Event 1 Day 1A: Barbour Back in Town

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200/200 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 370
Players Remaining: 130

Natasha Barbour is back in the ballroom
Natasha Barbour is back in the ballroom

Cruising right along here  in Flight A and we expect about half of the remaining 130 players to be around by the time they finish up after Level 14. A few of the big names dropped out already but Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Natasha Barbour is still battling her late-entry stack.

Barbour is a recent addition to the SHR Poker team and her $633,000 in career earnings made it an easy decision. She earned a WSOP Circuit ring in 2010, a WSOP Circuit Ladies title in 2013, and the PCA Women’s trophy a few months ago in the Bahamas.

Event 1 Day 1A: The Boss is Working

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 10: 500/1,000/100 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 370
Players Remaining: 153

Dan Suied (Miami, FL)
Dan Suied (Miami, FL)

Flight A is quickly playing down even with the average stack hovering around 50 big blinds. We have 17 full tables remaining with 153 players aiming to bag chips at the end of Level 14.

Dan “Miami Boss” Suied was a late entrant this afternoon and trying to run up his score. His biggest tournament cash came in a series-opening tournament when he took home $110,000 for beating the 2,888-strong Event 1 field during the 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.

Event 1 Day 1A: Closed Reg; Newman Doubles Late

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 9: 400/800/100 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 370

Stewart Newman (Coral Gables, FL)
Stewart Newman (Coral Gables, FL)

Registration closed when cards went in the air for Level 9 and the official number is 370 entrants for the opening flight. That’s a great start and puts Event 1 well on course to blast the $500,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Stewart Newman was one of the late entrants in Flight A but made the most of it as soon as he took his seat. He put up his buy-in shortly before the second break and doubled his 20K starting stack on the very first hand.

Event 1 Day 1A: Registration Closing

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 360

Nancy Birnbaum (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Nancy Birnbaum (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

Players are on their second break of the day as tournament staff color off the quarter chips and prepare to close down registration for Flight A. We ran into Nancy Birnbaum at the start of the day and she’s cruising along.

Birnbaum has over $600,000 in tournament earnings along with three WSOP Circuit rings (almost five with her two runner-up finishes). She’s one of our regular faces in the crowd and her last cash here came with a final table appearance during January’s Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Event 8.

Event 1 Day 1A: Borenstein Picks the Showdown

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 340

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

Flight A is in its last level with open registration and 350 is looking like a lock with more players buying in and re-entering. We caught up with Jon Borenstein in the front of the room, moments before he busted his first bullet in the game. He fired again and grinding away.

Borenstein spent a little time in the tropics before coming back to the states for a WSOP Circuit series in Los Angeles. Instead of going back to Costa Rica to relax, he decided to come across the country for a little Showdown action.

Borenstein started off his 2016 in fine fashion with a sixth place finish in the big Borgata $2 Million Deep Stacks for $86,000. In 2015 he cashed three times for five-digit paydays including a PCA Main Event final table appearance and seventh place result in the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $2,650 Freezeout as part of the Big 4 tournaments.

Event 1 Day 1A: Harwood Looking for More Hardware

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 7: 250/500/75 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 325

Loni Harwood (Staten Island, NY)
Loni Harwood (Staten Island, NY)

Flight A is moving steadily towards a possible 350 entrants for the opening session. That would be a great start with five more flights to go. More top players are taking their shot today including Loni Harwood.

Harwood has the biggest results in the room right now and has more success in her early career than many pros will have in their lifetime. She holds two WSOP bracelets, two WSOP Circuit rings, and a Seminole Hard Rock trophy.

Harwood won her first WSOP bracelet in 2013 during a summer that saw her make two other final tables among her five cashes. She followed that bracelet up with a WSOP National Championship title last summer to push her over $1,000,000 in career earnings.

Event 1 Day 1A: Jackson Firing Away

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 6: 200/400/50 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 300

David Jackson (Jacksonville, FL)
David Jackson (Jacksonville, FL)

David Jackson is one of our more successful regulars we find during our big events. He’s here often and he’s here early.

Jackson has over $725,000 in career earnings including tournament cashes around the country. He has a handful of final tables appearances here and WSOP Circuit events but his two biggest came in Las Vegas during the summer of 2014. He won a Phamous Poker event to start his June that year and ended it with a fourth place finish in the WSOP $1,500 buy-in Event 55.

Event 1 Day 1A: Cabrera Leads Early

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 5: 150/300/50 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 280

Edwin Cabrera (Miami, FL) has a big early lead in Flight A
Edwin Cabrera (Miami, FL) has a big early lead in Flight A

Flight A crossed over 275 entrants during the break and they’re back in their seats ready to play another two hours before registration is closed for the early session.

Miami’s Edwin Cabrera made the most out of his first four levels, running up his 20K starting stack over 80,000 in two hours. That’s a great start to the day but there’s plenty of time for the other players to catch him.

Thomas Collazo is his nearest competitor with 65,750 and Ross Willner isn’t far behind. Collazo finished fourth in this event during the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” for a cool $56,000.

Top stacks and notables:

Edwin Cabrera – 85,375 (285 bb)
Thomas Collazo – 65,750 (219 bb)
Ross Willner – 60,275 (201 bb)
Alejandro Duque – 58,900 (196 bb)
Gary Bodley – 55,550 (185 bb)
Joelle Guarino – 46,775 (156 bb)
Nancy Birnbaum – 32,000 (107 bb)
Kim Stone – 27,900 (93 bb)
John Depersio – 22,625 (75 bb)
Steven Bennett – 21,450 (72 bb)
David Jackson – 19,525 (65 bb)

Thomas Collazo (Davie, FL)
Thomas Collazo (Davie, FL)

Event 1 Day 1A: First Break

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 245

Robert Campbell (Miami, FL) tossing in chips
Robert Campbell (Miami, FL) tossing in chips

Players are heading off on their first break of the day and we’ll take this chance to walk the empty room looking for our leaders.

Robert Campbell is having an open-and-down first few levels but can never be counted out. The local poker pro has over a dozen tournament wins to his credit, most of the Omaha/8 variety, but the biggest score of Campbell’s career came with a 30th place finish (out of 6,683 players) in the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Event 1 Day 1A: Carnero Joins Big Field

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150/25 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 225

Martin Carnero (Davie, FL)
Martin Carnero (Davie, FL)

We’re starting to see some of our more successful regulars join the 225 entrants in early action.

Martin Carnero jumped in and looking for his first Seminole Hard Rock Poker trophy. Even without a first place finish, he still has some huge results among his $228,000 in career earnings. He finished second in this tournament during last year’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown and ended his year with a final table fourth place finish in the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” Championship Event.

Flight A is one level away from hitting the first break of the day and we’ll start looking for our early leaders.