$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight A Entries: 420

Flight A players are taking their second break of the day and tournament staff informed us that they are ahead of pace now when compared to last year’s opening flight of the WPTDeepStacks Main Event.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight A Entries: 417

David Prociak knows how to close out a tournament. The reigning Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year played a little PLO warm-up yesterday and, at the end of the day, he picked up his fourth SHRP title in Event 5.

The win also gave Prociak a title from each of our last three series; 2016 SHRPO Pot Limit Omaha, 2016 RRPO H.O.R.S.E., and 2017 LHPO Pot Limit Omaha.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight A Entries: 392

The Flight A group is close to topping 400 entries and we are right on pace to top last year’s record-setting attendance.

Among them is former WPT champ Oliver Busquet fresh from winning a little cash in the Bahamas. He took the quick hop across the Straits of Florida to mix it up in the WPTDeepStacks Main Event in Hollywood. Busquet was a heads-up king in the heady, golden days of online poker and he used those skills to overcome a big deficit against Jeremy Brown to capture his WPT title in 2009 at the Borgata.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Flight A Entries: 374

The last time we saw Jerry Wong in the ballroom, he was walking away from the payout desk with a ticket for $250,000 to take to the cage. He was the last player standing in the huge opening Ultimate Re-Entry event after dominating the final table and holding 42 of the 66 million chips in play when it was four-handed.

The 2016 WSOP November Niner picked up the third-biggest cash and he could bump that down a spot with a win in the WPTDeepStacks Main Event.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Flight A Entries: 355

Players returned to their seats after the first break and everyone is chasing Tyler Bonkowski at the top of the counts. The 2011 WSOP bracelet winner already owned the biggest stack in the room and added another 4,000 when he knocked out a short stack shortly after the restart, his out racing .

Francis Margaglione and Hany Ayoud are his closest competitors in early action but there’s plenty of time for anyone to catch him.

Top stacks and notables:

Tyler Bonkowski – 83,000 (415 bb)
Francis Margaglione – 73,275 (366 bb)
Hany Ayoub – 73,000 (365 bb)
Giuseppe Iadisernia – 64,600 (323 bb)
George Hortelano – 60,000 (300 bb)
Daren Stabinski – 57,600 (288 bb)
Raminder Singh – 52,500 (263 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui – 51,700 (259 bb)
Eli Levy – 48,500 (243 bb)
Michael LaRocca – 36,500 (183 bb)
Olivier Busquet – 34,600 (173 bb)
Staffan Lind – 29,000 (145 bb)
Zo Karim – 27,500 (138 bb)
Marsha Wolak – 27,000 (135 bb)
Brett Bader – 26,450 (132 bb)
Loni Harwood – 26,400 (132 bb)
Peter Walsworth – 21,000 (105 bb)
Jake Bazeley – 20,000 (100 bb)
Wally Maddah – 11,150 (56 bb)

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Flight A Entries: 340

Main Event players are on their first break of the day as the count inches up towards 350 and nearing last year’s opening number.

We’ll take this opportunity to find our early big stacks and notables.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Flight A Entries: 309

The entrant count ticked over 300 at the start of Level 3 and one of the new entries belongs to our defending champion Salomon Ponte. The 2016 Seminole Lucky Hearts WPTDeepStacks winner spent some time chatting with folks before taking his seat in the game.

Ponte outlast 1,485 others enroute to his victory at a final table that included Harrison Gimbel, Ryan D’Angelo, Zach Goodman, Mike LaRocca, and Paul Balzano.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 2: 75/150
Flight A Entries: 269

The count continues to increase at a nice, steady pace and we found two-time WSOP bracelet winner Loni Harwood sporting a fancy new patch on her arm. She represented Seminole Hard Rock Poker last summer but she’s now a full-fledged team member.

Harwood made a big splash during the 2013 World Series of Poker when she cashed six times, made three final tables, and won her first bracelet. Not to sit on her laurels, she followed up that performance with another bracelet in the 2015 WSOP National Championship.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 2: 75/150
Flight A Entries: 248

The Day 1A field continues to fill in with early players getting in the game to get as much bang from their buy-in buck. Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Sheddy Siddiqui was here at the start and grinding away.

One of my FAVORITE events of the year has just begun here @shrpo
The @WPTDeepStacks million dollar Main Event #ShedRock

— Sheddy (@Sheddy88) January 19, 2017

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event
Level 1: 50/100
Flight A Entries: 226

Isaac Kratchman had a pretty solid start to his WPTDeepStacks Main Event. Sitting at one of the edge tables, we walked up to see the board already out and showing a straight flush to the ten.

Kratchman bet out 4,500 on the river and got a quick call from his opponent playing the board while Kratchman flipped over to drag the jack-high straight flush pot. The hand occurred shortly after the start and Kratchman is up to 33,700 from his starting 25,000.