$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Level 4: 100/200/25 Players: 399
Level 4 is underway. Here are some notable chip counts from the break:
Alexander Vhanas – 44,450 Tom Thomas – 42,000 Blake Bohn – 40,000 Mike Wang – 35,800 Shannon Shorr – 32,000 Ryan Tepen – 29,700 Matt Stout – 27,000 Harrison Gimbel – 26,200 Jonathan Little – 26,000 Jake Cody – 25,300 Scott Clements – 25,050 Kane Kalas – 25,000 Nick Yunis – 24,675 Melanie Weisner – 24,600 Brian Hastings – 24,000 Anthony Spinella – 23,900 Darren Rabinowitz – 23,000 Jason Wheeler – 20,400 Darryll Fish – 20,225 Scott Davies – 19,600 Mike Leah – 19,950 Vinny Pahuja – 19,400 Ryan Olisar – 19,000 Allen Kessler – 18,600 Joe McKeehen – 18,550 Mukul Pahuja – 16,000 Jonathan Duhamel – 14,500 Jennifer Tilly – 10,800
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 ante Players: 399
Charlemagne Benjamin and Abbey Daniels are regulars of the Seminole Hard Rock poker room. The pair takes a shot in the majority of the property’s in house events as well as their SHRP series. They’re among a field of roughly 380 entries to this point and both looking for a title on their home turf.
Charlemagne Benjamin – 33,500 Abbey Daniels – 7,000
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 ante Players: 399
On a flop of , the small blind checked and Darryll Fish bet from the big blind. The small blind called.
Both players checked the turn card and the came on the river. The small blind checked and Fish bet 2,000. The small blind quickly folded and Fish took the pot.
The SHRPO team member mucked his hand and moved back over starting stack as the field heads on their first break of the day.
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Level 3: 75/150/25 Players: 399
Kathy Liebert, who currently sits second on the Women’s All-Time Money List with over $6 million in winnings, raised to 400 from middle position and action folded to Ryan Laplante, who if you recall won a gold bracelet this summer at the World Series of Poker.
Laplante opted to defend and then both players checked the flop. After the dealer burned and turned the , Laplante led out for 800 and a short-stacked Liebert took her time before moving all in for 4,625 total. That did the trick as Laplante quickly released.
Meanwhile, Ludovic Geilich was eliminated from the tournament. He was crippled after getting it in with a pair and flush draw, which was bested by an overpair. Geilich’s few remaining chips disappeared a short time later.
For those unfamiliar with Geilich, he is an accomplished European pro who speaks with a strong Scottish accent, though he considers himself both Scottish and German (he has a parent from each country).
A proficient snooker player, Geilich topped a field of 499 entires earlier this year to win the 2016 Wynn Classic Main Event for $150,662. Geilich has nearly $1.3 million in lifetime earnings, but of course he won’t be adding to that in this event.
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Level 2: 75/150 Players: 366
On a flop of , Kane Kalas bet 1,900 out of the small blind and a player in early position called.
Both players checked the turn and the came on the river. Kalas bet 3,700 and his opponent called. Kalas showed , good for jacks full, and his opponent mucked.
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Level 2: 75/150 Players: 356
Chance Kornuth, who a few days back won the Charity Series of Poker event here at SHRPO for $5,000, was just eliminated from the tournament.
“He took a chance,” Mike Leah explained after his departure. “He took a chance with a combination draw.”
Ryan Tepen, who was also at the same table, was kind enough to shed some light on the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Team Member’s departure.
As he told it, Kornuth had raised to 400 only to have Joe Hwang three-bet to 1,600 from the button. Both blinds folded, Kornuth called, and the flop came down .
Kornuth checked, Hwang bet 1,650, and Kornuth sprung to life with a check-raise to 4,500. Hwang made the call and was soon put to the test as Kornuth shoved for roughly 16,000 on the turn. Hwang hit the tank and eventually made the call.
Hwang: Kornuth:
Hwang was ahead with top pair, but Kornuth was drawing strong to both an open-ended straight and a flush. The dealer burned one last time and put out the . It was a dud as far as Kornuth was concerned, and he hastily gathered his things before making a beeline for the door.
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Level 2: 75/150 Players: 350
There is about 11,000 in the middle on the river with a completed board of .
Joseph Cheong bet 7,175 from under the gun and the cutoff moved all in for about 22,500, which was more than enough to cover Cheong’s remaining 10,000.
Cheong thought for a minute before calling. The cutoff showed , good for the nut straight, and Chong showed .
Cheong’s set wasn’t good enough to stay alive and hit the rail halfway through the second level.
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Level 2: 50/100
The Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood ballrooms are often littered with the SHRPO patches of #TeamSHRP, and today’s $2,650 is no exception. Joining the team early in the event, though, are some family members of the property’s pros — Vineet Pahuja and Joel Harwood.
Vinny is the brother of pro Mukul Pahuja and is quite the player in his own right. He owns more than $2,000,000 in earnings much of which came over the course of his eight career tournament victories.
Joel, meanwhile, is the father of Loni Harwood. Joel taught Loni how to play poker and has a solid resume making more than 30 final tables throughout his career.
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Level 2: 75/150 Players: 321
There are plenty of players worth knowing in today’s field, but we thought we’d single out a few we recommend keeping an eye on.
Ryan Laplante – What a year it has been for Laplante, who earlier this summer notched an astounding 12 cashes during the 2016 World Series of Poker. The best result? That would be a win in Event #12: $565 Pot-Limit Omaha for $190,328 and his first gold bracelet.
The day after his win at his bracelet ceremony, Laplante, an openly gay poker player, made a heartfelt speech in the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history where 49 people lost their lives inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.
“I am so proud to call myself a World Series of Poker champion,” Laplante said battling back tears. “I’m proud to call myself an openly gay man. I encourage all of you to be proud of who you are.”
Laplante, who has been playing since 2011, is already having a career year with $287,556 in winnings thus far in 2016. His previous best was $234,604 back in 2014.
Nick Yunis – Only two players from Chile have amassed more than $1 million in earnings. Nicolas Fierro sits atop the South American country’s all-time money list with more than $1.7 million in lifetime earnings, while Yunis is in second with $1,152,604.
Just a couple days ago, Yunis finished third in Event #21: $300 Charity Series of Poker, which earned him $2,000. Before that, he was in Vegas for the 2016 World Series of Poker where he put together six cashes, including a sixth-place finish in Event #9: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Championship for $56,202.
As far as his overall poker résumé is concerned, Yunis’ career-best score was $249,152 for winning the 2015 World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic Event #12: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em. The only other six-figure score of his came right here at Seminole Hard Rock when he placed fifth in April’s WPT SHRP Showdown High Roller for $133,950.
Ari Engel – If you’ve spent any time on the tournament circuit, there’s no doubt you’ve crossed paths with Ari Engel. All he does is travel from stop to stop playing poker, and it seems all he does when there is win.
Engel has eight WSOP Circuit gold rings to his credit, which ties him with Valentin Vornicu and Chris Reslock, though that triumvirate trails Alex Masek’s by a single ring. While Engel is a Circuit beast, he established himself as a powerhouse earlier this year when he won the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event for $1,120,110.
Most recently – three days ago to be exact – Engel came out on top of the SHRPO Event #19: $1,650 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up for $22,400. Only time will tell if Engel can capture another title in this event.