$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 30: 50,000/100,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining: 6 of 1,207
After opening pictures and player introductions, cards are in the air for the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship final table.
This table will also be live-streamed on the World Poker Tour twitch channel on a 30-minute delay with hole cards.
$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 16: 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 29 of 116
The 29 remaining players are back in their chairs — well, most of them. David Cohen and Jeff Gross have yet to show up, but the Day 2 starting time has arrived. Cards are in the air.
$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 16: 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 29 of 116
As expected with a tournament featuring a $25,500 buy-in, the field was tough and filled with some of the best players in the world. The 116 entries created the biggest $25K High Roller field in Seminole Hard Rock Poker history and we have 29 returning today.
They pushed the prize pool over the $1,000,000 Guarantee and locked in at $2.9 million. The last 16 players earning a piece and the High Roller champion banking $794,600.
Poker pro, and former SHRP champ, Jonathan Little returns with a healthy lead but there are no soft spots among the 29 players. Little is followed by eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel, Jake Schindler, and Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Loni Harwood.
The stacks are deep and the structure is slow. These top players will have every chance to showcase their talent this afternoon.
Top ten returning stacks:
$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
Level 30: 50,000/100,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining: 6 of 1,207
It has taken three days and long hours to whittle the 2017 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Championship field down from 1,207 entries to the final six players. They created a prize pool of nearly $3.9 million with a lot of it being awarded today including the top prize of $661,283.
WSOP Big One for One Drop champ Dan Colman has the biggest stack of the returning players with Tony Sinishtaj not far behind. They are joined by former WSOP bracelet winners Robert Mizrachi (four) and Simeon Naydenov (one), underdog Eric Beller, and Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Darryll Fish.
They return at noon to sit down on the big stage final table to play for the World Poker Tour title in front of their family, friends, and a live-stream audience.
We’ll be here with updates throughout the day until someone is taking their picture with the WPT Champions Cup and the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown trophy.
Seat 1: Tony Sinishtaj – 9,515,000 (95 bb)
Seat 2: Darryll Fish – 7,525,000 (75 bb)
Seat 3: Dan Colman – 9,975,000 (100 bb)
Seat 4: Eric Beller – 2,960,000 (30 bb)
Seat 5: Simeon Naydenov – 3,115,000 (31 bb)
Seat 6: Robert Mizrachi – 3,100,000 (31 bb)
Remaining payouts:
1st: $661,283* + $5,250 SHRPO seat
2nd: $453,185
3rd: $293,864
4th: $217,686
5th: $164,438
6th: $132,889
* – Includes $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions seat
$300 Big Stack Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50
Wednesday afternoon presents the last open tournament on the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown schedule. Event 30 is a quick, $300 Big Stack Turbo tournament with a $25,000 guaranteed prize pool. A nice series closing event as the WPT events unwind.
Each entrant will sit down to 15,000 starting stacks and play 15-minutes levels all day long. Late registration is available until the start of Level 15 at 4pm with unlimited re-entries throughout. The tournament is scheduled to play out in one day and we will crown one of our last champions later this evening.
The tournament starts at noon and we’ll supply occasional highlights during their run.
It would be tough to find a more talented final table in recent memory than the six we have returning today for the 2017 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship. The six returning players have nearly $40,000,000 in combined tournament earnings, five World Series of Poker bracelets, and eight WPT final tables.
Dan Colman and Robert Mizrachi are the two biggest guns at the final table followed by Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Darryll Fish. Simeon Naydenov has more than $2.4 million in earnings and that big amount is only good enough to be fourth of the six returning players.
With the average stack at 60 big blinds when they restart, it’s still anyone’s title to win and it should make for an entertaining final table.
Seat 1: Tony Sinishtaj
Chip count: 9,515,000
With $540,689 in reported earnings, Sinishtaj has a Venetian DSE title, deep run in 2014 World Series of Poker Monster Stack (14th of 7,682), and a six-digit score for a 2013 WSOP Circuit Main Event runner-up finish.
