Event 18: Jonathan Little Eliminated by Danny Shiff

$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 11: 500/1,000 with a 100 ante
Players Remaining: 72 of 226

Danny Shiff opened to 2,000 in early position, and Alex Rocha called on the button. From the big blind, Jonathan Little three-bet shoved for 10,300, and both Shiff and Rocha called to create action on the side.

The flop was Jc4d4h. Shiff bet 11,000, and Rocha folded. With Little heads-up and at risk, the cards were turned up.

Little: 7d7h (sevens up)
Shiff: QsJh (jacks up)

Shiff was ahead after the flop, and he stayed there as the Ks turn and 4c river completed the board. Little was eliminated.

Danny Shiff – 75,000 (75 bb)
Alex Rocha – 46,000 (46 bb)
Jonathan Little – Eliminated

Event 18: Prizepool Released

$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 9: 300/600 with a 100 ante
Players Remaining: 104 of 226

Registration closed with 226 players for this event, blasting through the guarantee to create a prizepool worth $452,000. That money will be shared by the final 29 players like so:

1st: $104,608
2nd: $74,797
3rd: $46,330
4th: $28,182
5th: $21,764
6th: $18,035
7th: $15,368
8th: $12,837
9th-12th: $10,274
13th-16th: $7,978
17th-20th: $5,749
21st-24th: $4,181
25th-28th: $3,557
29th: $3,123

Event 18: Tony Dunst Eliminated by Frank Bonacci

$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 9: 300/600 with a 100 ante
Entries: 226

Tony Dunst

The robe thing didn’t last long for Tony Dunst. In one of the first hands in the new level, Frank Bonacci opened to 1,300 under the gun, and Dunst three-bet shoved for just less than 10,000 on the button. When the blinds folded, Bonacci quickly called to put Dunst at risk.

Bonacci: QcQh
Dunst: 8s8h

The Qs9s6s flop gave Bonacci an even bigger lead with a set of queens, but Dunst picked up a flush draw and the potential for a backdoor straight, too. The 9h turn slammed the door on all of those outs, though, giving Bonacci the unbeatable queens full.

Dunst was drawing dead to the Kc river, and he was eliminated.

Frank Bonacci – 24,000 (40 bb)
Tony Dunst – Eliminated

Event 18: A Robe by Any Other Name

$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 9: 300/600 with a 100 ante
Entries: 226

Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood has some really nice bathrobes. There’s one in every room on property, complete with a nice little note asking folks not to steal them from the room.

“Yeah, it’s a cool robe,” it says. “But here’s the deal. If you take it, we charge you $75. On the other hand, a new one can be purchased for $45 by contacting Guest Services. You do the math.”

It doesn’t say anything about borrowing the robe for a few hours, though.

It’s a little cold down here in the tournament ballroom, and Mike Leah showed up for this event donned in his white robe. It looks like quite a comfortable way to spend the day, in all honesty.

Tony Dunst appreciated Leah’s style and the utilitarian benefits of wearing a robe in non-standard robe situations, too. Like the middle of the day in a poker tournament, for example. Parting from his traditional business-casual attire at the tables, Dunst returned from the second break wearing his own robe, and he and Leah are now wardrobe twins at Table 18.

“I re-robed him,” Dunst said.

Event 18: Growing and Growing Tougher

$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 7: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Entries: 208

As this Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown builds toward its climax, many more poker heroes from around the world are beginning to make their way to Hard Rock Hollywood. As such, there are some especially difficult tables beginning to take shape in the room.

Bracelet winners Tony Dunst and Mike Leah are making their series debuts this afternoon, and they’ve drawn the same starting table. They’re joined at Table 18 by Shannon Shorr and Eugene Katchalov, among others.

Things aren’t any easier at Table 28, where another pair of bracelet winners are seated together — David Diaz and Ryan Laplante — along with Asher Conniff and Sorel Mizzi.

Table 35 is worth a mention, as well. Dan Colman is ranked third on poker’s all-time money list with close to $28 million in earnings, and he occupies the six seat. Ankush Mandavia is on his direct left, while Mark Dube and Joe McKeehen are neighbors across the table in Seats 2 and 3, respectively.

