539,000  (27 bb)
22.  John Spadavecchia  –  527,000  (26 bb)
23.  Evan Panesis  –  474,000  (24 bb)
24.  Travell Thomas  –  425,000  (21 bb)
25.  Pablo Ortiz  –  419,000  (21 bb)
26.  Kristophner Bradshaw  –  399,000  (20 bb)
27.  William McKown  –  393,000  (20 bb)
28.  Karen Onheiser  –  370,000  (19 bb)
29.  Michael Yaw  –  359,000  (18 bb)
30.  Gordon Vayo  –  358,000  (18 bb)
31.  Joe Kuether  –  347,000  (17 bb)
32.  Luis Santoni  –  346,000  (17 bb)
33.  Ronald Fernandez  –  303,000  (15 bb)
34.  Vlad Mezheritsky  –  298,000  (15 bb)
35.  Harry Cullen  –  285,000  (14 bb)
36.  Daniel Buzgon  –  271,000  (14 bb)
37.  Neil Blumenfield  –  270,000  (14 bb)
38.  Omar Zazay  –  266,000  (13 bb)
39.  David Jackson  –  249,000  (12 bb)
40.  James Gilbert  –  200,000  (10 bb)
41.  Lawrence Moccia  –  199,000  (10 bb)
42.  Ronnie Bardah  –  197,000  (10 bb)
43.  James Salmon  –  174,000  (9 bb)

Here’s the remaining prizepool:

1st:  $1,000,000
2nd:  $575,000
3rd:  $310,000
4th:  $220,000
5th:  $180,000
6th:  $150,000
7th:  $125,000
8th:  $100,000
9th:  $75,000
10th-12th:  $50,000
13th-15th:  $40,000
16th-18th:  $35,000
19th-21st:  $32,500
22nd-24th:  $30,000
25th-27th:  $27,500
28th-36th:  $25,000
37th-43rd:  $22,500

Return to SHRPO.com tomorrow at 12:00 noon ET for continuing coverage as these players keep battling for the $1 million first prize.

Sorry to disappoint , we aren’t in the 1 millions anymore. #webagged2million #SHRPO mainevent #chipleader

— Rick Alvarado (@KudosPokes) August 17, 2015

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship (Freeze-Out)
Level 20: 8,000/16,000/2,000 Ante

In one of the final hands of the night, Travell Thomas was given a penalty for grabbing and revealing Marc Macdonnell’s mucked cards. It appeared to be a preflop raise or reraise by Macdonnell to take the pot, and Thomas picked up the cards to see what they were.

A floorperson was immediately called over, and Thomas was given a one-round penalty to finish out the night. His penalty will carry over to the beginning of play tomorrow as he must sit out the first several hands.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship (Freeze-Out)
Level 20: 8,000/16,000/2,000 Ante

In one of the final hands of the night, Vinny Trinh moved all in from the button for 128,000, and John Spadavecchia called from the small blind with . Trinh turned over , and he needed his hand to hold to stay alive.

The board came , and Spadavecchia paired his queen on the flop to win the pot and eliminate Trinh in 45th place.

John Spadavecchia  –  527,000  (33 bb)
Vinny Trinh  –  Eliminated in 45th Place  ($22,500)

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship (Freeze-Out)
Level 20: 8,000/16,000/2,000 Ante

After a flop of , Alberto Rodriguez checked the hijack, Anthony Zinno bet 77,000 from the cutoff, and Rodriguez check-raised to 180,000.

Zinno tanked for a while before he moved all in for 406,000. Then it was Rodriguez’s turn to tank, and he tanked for several minutes before he called with a similar chip stack and turned over for two pair. But Zinno turned over for a set of kings.

The turn was — the .

The entire table reacted loudly as Rodriguez took the lead with a full house, aces full of queens. Only the case king could save Zinno now.

The river card was the .

Rodriguez won the pot with his full house, and when the chip stacks were counted down, Rodriguez had Zinno covered by 11,000 (417K to 406K). Zinno was eliminated in 48th place.

Zinno has been on an incredibly hot run lately, winning two WPT titles earlier this year, winning the WPT’s Player of the Year award, and picking up his first WSOP bracelet this summer.

Rodriguez raised his arms in the air and shouted to a friend on the rail: “I did it! I beat the Zinno! I lucked out, but I beat him!”

Alberto Rodriguez  –  1,000,000  (63 bb)
Anthony Zinno  –  Eliminated in 48th Place  ($20,000)

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship (Freeze-Out)
Level 20: 8,000/16,000/2,000 Ante

With the final board showing on the river, Michel Bittan moved all in from middle position for 195,000, and Joseph Cheong tanked for a while before he called.

Bittan said something along the lines of, “Should I go with the straight, or the flush?” as he turned over for an ace-high flush (and a meaningless ace-high straight). Cheong mucked, but since it was an all-in situation, the dealer flipped over his cards to reveal for two pair, kings and sixes.

Michel Bittan  –  850,000  (53 bb)
Joseph Cheong  –  645,000  (40 bb)

With 51 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 534,000 (33 big blinds).