$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 9: 500/1,000/100 Ante

Raquel Abut took a nice piece of Levi Maloney’s stack after the first break and worked it up to a chip leading stack. The Miami-resident leads Flight A with four more levels left to register, her 115,000 eclipsing the other six-digit stack in the room. Gregg Fund continues to be a top stack with 106,000 and the field plays tighter than expected.

The count moved over 450 entrants during the break but it should slow down as the next starting flight time nears.

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
End of Level 8: 400/800/75 Ante

Flight A players are on the second break of the day and getting closer to 450 entrants. We’ll take another look around the tournament area during the color up break for our next set of leaders.

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 8: 400/800/75 Ante

The entrant count continues to climb while more familiar faces get in the game as the afternoon wears on. Joe Gale is a regular in the ballroom for our major events and he’s back once again.

Gale has only four recorded tournament cashes, all of them in 2015, but they are nice runs and each coming on Seminole Hard Rock Poker properties. Two of them to be exact.

Two of Gale’s results finished at final tables with his big payout coming with a win in the big-field Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Event 5 for $35,000. His other three cashes all came at Seminole Coconut Creek including a ninth place finish in the Coco Poker Open Deepstack Bounty.

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 7: 300/600/50 Ante

Flight A hit another milestone in Level 6 when the entrant count went over 400 for the early session. That’s a cool $120,000 in the prize pool with days worth of registration remaining.

Daren Stabinski is not only a regular face in the ballroom, he’s also someone we see in the late stages of our events. He was the last player standing in five events on property with his most recent coming in last year’s Lucky Hearts Poker Open $560 Six-Max event.

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 6: 200/400/50 Ante

Gregg Fund was a late entrant but making the most of his first few hands. He earned his seat today via the satellite this morning at 9am and took his seat soon after the first break.

Since that time he’s moved his stack over 70,000 to pass Delgado Comparelli for the lead. Most of those chips came a three-way hand when his held for a major pot.

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 5: 150/300/25 Ante

The ballroom was packed as players returned to their seats but Julio Delgado Comparelli didn’t need to hurry. He’s run his 15,000 starting stack up to 64,775 in the first four levels to pace the field. Comparelli has a few nice Seminole Hard Rock Poker results including a deep run in the first event of the November’s Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open”.

Levi Maloney came back with the second stack but dropped a nice chunk to Raquel Abut on one of the first hands back.

Julio Delgado Comparelli – 64,775 (216 bb)
Levi Maloney – 58,625 (195 bb)
Scott Watson – 48,700 (162 bb)
Sean Clark – 47,600 (159 bb)
Emerson Ward – 45,950 (153 bb)
Rich Rice – 43,400 (145 bb)
Steven McKoy – 42,750 (143 bb)
Rob Miller – 42,450 (142 bb)
Brett Bader – 35,100 (117 bb)
Eric Rivkin – 26,600 (89 bb)
Marsha Wolak – 23,350 (78 bb)
Nancy Birnbaum – 23,025 (77 bb)
Jason Gooch – 19,725 (66 bb)
Daren Stabinski – 19,300 (64 bb)
Evan Teitelbaum – 16,000 (53 bb)

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
End of Level 4: 100/200

Players are on their first break of the day with 350 entrants on the board. That’s enough to put the prize pool over $100,000 just two hours into the tournament and a lot of time to get in the game.

We’ll take advantage of the empty ballroom at break and track down our early big stacks.

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 4: 100/200

Flight A moved over 300 entrants midway through the third level with ten more levels to jump in. It’s a great pace and the $500,000 guarantee should be crushed when we’re done.

Nancy Birnbaum is another successful South Florida player and back in the ballroom looking for more glory. She’s the proud owner of three WSOP Circuit rings and six other Circuit final tables among her $568,000 in career earnings.

Playing first tourney of 2016 at my home casino…$350 buyin $500k GTD #TEAMWHYNOTME

— Nancy Birnbaum (@NancyBirnbaum) January 7, 2016

$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 3: 75/150

Flight A rolled into the noon-time hour at the start of Level 3 and creeping up to 250 entrants, setting a good standard for the next seven flights.

Marsha Wolak is in action today after closing out her 2015 with deep runs in two of the biggest field events of the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open”. Wolak has four tournament wins to her credit with a WSOP bracelet, WSOP Circuit ring, and Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Seniors title.

Not interested in resting on her laurels, Wolak is ready to take 2016 by storm.

“This is going to be my best year ever!” she exclaimed during a pause at her table.