Table 37 might be toughest one in town, though. In order, Seats 2 through 6 contain Scott Clements, Alex Foxen, Martin Finger, David Prociak, and Ken Aldridge, and local standout Jerry Wong is making his own debut this week, sitting in Seat 8 at the same table.

Event 18: It’s Huge!

$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 7: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Entries: 202

This $2,200 event featured a $200,000 guarantee, and that turned out to be easy pickings for this field. The 100-player prerequisite was reached within the first couple levels, and the attendance has grown steadily since.

The number on the clock just ticked over 200 entries as Level 7 begun, more than doubling the guarantee. There’s still time to grow further, too; late registration is available for another hour.

Event 18: #TeamSHRP Well Represented; Guarantee Busted in Level 2

$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 2: 50/100
Entries: 100

A mere 45 minutes into play and halfway through Level 2, the guarantee in today’s $2,200 Eight-Handed Freeze-Out was bested as the clock struck 100 entries. With that, the prize pool hit the $200,000 threshold with just about four more hours of late registration left.

Doing their part to grow the prize pool up toward the quarter-million mark are Seminole Hard Rock Poker team members Faraz Jaka, Matt Stout, Chance Kornuth and Matthew Affleck among others.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Faraz Jaka
Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Matt Stout
Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Chance Kornuth
Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Matthew Affleck

Other pros in on the early action include Aaron Massey, Shannon Shorr and Ari Engel.

Aaron Massey
Shannon Shorr
Ari Engel

Last year this tournament drew 191 entries ultimately seeing Nick Petrangelo earning the top prize of more than $93,000.

Updates from this tournament will pick up a little later in the day.

Event 18: Another Big Freeze-Out

$2,200 Eight-Handed No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 1: 25/50

We are one day removed from kicking off the 2017 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship and there’s a nice warmup today in the ballroom. A lot of tables will be taken up by a few massive mega-satellites but the back tables will hold some of the top players in the game.

The $2,200 buy-in tournament has a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool and only one entry allowed per person. They should use their stack wisely.

Players sit down to 12,000 starting stacks and the tournament will run 30-minute levels throughout. Late registration is available until the start of Level 9 at 4:30pm with no re-entry option. A dinner break is scheduled at 6:30pm and we’ll see who can progress after that to the title.

Cards go in the air at noon and we’ll be with them the entire way.

  • $200,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration available until start of Level 9
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 18 Structure Sheet

Showdown Day 15 Schedule

Main Event Schedule

12PM: Event 15 Day 2 – $50,000 Super High Roller (Re-Entry)

12PM: Event 18 – $2,200 Eight-Handed NLH (Freeze-Out)

  • $200,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration available until start of Level 9
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 18 Structure Sheet

Secondary and Satellite Schedule

9AM: Event 76 – $130 WPT Finale Turbo Step Satellite (1-in-10)

  • 2 seats guaranteed into $1,050 WPT Finale Satellite
  • Players begin with 8,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • Satellite will be held in The Poker Room
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 76 Structure Sheet

11AM: Event 77 – $390 Showdown Championship Satellite (1-in-10)

  • 25 seats guaranteed into $2M GTD WPT Showdown Championship
  • Players begin with 8,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 7
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 77 Structure Sheet

3PM: Event 78 – $200 Championship Turbo Satellite (1-in-20)

  • 2 seats guaranteed into $2M GTD WPT Showdown Championship
  • Players begin with 8,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 78 Structure Sheet

5PM: Event 79 – $390 Showdown Championship Satellite (1-in-10)

  • 10 seats guaranteed into $2M GTD WPT Showdown Championship
  • Players begin with 8,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 7
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 79 Structure Sheet

8PM: Event 80 – $390 Championship Turbo Satellite (1-in-10)

  • 5 seats guaranteed into $2M GTD WPT Showdown Championship
  • Players begin with 8,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 80 Structure Sheet

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Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood Property Update

Preparations are underway for the development of an iconic hotel tower and resort:

  • Parking – Poker players are encouraged to park in Winner’s Way Garage to access both the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown tournament space and The Poker Room
  • The Poker Room – Players may access the poker room by entering through the main lobby or via the exterior entrance on the opposite end of Winner’s Way Garage.
  • Inside hotel – Services and amenities inside the hotel will remain open along with regularly scheduled events and entertainment.

For additional construction updates, please visit TheNewHardRock.com