Event 5 Day 1D: Mash Leads Flight

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
End of Level 14: 800/1,600 with a 400 Ante
Flight 1D Entries: 283
Players Remaining: 31

Play has come to an end in the fourth flight of Event 5 with 31 players advancing to Day 2 tomorrow afternoon.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker regular Howard Mash finished the flight as the leader with 225,000 followed closely by Mark Gaudino at 214,500. Mash has two tournament titles and they came in back-to-back days during the 2015 Coco Poker Open.

That was a fine heater.

Official chip counts will be posted as soon as they are available.

Event 5 Day 1E: Correa Ahead at Break

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 Ante
Flight 1E Entries: 335

Gregorio Correa (Pembroke Pines, FL)
Gregorio Correa (Pembroke Pines, FL)

Players in Flight E are back from the first break of day as the prize pool continues to climb. Gregorio Correa is the early leader and closing in on 50,000 along with Timonthy Harrington.

Correa has one recorded cash to his credit, and it was in this event a few months ago during the Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open.

Top stacks and notable names:

Gregorio Correa – 47,950 (160 bb)
Timothy Harrington – 44,950 (150 bb)
Nathan Adler – 44,725 (149 bb)
Will O’Connor – 40,950 (137 bb)
Daryan Warner – 36,350 (121 bb)
John Palace – 34,725 (116 bb)
Jon Borenstein – 28,275 (94 bb)
Ido Ashkenazi – 21,725 (72 bb)
David Inselberg – 14,925 (50 bb)
Eric Rivkin – 7,250 (24 bb)

Event 5 Day 1E: Guarantee Hit

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Flight 1E Entries: 300

Ryan Eriquezzo (New Haven, CT)
Ryan Eriquezzo (New Haven, CT)

Players are on their first break of the day right after Event 5 officially surpassed the $150,000 guaranteed prize pool. Every new entrant from now through Flight F will push that number higher.

Former WSOP National Champion Ryan Eriquezzo is back in the ballroom. He had a deep run in Event 1 but ran into problems after the money bubble.  We’re starting to see more top players jump into the small buy-in, big prize pool field as the day gets older.

Event 5 Day 1D: Maddah Climbing the Counts

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 Ante
Flight 1D Entries: 283
Players Remaining: 57

Wally Maddah (Palm Harbor, FL)
Wally Maddah (Palm Harbor, FL)

On one side of the room we have Flight E climbing closer to the $150,000 Guarantee, the other side of the room has Flight D dropping quickly. Only 57 of the starting 283 entrants are still around with more than three levels to go in the day.

Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Poker ambassador Wally Maddah is making the most of his day. He’s increased his starting stack tenfold and contending for the end-of-flight lead.

Event 5 Day 1E: Almost There

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 Ante
Flight 1E Entries: 245

Jon Borenstein (Teaneck, NJ)
Jon Borenstein (Teaneck, NJ)

The race is on. Can Event 5 go over the $150,000 guaranteed prize pool in the afternoon flight or will it be a few players short heading into the evening game? Either way it’s a lock there will be more than $150,000 when registration closes for good on Event 5 tonight at 10:15.

Jon Borenstein is sitting in the second flight of the day after skipping the earlier run. He can be excused if he’s a little tired today. Borenstein played two long days in a row on his way to a third place finish in Event 1 last night.

Event 5 Day 1E: Inching Closer

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: 50/100
Flight 1E Entries: 150

David Inselberg (New York, NY)
David Inselberg (New York, NY)

The Flight E entrant count is quickly climbing and we’re on pace to top the morning session. If that happens, we’ll start piling money on top of the $150,000 Guarantee.

We found David Inselberg grinding away in the middle of the room and a nice run here in Event 5 can put him over $1 million in career tournament earnings. He picked up a trophy during the 2012 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown and his biggest cash came when he finished one spot short of winning a WPT title in the 2010 World Poker Finals.

Event 5 Day 1E: Fifth Flight Underway

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50

Registration closed on Flight D at 2:15pm and Flight E kicked off 45 minutes later. There’s still plenty of time to get a piece of the $150,000 guaranteed prize pool and the $150 buy-in is a good value.

The first four flights drew a combined 965 entrants to leave the tournament 285 shy of hitting that guarantee. The 3pm field will race against that number but it will be hit early in the 7pm flight if they don’t get there this afternoon.

Entrants sit down to 10,000 starting stacks and play 30 minute levels throughout the day. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 7 at 6:15pm. Play will conclude at the end of Level 14 and survivors will move on to Day 2 tomorrow.

Combined Chip Counts Through Flight C

  • $150,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 10,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 7
  • Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
  • Event 5 Structure Sheet

Event 5 Day 1D: Registration Closed

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 7: 250/500 with a 75 Ante
Flight 1D Entries: 283
Players Remaining: 117

Registration closed for Flight D and the fourth run drew 283 entrants. There are 117 of them still around with a chance to bag later tonight and we expect it to drop into the 30s before then.

That entrant count gets us very close to hitting the $150,000 guaranteed prize pool and we only need 285 over the next two flights to get there.

Event 5 Day 1D: Ready to Close Reg

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 Ante
Flight 1D Entries: 270

Johanssy Joseph (Mansfield, CT)
Johanssy Joseph (Mansfield, CT)

Flight D is midway through Level 6 which only leaves 15 minutes for players to enter. But have no fear, Flight E is set to kick off at 3pm for the next chance.

Johannsy Joseph is cruising along and trying to add a Florida-based title to his credit. He’s taken home trophies from Massachusetts and New Jersey tournaments but still looking for a shiny Seminole Hard Rock Poker trophy. Joseph came close to earning one last night but fell short at the $350 Black Chip Bounty final table.