Seat 2: Darryll Fish
Chip count: 7,525,000
With more than $2.5 million in earnings, the Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member has four WPT final table appearances, a WSOP Circuit Main Event title, and he won more than $235,000 for a runner-up finish in the 2011 WPT LAPC Main Event.
Seat 3: Dan Colman
Chip count: 9,975,000
With nearly $28 million earned in his career, Colman’s biggest score came with a bracelet win in the $1,000,000 buy-in 2014 WSOP Big One for One Drop event for $15 million. He followed that up to become the 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship winner for another $1.45 million.
Seat 4: Eric Beller
Chip count: 2,960,000
With $17,000 in career earnings, Beller is the underdog at the final table with five record tournament cashes. He’s guaranteed at least $132,000 today for a big boost to his bankroll.
Seat 5: Simeon Naydenov
Chip count: 3,115,000
From Bulgaria with $2.4 million in earnings, he picked up his first career WSOP bracelet in the 2013 $1,500 Shootout. Naydenov has two career WPT final tables including second place in the LAPC Main Event this past February for $672,000.
Seat 6: Robert Mizrachi
Chip count: 3,100,000
With more than $6 million earned his career, Mizrachi owns four WSOP bracelet with the fourth coming last summer in the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship. He also has two career WPT final tables and looking for his first World Poker Tour title.
Main Event Schedule
12PM: Final Table – $3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
12PM: Event 28 Day 2 – $25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em
12PM: Event 30 – $300 Big Stack Turbo NLH (Re-Entry)
2PM: Event 26 Day 12 – $150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
2PM: Event 29 Day 1 – $2,200 Deep Stack PLO (Re-Entry)
Secondary and Satellite Schedule
3PM: Event 100 – $200 Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
6PM: Event 101 – $130 Survivor No Limit Hold’em (1-in-10)
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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:
For additional construction updates, please visit TheNewHardRock.com
2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event #27
$360 No Limit Hold’em
Total Entries: 265
Prize Pool:$79,500
Nipun Java can generally be found in tournaments with six-figure or seven-figure first place prizes. Thanks to some flaky friends bailing on golf plans, Java took home a title in a smaller event than what he is used to playing.
On Tuesday, Java defeated a field of 265 entries and defeated Jorge Gomez heads-up to win $17,949 in the $360 no limit hold’em. A few days earlier, he made a deep run in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Championship, finishing in 22nd place for $20,968.
“I told myself that I was happier to come in anything better than 22nd,” said Java with a laugh.
The pro from Southern California had originally planned to golf during the day and play the $2,200 pot limit Omaha in the evening. When his friends decided they wanted to change plans and not golf, Java found himself in the tournament area earlier than normal and playing the one-day $360 no limit hold’em.
“I was just like ‘Okay, let’s just play this and see what happens,'” said Java. “I was most likely going to bust and then I would just play the PLO. But as I got deeper, I kept looking at the late registration of the PLO and seeing when it was going to close and then I was like ‘Okay, I got to concentrate on this.’ But I won it and it feels good. Winning anything feels good.”
Java is usually on the west coast playing in the California casinos, but even with his roots out in the Golden State, he doesn’t like to miss stops at the Hard Rock.
“I just love this venue,” said Java about the Seminole Hard Rock. “I actually pick Florida as the best venue to play poker. It’s like the most well-run tournaments, the dealers are fantastic, and everything is around.
“The pool is so close by on breaks. You can go rest in your room on your break. That’s huge for me. If I can go get a nap or just 10 minutes of getting straight on my back. Cause I’m not longer young anymore, so I need the rest. I love it here.”
While he is arguably one of the best players traveling the tournament Circuit, Java is constantly strive to get better and credits the help of SHRP team member Chance Kornuth with a lot of his improvements in his game.
“I’ve been working with Chance,” said Java. “Chance has a coaching website called Chip Leader Coaching and that has helped me immensely. We have weekly sessions and we have a bunch of smart people in the group.
