$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Flight B Entrants: 340

The entry count ticked over 300 in Level 3 and now sits at an even 340 early in Level 4. While there’s no shortage of locals, the swelling field is filled with travelers as well. One of the more notable out-of-towners in action is Seminole Hard Rock Tampa team member Wally Maddah.

Maddah made the nearly the four-hour drive south and east on I-75 and finds himself in the mix of a field that’s approaching 800 combined entries early in the action. Maddah owns two wins on his home turf, but has yet to break through here on the Atlantic side.

On my way to the @shrpo Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood event 1b 1 milion GTD representing my home team @SHRTPoker @HardRockTommy #ambassador

— wally Maddah (@wallymystar) November 16, 2016

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 Ante
Flight B Entrants: 299

Three-time Seminole Hard Rock Poker champion Francis Margaglione eyes another title in this super-sized field. Margaglione owns more than $126,000 in career earnings with each of his 32 cashes having come in the state of Florida. His largest career score came in the form of championship performance in last year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open $150 event while his most recent victory was during August’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.

Still shy of the first break in Flight B, Margaglione has a long way to go in what’s shaping up to be a monster field in the RRPO $360.

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
End of Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 Ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 80 of 403

Play has come to an end in the opening flight of the opening tournament on the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” schedule.

After 14 levels of play, the two biggest stacks in the room were sitting across from each other. Nicholas Cookendorfer and David Rauf took turns at the top of the counts, each topping 300K at one point, with Cookendorfer pulling ahead late.

Rauf bagged up a nice 271,500 stack while Cookendorfer is the early leader coming back on Day 2 with 291,000. But there are seven flights trying to chase him down.

Full chip counts will be released as soon as they are available.

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: 50/100
Flight B Entrants: 235

The 200-entry threshold didn’t take long to best in this evening’s 6pm flight. With Level 2 freshly underway, the clock shows 235 strong with many South Florida regulars among the field early.

Here’s a look at some of the familiar faces in the ballroom:

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 Ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 90 of 403

With ten minutes remaining in Level 14, tournament staff paused the clock and announced they would play three more hands before bagging up.

Less than 90 players remain at ten tables and we’ll drop near 80 when the official numbers are set.

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50
Flight B Entrants: 184

With nearly 200 entries only 10 minutes into kickoff, Flight B of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open $360 buy-in, $1,000,000 guarantee is following in the footsteps of Flight A. As a matter of fact, it’s slightly ahead of pace of its 11am predecessor which went on to draw a stout field of 403 entries.

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 13: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 Ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 99 of 403

The last downstairs table broke after the final break and they’ve lost another one upstairs since then to get the field under 100 for the first time since before the start of play.

A little over 30 minutes remain in the day and anyone with chips after Level 14 will have a few days off before Day 2 rolls around on Sunday afternoon.

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50

The second flight of Event 1 kicks off at the top of the hour when we get our ballroom action underway for the first time this series. The opening flight drew a very nice 403 entrants in the Poker Room this morning and we expect another nice group this evening.

Event 1 has a $360 buy-in with a huge $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. This is the second of eight starting flights which run from now until Saturday evening.

Each entrant will sit down to a 20,000 starting stack and they will play 30-minute levels throughout the day. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 around 10:30pm. Action will continue through 14 full levels and anyone with chips remaining will put them in a bag for a Sunday Day 2 return.

They will kick things off at 6pm and attempt to join the Flight A crown for some Sunday poker.

• $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
• Event 1 Structure Sheet

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 12: 800/1,600 with a 200 Ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 117 of 403

Only two tables remain downstairs as they move through Level 12 and those won’t last long. We’ll soon have everyone upstairs and aiming for a chip bag.

Paul Balzano has been quietly making his way through the day and he’s one deep run from a milestone. With more than $900,000 in career earnings, he could hit seven-figures with a final table appearance. Balzano is no stranger to SHRP success with five of his eight tournament titles coming here. He won a $150 Deepstacks event a few weeks ago and followed that up with a televised WPT final table appearance.

$360 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 Ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 126 of 403

Flight A players are on their final break of the day, a quick 10-minute respite from play with only a little more work to get done. They’ll return and play three more levels before bagging up.

There are still a few tables in action downstairs but they should break quickly to join as one upstairs.