WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 967

On a flop of , Vimy Ha checked from middle position and the cutoff checked as well the button bet 1,800 and both Ha and the cutoff called. The turn was the and action checked to the button again.

The button bet 4,200 and Ha called. The cutoff folded and they were heads-up to the river. Both players checked and Ha tabled .

The button mucked his hand and Ha took the pot after rivering a queen. Ha won the $570 No Limit Hold’em Double Black Chip Bounty a few days ago and and chipped up back over his original 30,000 starting stack.

Vimy Ha – 36,000 (90 bb)

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 Ante
Total Entries: 967

Maria Ho opened to 1,100 in early position, and the player on the button called. From the small blind, Loni Harwood three-bet to 4,700. Ho asked Harwood to lift her arms to eyeball her stack, then four-bet to what looked like 10,400. The button folded, and Harwood moved all in for about 45,000 total. Ho snap-folded, dropping about a third of her stack without seeing the flop.

Loni Harwood – 57,000 (143 bb)
Maria Ho – 20,225 (51 bb)

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 Ante
Total Entries: 950

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 Ante
Total Entries: 941

The room is so packed with players that we’re still stumbling on new and familiar faces in the crowd. Here are three more WSOP Main Event Champions that were recently spotted in the field:

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 Ante
Total Entries: 933

While the top five stacks are sitting over 100K, there are plenty of big names and local players trying to catch them. Below are a few, but not all, of the interesting names we found on a quick walk-around.

Random notable stacks:

Eric Afriat – 96,150 (321 bb)
Ryan Tepen – 86,850 (290 bb)
Joe McKeehen – 81,925 (273 bb)
Tim West – 54,800 (183 bb)
Neil Blumenfield – 54,375 (181 bb)
Greg Merson – 54,175 (181 bb)
Jake Bazeley – 45,000 (150 bb)
Matt Stout – 44,850 (150 bb)
Darryll Fish – 43,775 (146 bb)
Tom Marchese – 42,825 (143 bb)
Jason Mercier – 41,900 (140 bb)
Loni Harwood – 39,850 (133 bb)
Tyler Patterson – 39,750 (133 bb)
Tristan Wade – 39,075 (130 bb)
Anthony Zinno – 34,600 (115 bb)
Ryan Eriquezzo – 33,500 (112 bb)
Kane Kalas – 32,925 (110 bb)
Jacquelyn Scott – 32,400 (108 bb)
Christian Harder – 31,900 (106 bb)
Maria Ho – 27,525 (92 bb)
Tony Dunst – 25,900 (86 bb)
Nancy Birnbaum – 24,775 (83 bb)
Matt Affleck – 24,050 (80 bb)
Asher Conniff – 21,075 (70 bb)
Allen Kessler – 20,900 (70 bb)
Chance Kornuth – 20,050 (67 bb)
Robert Mizrachi – 18,250 (61 bb)
Natasha Barbout – 13,150 (44 bb)
DJ MacKinnon – 13,025 (43 bb)

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 Ante
Total Entries: 920

Players returned from break and ready to play two more levels before dinner. We found five stacks in the room that reached 100,000 or higher.

Two-time WSOP Circuit event winner Kevin Calenzo is the latest chip leader with Justin Young, David Farber, Paul Balzano, and Philip Woerner rounding out the top five.

Kevin Calenzo – 136,650 (456 bb)
Justin Young – 114,300 (381 bb)
David Farber – 110,700 (369 bb)
Paul Balzano – 103,025 (343 bb)
Philip Woerner – 100,000 (333 bb)

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
End of Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 882

Championship players are on their second break of the day with 900 entrants on the horizon. The next big milestone comes with the 938 entrants to put the prize pool over $3 million.

Poker pro/Amazing Race star Maria Ho is here today and one nice score from moving over the $2 million mark for career earnings. Her biggest result came with a runner-up finish in the 2011 WSOP $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event, out-lasting everyone in the field except Allen Bari.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 860

There are poker stars everywhere we look in the room, you can’t aim a camera without one champion or another showing up in the viewfinder.

We’ve added another WSOP Main Event champion to the field when Joe Hachem took his seat in the Championship. He won his title in 2005 and was the last player to raise the Main Event bracelet at Binion’s in downtown Las Vegas.

Hachem has over $12 million in earnings with only $7.5 million of it coming from the WSOP Main Event title. Less than 18 months after winning the biggest prize in poker, Hachem earned a WPT title at the 2006 Five Diamond World Poker Classic for another $2.5 million.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 844

The Championship field continues to grow and the prize pool went right past $2.7 million in the fourth level. With seven hours left to register or re-enter, we’re going to be awarding some huge money when the tournament is complete.

One of the latest entrants was Jason Mercier, considered to be one of the very best players in the game. He has more than $16 million in career tournament earnings, three WSOP bracelets, one EPT title, dozens of six-digit payouts, and he leads the all-time tournament cash list for Florida-based players.

One thing missing from his impressive résumé, a World Poker Tour title. Mercier closest call to getting on Champions Cup was an 11th place finish in the 2010 WPT World Poker Finals.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 815

We’ve had a chance to look over the entire field and grabbed more than a handful of chip counts, both big and notable.

We also have another new Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member, patched up and playing. Loni Harwood is the reigning WSOP National Champion and now representing us in the big games.

Top stacks and notable names:

Justin Young – 91,450 (610 bb)
Eric Afriat – 91,300 (609 bb)
Philip Woerner – 80,900 (539 bb)
Wendy Freeman – 73,475 (490 bb)
Danny Nguyen – 69,250 (462 bb)
Bruce Kramer – 69,200 (461 bb)
Paul Balzano – 60,525 (404 bb)
Barry Hutter – 59,575 (397 bb)
Tim West – 51,575 (344 bb)
Jamie Gold – 50,850 (339 bb)
Jacquelyn Scott – 46,000 (307 bb)
Matt Stout – 45,375 (303 bb)
Nipun Java – 45,050 (300 bb)
Darryll Fish – 41,100 (274 bb)
David Diaz – 39,350 (262 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 37,375 (249 bb)
Stewart Newman – 36,125 (241 bb)
Esther Taylor – 35,600 (237 bb)
Kane Kalas – 35,250 (235 bb)
Ian O’Hara – 35,150 (234 bb)
Wally Maddah – 34,375 (229 bb)
Brent Roberts – 34,200 (228 bb)
Eric Baldwin – 33,375 (223 bb)
Ryan Riess – 32,875 (219 bb)
Tony Cousineau – 31,475 (210 bb)
Jared Jaffe – 30,650 (204 bb)
Christian Harder – 30,525 (204 bb)
Marvin Rettenmaier – 30,000 (200 bb)
Tony Dunst – 29,850 (199 bb)
Loni Harwood – 29,225 (195 bb)
Hunter Cichy – 28,850 (192 bb)
Mukul Pahuja – 28,725 (192 bb)
Mohsin Charania – 28,650 (191 bb)
Jessica Dawley – 27,300 (182 bb)
Jason Mercier – 26,625 (178 bb)
Cate Hall – 25,650 (171 bb)
TK Miles – 24,325 (162 bb)
Neil Blumenfield – 23,950 (160 bb)
Yevgeniy Timonshenko – 21,425 (143 bb)
Tristan Wade – 20,800 (139 bb)
David Prociak – 20,675 (138 bb)
Michael Laake – 18,525 (124 bb)
DJ MacKinnon – 18,475 (123 bb)
Asher Conniff – 14,000 (93 bb)