$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Flight A Entries: 356
Players Remaining: 180
We have a few players who moved their stacks over 100,000 and running out front with a few more levels remaining in the day.
Gerardo Gonzalez sits atop all the counts with 117,000 followed by SHRP regular Chris Nomikos at 105,000. Both are in great position to bag big and return for Day 2 among the leaders.
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Flight A Entries: 356
Players Remaining: 198
The second break is complete and registration has closed for Flight A of the $1,000,000 Guarantee opener. The first session drew 356 entries to put it on an easy path to the seven-digit prize pool.
They will play six more levels today, with a break midway through, and those with chips after Level 14 will bag up for a Day 2 return on Sunday.
| Day/Time | Flight | Entries | Advanced |
| Thursday at 11am | A | 356 | TBD |
| Thursday at 6pm | B | — | — |
| Friday at 11am | C | — | — |
| Friday at 6pm | D | — | — |
| Saturday at 11am | E | — | — |
| Saturday at 6pm | F | — | — |
| Total | 356 | TBD |
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8: 400/800 with a 800 ante
Flight A Entries: 353
Level 8 has come and gone and Flight A players are enjoying their second break from the game. Another new option for this series; we now have two snack stands outside the Event Center with food, beverages, candies, and nuts.
Registration will close for this flight when they return but there are five more chances to get in the game including Flight B this evening starting at 6pm.
Scott Baumstein got in the game before the break and he has some recent success in our opening events. In January we opened the Lucky Hearts Poker Open with a $1,000,000 Guarantee WPTDeepStacks event and Baumstein survived to take the title over 1,366 entries for more than $220,000.
Even before the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open kicked off, there were some big awards paid out in the Poker Room. We held a freeroll for our top cash players during from July with more than $65,000 in prizes up for grabs including a $30,000 PokerStars Platinum Pass to their Players No Limit Hold’em Championship in January.
The tournament was open to the first 235 players who logged at least 100 hours of play form the month of July. The top twenty players earned a prize:
1st place – $30,000 PokerStars Platinum Pass, a $5,250 entry into the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a three-night stay with a $200 food comp to Kuro
2nd place – $5,250 entry into the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a $2,650 entry into Big 4 event
3rd place – $5,250 entry into the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a $1,100 entry into Big 4 event
4th through 6th place – $2,650 entry into SHRPO High Roller satellite
7th through 10th place – $1,100 entry into Big 4 event on August 8
11th through 20th place – $570 entry into SHRPO Championship mega satellite on August 9
The tournament quickly played down to the final table but slowed when the really big prizes were in play. Grant Lasseter and Vasile Ionut Merisescu reached heads-up play and battled it out for nearly 90 minutes. Both held the lead at different points before Merisescu finished with all the chips to win the big first place package.
For his victory, Merisescu earned the PokerStars Platinum Pass which includes a $25,000 entry into their 2019 Players NL Hold’em Championship along with a six-night stay at the Atlantic Resort and $2,000 for travel expenses. He also won a seat into our Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship plus a three-night stay and Kuro comps.
Results:
1st: Vasile Ionut Merisescu
2nd: Grant Lasseter
3rd: John Dignan
4th: Matthew Milton
5th: Rolando Sacremento
6th: Matthew Kuba
7th: Brian Caits
8th: Michael Amrich
9th: Peter Fellows
10th: Nicholas Avena
11th: Faisal Ahmed
12th: Jonah Miller
13th: Zachary Mullennix
14th: Nissim Dahan
15th: Albert Palma
16th: Phillip Joffey
17th: Jonathan Pilger
18th: Mark Nahama
19th: Chad Vetstein
20th: Mario Atroce
$360 Omaha 8 or Better (Re-Entry)
Structure
Level 4: 300/600 Limits
Total Entries: 83
Event 1 Flight A returned from its first break of the day a little while ago and it’s just about time to send the Omaha/8 on their breather. We are ten entries away from topping the count from this tournament from the Poker Showdown and we should get there easily.
We have a South Florida poker legend in this afternoon’s field. “Miami John” Cernuto grabbed his seat today and he’s an immediate favorite for the title. He earned his first of three WSOP bracelets in 1997 and won an Omaha/8 WSOP Circuit ring in 2012. Cernuto has nearly $6 million in career earnings and also finished second for an Omaha/8 WSOP bracelet twice.
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Flight A Entries: 283
Cards are back in the air for Flight A and we picked up a few more entries during the break. For player’s convenience, they do not need to walk back out to the registration desk if they wish to re-enter the tournament. We now have a re-entry desk in the Event Center near the tournament information table.
There are a few big stacks in the room after four levels but none bigger than the one that belongs to Brett Redstone. He’s up to 95,000 from his 20,000 starting stack for a near quintuple start. A few other top stacks belong to Paul Safron (64,800), Josh Phillips (60,000), Jaquelyn Scott (55,700) and Joseph Duchman (53,500),
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/300 with a 300 ante
Flight A Entries: 275
The first four levels are in the books and Flight A players are heading off for their first break of the day. We have a healthy crowd on a Thursday afternoon and the fields will only get bigger as we near the weekend.
With the Event Center (mostly) empty, we will take our first opportunity to track down our early leaders.
$360 Omaha 8 or Better (Re-Entry)
Structure
Level 3: 200/400 Limits
Total Entries: 67
The Omaha tournament is filling nicely in the early going and it has a chance to top the 92 entries we picked up in this tournament during the Poker Showdown.
We have a bunch of talented players among the 67 in the field so far including Robert Campbell and Joel Harwood. Campbell has a ton of Omaha wins, more than a dozen at a quick glance, so it’s no surprise he will defer his Event 1 entry until this weekend.
Harwood is no slouch at the split-pot game with a half dozen runner-up finishes and a dozen final tables in this poker variant.
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight A Entries: 239
Flight A moved into the third level and afternoon hours to put the “big blind antes” in play. Instead of the old way of doing it, now the big blind will pay the ante for the other players, speeding up the game and getting more hands per hour. Win/win.
The Big Blind Ante format will be used for any No Limit Hold’em with 15,000 starting stacks or higher. The new poker world is here.
Earlier we mentioned Nancy Thomas finished second in the second biggest tournament field in state history and now we have the winner of the biggest. Rafael Reis captured his second SHRP trophy in the fall of 2016 when he outlasted more than 5,000 entries to win the opening event of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open.
$360 Omaha 8 or Better (Re-Entry)
Structure
Level 1: 100/200 Limits
The $1,000,000 Guarantee opening event isn’t the only game in town this afternoon. We are also running a one-day tournament of the four-card variety that will award the first trophy of the series.
Event 2 is a $360 Omaha/8 tournament that starts at noon and will attract a talented group of players.
Players start out with 10,000 stacks and the tournament runs 30-minute levels throughout the day. Late registration is available until the start of Level 9 with re-entries available during that time if their stack hits the felt. There is a dinner break schedule around 6:15pm and they will return to play it down the Omaha/8 champion.
Cards go in the air at the top of the hour and we’ll keep one eye on them until they reach the final table.