$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante Total Players Remaining: 198 of 369
Registration has closed on the first flight of Event 10 and it’s a very nice number. The morning session drew 369 entrants to set a nice pace for the next five flights.
Less than 200 remain but those who left us already can jump back in for the second flight at 6pm.
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 8: 300/600 with a 75 ante Total Entries: 352
Players are taking off on the second break of the day and registration will close down when they restart. The clock shows more than 350 in so far and we should pick up a few before the come back to the tables.
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante Total Entries: 315
The Flight A field crossed the 300 entrant mark late in Level 6 and on an easy pass to hit the average we need to blast past the $1 million guarantee.
We starting to see some new faces in the ballroom today including Jacob Bazeley back in town looking for his second major SHRP title. He only cashed once during the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” but it was a big one, winning the Championship for nearly $569,000.
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 ante Total Entries: 280
Players are back in their seats and the clock is running. The entrant count is clicking closer to 300 with two more hours remaining to register or re-enter.
David Lithgow returns to the biggest stack in the room, more than quadrupling his 20,000 starting stack in two hours of action. Level 1 leader Francis Margaglione didn’t fair as well in the next three levels and dropped beneath a starting stack after his early double.
Top stacks and notable names:
David Lithgow – 80,300 (268 bb) Gregg Fund – 66,500 (222 bb) David Shaw – 61,000 (203 bb) Luiz Guimares – 61,000 (203 bb) Maurice Millares – 60,950 (203 bb) Kenneth Bruno – 49,300 (164 bb) Thayer Rassmussen – 43,200 (144 bb) Marty Robbins – 39,900 (133 bb) Eli Levy – 37,000 (123 bb) Ari Engel – 28,550 (95 bb) Jacob Bazeley – 28,325 (94 bb) Francis Margaglione – 14,975 (50 bb) David Jackson – 9,625 (32 bb)
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 ante Total Entries: 220
We walked up to one of the edge tables just in time to see Gregg Fund drag a big pot. He was all-in with jacks and they held to move him up to 37,000.
We then looked across the table to see who was paying him off and it was none other than three-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Hasting, back in the ballroom for the first time this series.
Hastings already had some impressive results, both live and online, before last summer’s WSOP but he really kicked them up since then. Hastings has 17 WSOP cashes, two WSOP bracelets (one week apart), and two other final table appearances since the 2015 World Series of Poker.
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 2: 50/100 Total Entries: 168
The ballroom is filling in nicely in the early levels with friends, regulars, and a few new faces. Eight-time WSOP Circuit winner Ari Engel hopped in the game early along with Marty Robbins, Marsha Wolak, and friends.
It’s a nice pace to start the $1,000,000 guaranteed event and we’re looking at a big number when reg closes on the event Saturday evening.
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 2: 50/100 Total Entries: 131
It didn’t take long to find the biggest stack in the room during the first level. It’s sitting right up front at Table 1 with Francis Margaglione.
The two-time SHRP champion was still talking about the hand as we walked around his table. It turns out he found an opponent willing to shove into his huge flush/straight draw with the almighty six-deuce. Margaglione held to send (most likely) the first person out of Event 10 while he moved his stack over 41,000.
Margaglione won his first two SHRP titles last year. The first coming in the $200 Deep Stack Turbo in the summer of 2015 during this series and followed that up with a win in the huge-field $150 buy-in tournament during the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” in November.
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Level 1: 25/50
The first week of the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open is in the books and now the schedule really ramps up ahead of The Big 4 Weekend.
For the next three days, there is nothing else on the main event schedule except for one, big guaranteed tournament. Event 10 is the mid-series offering and it has a huge $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool for a $570 buy-in.
They will come from all around to play the six starting flights, trying to book their way to Day 2 and a chance at a huge payout.
Every entrant sits down to 20,000 starting stacks and they’ll play 30-minute levels throughout Day 1. Late registration is open until the start of Level 9 at 3:30pm but another flight starts at 6pm if they bust out. Play will conclude at the end of Level 14 and those still with chips will return on Sunday for Day 2.
The early players are taking their seats and cards will fly at 11am sharp.
$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