$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Flight B Entries: 444
Total Entries: 851

At least four players were involved in a growing pot on a flop].  A player in the blinds checked, and Kevin Saul bet 1,600 from his position under the gun. Only Brian Altman called.

The turn was the , and Altman called another bet of 6,200 from Saul.

The river was the , and both players checked.

“Queen?” Saul half-asked. Altman leaned forward to see it, so Saul tabled . Altman stared it down for another moment before mucking, and Saul won the pot.

Altman is the chip leader with the final table pending in the $1,100 Big 4 event, and he’s doing what he can to make multi-tabling a necessity on Tuesday. This exchange with Saul is a bit of a setback, but he’s still over starting stack with the dinner break approaching.

Kevin Saul – 85,000 (142 bb)
Brian Altman – 35,000 (58 bb)

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Flight B Entries: 438
Total Entries: 845

A player in middle position opened to 1,200, David Diaz called from the button as did John Dubois in the big blind.

The flop came , Dubois checked, the original raiser bet 3,000, and Lefty called. When it got back to Dubois he three-bet shoved 8,850 and Lefty called.

Dubois turned over and had a slight lead over Diaz’s . The board ran out running deuces , giving Dubois quads.

John Dubios  –  35,000
David Diaz  –  36,000

The very next hand David Diaz opened to 1,200 from the cutoff, Dan O’Brien called on the button, and John Dubois called from the small blind. The big blind three-bet to 5,000 and all three players called.

The flop came the blinds checked to Diaz who bet 3,800 and O’Brien called. Both players checked the on the turn. The hit the river and Diaz bet 14,000. O’Brien thought a while before eventually folding.

David Diaz  –  57,000
Dan O’Brien  –  50,000

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Flight B Entries: 433
Total Entries: 840

Michael Laake opened to 1,200 in early position, and three players called, including Ivan Luca on the button. From the small blind, Marcus Stein decided to take a spot, and he squeezed all in for about 5,000 total. Laake re-raised to 13,200, the three behind him folded, and Stein was heads-up for his tournament life.

Laake:
Stein:

The board ran out , and Laake’s queens held to earn him the pot. Stein was eliminated.

Michael Laake – 60,000 (120 bb)
Marcus Stein – Eliminated

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Flight B Entries: 414
Total Entries: 821

The second break is complete and nine-time WSOP Circuit champ Valentin Vornicu continues to hold a big lead. He moved up to 181,200 with Wesley Holland and Alan Schein rounding out the six-digit stacks.

Top counts and random notables:

Valentin Vornicu – 181,200 (362 bb)
Wesley Holland – 143,000 (286 bb)
Alan Schein – 101,000 (202 bb)
Mukul Pahuja – 98,900 (198 bb)
Stephen Buell – 91,000 (182 bb)
Javier Saralhe – 90,000 (180 bb)
Robert Heidorn – 89,000 (178 bb)
Deborah Lavigne – 88,000 (176 bb)
Ho Duy – 87,000 (174 bb)
Samuel Bernabeu – 81,600 (163 bb)
Alexandre Caperonis – 80,000 (160 bb)
Chris Bolek – 75,000 (150 bb)
Mohsin Virani – 74,500 (149 bb)
Neil Patel – 74,000 (148 bb)
Scott Wright – 71,400 (143 bb)
Jonathan Little – 70,000 (140 bb)
Shaun Deeb – 65,300 (131 bb)
Tim Reilly – 60,000 (120 bb)
Nathan Papp – 57,800 (116 bb)
Nipun Java – 57,000 (114 bb)
Matt Salsberg – 44,000 (88 bb)
Stewart Newman – 43,000 (86 bb)
Ian O’Hara – 41,475 (83 bb)
Scott Blumstein – 40,000 (80 bb)
Jake Bazeley – 39,250 (79 bb)
Chance Kornuth – 39,000 (78 bb)
Loni Harwood – 36,000 (72 bb)
Niall Farrell – 34,850 (70 bb)
Matt Affleck – 31,725 (63 bb)
Jared Jaffee – 31,000 (62 bb)
Darryll Fish – 30,000 (60 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui – 29,000 (58 bb)
Joe McKeehen – 28,500 (57 bb)
John Dolan – 27,000 (54 bb)
Michael Laake – 26,800 (54 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 26,000 (52 bb)
Tim West – 18,250 (37 bb)

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 414
Total Entries: 821

It’s time for another break away from the tables. The Flight B players are away for 15 minutes and we’ll take another clean look at the stacks.

The entry count sits at 821 total, leaving the field only four entries away from hitting a $4,000,000 prize pool.

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 403
Total Entries: 810

It didn’t take long to answer the question about when Joe McKeehen would re-enter the Championship.

He was not gone long and found himself standing at the feeder table with current WSOP Main Event champ Scott Blumstein. Both are on their last entry and Blumstein is now seated next to Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Sheddy Siddiqui.

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 403
Total Entries: 810

The players are still coming in, the stacks are going up, but we are also seeing some players hit the rail.

John Racener is one player moving in the right direction. The 2010 WSOP Main Event runner-up sits with 65,000 and one of the bigger stacks in the room.

Meanwhile, in the meeting room we caught 2015 WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen packing up his bag and heading out the door. McKeehen did not fire today so we expect he’ll take a breather, hit the registration desk, and come back for another chance.

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 392
Total Entries: 799

During the last break, we found two players searching for a second major SHRP title.

Brian Altman began his 2015 campaign with an early title when he won the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship for more than $723,000. He followed that up with his first career WSOP Circuit ring a year later.

In November 2015, Jake Bazeley captured the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” Championship title for over $263,000. He continues to pile up the big scores with the latest coming courtesy of a 25th place finish in the WSOP Main Event a few weeks ago.

Each owns a big SHRP trophy but wouldn’t mind adding something to their mantle.

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Flight B Entries: 369
Total Entries: 776

Players returned to their seats and everyone is chasing nine-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Valentin Vornicu at the top of the counts. He’s the only player over 80,000 but two-time WSOP bracelet winner Shaun Deeb is a talented player not far behind.

There’s still plenty of time for players to catch up with late registration closing at 9pm and the day coming to an end at 11pm.

Top counts and random stacks:

Valentin Vornicu – 81,500 (272 bb)
Shaun Deeb – 75,000 (250 bb)
David Shmuel – 74,600 (249 bb)
Scott Wright – 71,300 (238 bb)
Jonathan Little – 71,000 (237 bb)
John Simon – 66,700 (222 bb)
Andy Spears – 60,000 (200 bb)
Andrew Frankenberger – 55,000 (183 bb)
Ryan LaPlante – 52,000 (173 bb)
Tony Dunst – 45,000 (150 bb)
Daniel Weinman – 42,500 (142 bb)
Chino Rheem – 39,000 (130 bb)
Mike Leah – 35,000 (117 bb)
Matt Affleck – 34,000 (113 bb)
Joe McKeehen – 33,500 (112 bb)
David Paredes – 33,000 (110 bb)
Phong “VIP” Nguyen – 31,800 (106 bb)
Rex Clinkscales – 30,000 (100 bb)
Brian Altman – 28,850 (96 bb)
David Prociak – 27,000 (90 bb)
Aaron Mermelstein – 22,000 (73 bb)
Cate Hall – 16,000 (53 bb)