$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Total Entries: 398

Players returned to their seats and play is back underway with everyone chasing Andy Philachack. He came back to a stack up to 122,000 and Tony Sinishtaj sits in second as the only other player over 100,000.

Top stacks and random notables:

Andy Philachack – 122,000 (244 bb)
Tony Sinishtaj – 101,450 (203 bb)
Nicholas Augustino – 95,000 (190 bb)
Matthew Smith – 95,000 (190 bb)
Ryan McKnight – 88,375 (177 bb)
Mehdi Belhassan – 86,500 (173 bb)
Jean “Prince” Gaspard – 85,300 (171 bb)
Paul Balzano – 84,500 (169 bb)
David Dayan – 84,000 (168 bb)
Tony March – 76,000 (152 bb)
James Hughes – 73,025 (146 bb)
Robert Mizrachi – 72,000 (144 bb)
Rainer Kempe – 68,700 (137 bb)
Isaac Haxton – 66,000 (132 bb)

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 391

Championship players are on their second break of the day and the field is on the verge of topping 400 entries. They’ll return to play two more levels before enjoying their 75-minute dinner break.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker team members Loni Harwood and Jessica Dawley were two more players hitting the tables in the last two levels. They are settled in for the long grind with six more levels remaining in the day.

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 383

We caught up to the action at Darren Elias’ table with the board complete and Elias all in. The spread was and Elias shove was for 14,325 with near that much in the pot.

His opponent took his time, thought it out, and called with for a flush. Elias quickly tabled the nut flush and the three-time WPT champ built up his stack.

Darren Elias – 43,000 (108 bb)

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 375

We’d like to welcome Scott Blumstein to the ballroom for his first SHRPO visit. The reigning World Champion made a decision to play the tournament after his little score last month.

Blumstein outlasted 7,220 other players, dominated the final table, and was crowned WSOP Main Event champ. That was also Blumstein’s first career WSOP cash and he walked away with $8.15 million.

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 369

This is the fifth running of the Seminole Hard Poker Open Championship and players keep coming back for more. With Dan Colman’s entrance after the break, we now have all three former champs along with defending champ Jason Koon in this afternoon’s field.

They each had success before and after winning the SHRPO title and now return trying to become the first two-time champ.

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 350

Players returned from their first break of the day and the entrant count quickly climbed to 350 for the first flight. A fine start to the Championship and it will continue to move higher throughout the day.

WPT Champions Club member Jonathan Jaffe is the clear leader after running his 30,000 starting stack over 100,000. Carlos Rodriguez Rojas is his closest competitor with his 77,800 while Tony Sinishtaj continued his fast start.

Top stacks and random notables:

Jonathan Jaffe – 118,000 (393 bb)
Carlos Rodriguez Rojas – 77,800 (259 bb)
Tony Sinishtaj – 68,000 (227 bb)
Aboodi Gil – 65,000 (217 bb)
Alexander Queen – 63,000 (210 bb)
Paul Balzano – 62,500 (208 bb)
Matthew Yorra – 62,100 (207 bb)
Ryan Riess – 58,000 (193 bb)
Darryll Fish – 52,375 (175 bb)
Ryan D’Angelo – 46,300 (154 bb)
Matt Stout – 45,000 (150 bb)
Jonathan Little – 43,500 (145 bb)
Luke Brereton – 40,400 (135 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 37,925 (126 bb)
Blair Hinkle – 36,475 (122 bb)
Matt Glantz – 36,200 (121 bb)
Joe Kuether – 32,000 (107 bb)
Olivier Busquet – 31,850 (106 bb)
Cate Hall – 31,200 (104 bb)
Darren Elias – 27,275 (91 bb)
Kane Kalas – 25,475 (85 bb)
Jake Schwartz – 23,600 (79 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui – 22,150 (74 bb)
Scott Clements – 22,025 (73 bb)
Omar Zazay – 21,525 (72 bb)
Jason Koon – 19,800 (66 bb)
Jessica Dawley – 16,150 (54 bb)

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Entries: 339

Championship players are on their first break of the day as they near 350 entries. They’ll take a 15-minute breather and return for two more hour-long levels.

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Entries: 307

The Championship Day 1A field crossed over 300 entries before the first break and it will continue to climb until registration closes at 9pm.

Ari Engel is having a good time at his table. They are all laughing, telling stories, and occasionally tossing some chips in the middle. The eight-time WSOP Circuit winner came close to two WSOP final tables this summer and his last SHRP trophy came with a Heads Up win last August.

If you’re going to go to one poker tournament series a year in usa- I reccomend @shrpo. Quite amazing what they have built in short time.

— Ari Engel (@AriEngelPoker) August 11, 2017