$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 36 of 274

Jordan Meltzer raises to 35,000 from middle position, leaving himself with just 5,500 behind. The player in the cutoff moves all in for about 65,000 and action folds back to Meltzer, who calls.

They have to wait for the action at all of the other tables to finish before the hands can be turned up, but they verbally let each other know that they both have the same hand.

When the cards are turned up, Meltzer shows and his opponent shows .

The flop is , which gives Meltzer the freeroll with a flush draw. The turn is the , changing nothing, but the river is the and Meltzer doubles up with the nut flush. Hand-for-hand play continues.

Jordan Meltzer – 88,500

$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
End of Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante
Players Remaining: 36 of 274

Just before the end of level 14, the field got down to its final six tables and they went hand-for-hand. After just two hands, the level ended and the players are taking a 15-minute break.

Oleg Vasylchenko continues to pace the field and heads to the break with 380,000 in chips.

When they return, blinds will be 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante. After one more elimination, the final 35 players will be in the money.

$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 13: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 Ante
Players Remaining: 45 of 274

Action folded around to the blinds where James Salmon raised to 5,000 in the small and Evan Teitelbaum three-bet to 15,000 in the big. Salmon called the remainder, and off they went.

The flop was . Salmon checked, and Teitelbaum moved all in for 30,500 effective. Salmon instantly called all in for that amount, putting himself at risk.

Salmon: (set of aces)
Teitelbaum: (straight draw)

The turn and river completed the board with blanks, and Salmon doubled up with aces full.

James Salmon – 92,800 (46 bb)
Evan Teitelbaum – 15,000 (8 bb)

$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 13: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 Ante
Players Remaining: 45 of 274

Ronit Chamani opened the pot with a raise, and Brian England three-bet to 11,300 next to act. Chamani four-bet shoved for 54,900 total, and England called to put her at risk.

Chamani:
England:

Chamami won the flip as the board ran out , and she doubled up with a pair of aces.

Ronit Chamani – 114,600 (57 bb)
Brian England – 45,000 (23 bb)

$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
End of Level 12: 800/1,600 with a 200 Ante
Players Remaining: 48 of 274

Level 12 concluded, and the field was sent on their scheduled dinner break, set to return to action just before 7:15 p.m.

Oleg Vasylchenko and Elilton Gouveia have opened up a big lead over the chase pack with 48 players remaining. Vasylchenko is a Ukrainian pro with a WPT title under his belt and close to $250,000 in career tournament earnings. He and Gouveia, who was mentioned earlier, are the only two players who’ve crested the 200,000-chip mark so far.

Here are a few of the counts from around the tables:

Oleg Vasylchenko – 275,000
Elilton Gouveia – 237,000
Isam Sayegh – 118,000
Israel Delacerda – 113,000
Brandon Shields – 112,800
Gregory Back – 105,000
Brian England – 100,700
Jordan Meltzer – 82,300
Will Givens – 76,800
James Salmon – 75,600
Michael Laake – 46,100
Stewart Newman – 19,800

$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 12: 800/1,600 with a 200 Ante
Players Remaining: 50 of 274

There are a couple stacks at or approaching six figures in the field, and one of them belongs to Elilton Gouveia. Gouveia is fresh off a 10th-place finish in the $1,650 Purple Chip Bounty last night, and this encore performance in Event 14 is off to a good start, too.

In a recent pot, Gouveia and the player to his left got tangled up in a preflop raising war that left the opponent all in for about 35,000. Gouveia was working with against , and the flop gave him a hammerlock on the hand. The turn and river completed the board, giving Gouveia the knockout pot and a significant boost up the leaderboard.

Elilton Gouveia – 95,000 (59 bb)

$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 Ante
Players Remaining: 78 of 274

There’s a British accent in the field this afternoon, and it belongs to Iaron Lightbourn, who’s become something of a regular at these events at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood. He has a couple previous cashes in this building, but he’s best known for winning a 2015 WPT event on his home soil, with that result accounting for a significant portion of his $1.3 million in career earnings.

Lightbourne got off to a shaky start in this event, and he was down to just 2,300 chips during the last level. The comeback is on, though, and he’s since run his stack up to about 10 times that amount.

One of his biggest boosts came courtesy of William Givens, after Lightbourne had shoved for around 5,000 in middle position. Chance Kornuth called in the small blind, but Givens re-raised from the big, isolating himself against the at-risk Lightbourne. Givens showed down , but Lightbourne’s survived the run-out to earn him a full triple-up.

In a more recent hand, a player in middle position opened to 2,500, and Lightbourne defended his big blind. The flop was , and both players checked. The turn was the , and Lightbourne’s leading bet of 4,000 was enough to win the pot right there. He showed as he added to his count once again.

The Brit has gone on to win a few more small ones in the meantime, and he’s nursed his stack back to health with close 20 big blinds.

Iaron Lightbourne – 23,000 (19 bb)

$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 Ante
Players Remaining: 78 of 274

Registration closed on Event 14 and the official numbers were released. The $50,000 guaranteed prize pool was smashed after 274 entries pushed it up to $137,000.

The last 35 players will earn a piece of the money with a min-cash banking $978 and the winner picking up $30,659 along with the trophy, custom-framed winner’s photo courtesy of IMPDI, and the last seat in the $10,000 WPT Finale/$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship freeroll.

2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event 14
$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Entries: 274
Prize Pool: $137,000
March 28, 2017

1st: $30,659
2nd: $21,594
3rd: $13,889
4th: $8,535
5th: $6,590
6th: $5,459
7th – 9th: $3,830
10th – 12th: $2,569
13th – 15th: $2,206
16th – 18th: $1,854
19th – 21st: $1,512
22nd – 24th: $1,201
25th – 35th: $978

$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 10: 500/1,000 with a 100 Ante
Players Remaining: 78 of 274

Things are certainly moving right along in this six-max event. Less than 10 levels into the day, the field of 274 entries has been trimmed down into double digits.

SHRP Team members Loni Harwood and Matt Stout are among the recent casualties of this event, the latter having been eliminated for the second time today. Olivier Busquet is also a recent out, as are Darren Rabinowitz, Sorel Mizzi, and Phong Nguyen, who finished third in yesterday’s $1,650 Purple Chip Bounty.

The board shows 78 players remaining.

$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Single Re-Entry)
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 Ante
Entries: 274

James Salmon and Stewart Newman were involved in a heads-up pot on the turn of a board. Salmon bet 3,700 into a pot of about 12,000, and Newman moved all in for 16,000 effective. Salmon quickly called, putting himself at risk for that amount.

“Oh,” Newman said flatly, as Salmon tabled  for top set. “I need a seven.”

Newman’s hand wasn’t visible to us, but it seems likely he held either king-six or, more likely, pocket sixes. Whatever it was, he could not catch up. The river was the , and Salmon doubled up with kings full.

James Salmon – 44,000 (55 bb)
Stewart Newman – 37,000 (46 bb)