“So, just like brainstorming with them on how to play different hands helps. Also, I know a lot of people like Upeshka [De][Silva] and Daniel Strelitz and Dylan Wilkerson and on breaks, we discuss hands. It helps, you know, just hearing from other people who have been successful is generally a good idea.”
When Java was unable to take a shot at the pot limit Omaha event, he decided to buckle down and prove to himself that he could play his best regardless of buy-in.
After, by his own admission, a disappointing 2016, he wanted to rededicate himself to the game and not take anything for granted.
“Part of me was not taking poker seriously in the sense, like as a game,” said Java. “And maybe getting a little bit of entitlement creeping in and that can happen as you move up the stakes. You feel like you deserve more, but you’re playing better players. I just wanted to get back to the trenches and it’s still money in the end.”
In the end, he did get the money and can leave the Seminole Hard Rock on a high note.
“I thought I played really well this tournament,” he said. “And I never really got super lucky. I just played well.”
Final Table Results:
1st: Nipun Java – $17,949
2nd: Jorge Gomez – $12,636
3rd: Jonathan Hilton – $8,126
4th: Carlos Rodriguez Rojas – $4,957
5th: Jeffrey Trudeau Jr. – $3,828
6th: Ray St. Jacques Carrion – $3,172
7th: Matthew Zarcadoolas – $2,663
8th: Homero Molina – $2,226
9th: Bryce McVay – $1,795
10th: Ghassan Toubia – $1,511
$2,200 Pot Limit Omaha (Re-Entry)
End of Level 12: 2,500/5,000
Players Remaining: 12 of 95
After bursting the bubble with about 15 minutes left in the day, all 12 players survived the rest of the day and will come back on Wednesday at 2 p.m. to play down to a winner.
Levels will continue to be 40 minutes each and when they return, they will come back to blinds of 3,000/6,000.
Here is a look at the seating arrangement and chip counts for the final 12 players:
Table 65
Seat 1: Bryan Dillon – 179,000
Seat 2: –Empty–
Seat 3: –Empty–
Seat 4: David Eller -54,000
Seat 5: Henri Koivisto – 330,000
Seat 6: Peter Vivantonio – 200,000
Seat 7: Maxx Coleman – 180,000
Seat 8: –Empty–
Seat 9: Petko Tsakov – 204,000
Table 57
Seat 1: David Zeml – 73,000
Seat 2: Chris Meyers – 75,000
Seat 3: Matt Stout – 167,000
Seat 4: –Empty–
Seat 5: –Empty–
Seat 6: Joseph Iryon – 81,000
Seat 7: –Empty–
Seat 8: Scott Clements – 89,000
Seat 9: Joni Jouhkimainen – 247,000
$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
End of Level 15: 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 29 of 116
Today was the start of another of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown’s flagship events, the $25,500 High Roller. By the time registration closed just before midnight, 116 entries had been tallied, making this the largest $25k tournament in Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood’s history.
Fifteen levels were played, and Jonathan Little ended the day with the biggest stack, bagging up 750,000 chips. The 40-minute structure created volatility in the stacks of many, but Little enjoyed a fairly steady climb to the top of the overnight leaderboard, a run which included a midday knockout of George Dolofan.
Dolofan re-entered after that exit, and he managed to survive the day with the shortest stack of 92,000 chips. He wasn’t the only one to re-enter, though, not by any means.
Erik Seidel tried three times without getting much going, but the fourth time was the charm for the Hall of Famer. Seidel went on a late-day rush, finishing in second place with 657,000 chips. He was pushing chips around right until the finish line, highlighted by a big confrontation with Olivier Busquet during the last level of the night.
Jake Schinder (651,000), SHRP Team member Loni Harwood (639,000), and high-rolling regular Bryn Kenney (619,000) round out the overnight top five.
Rainer Kempe and Dietrich Fast chopped the $50,000 Super High Roller, and both of them also advanced to Day 2 in this $25,500 regular-old High Roller. Kempe ended inside the top 10 with 582,000 chips, while Fast took two shots in this event and bagged up 262,000 on his second bullet.
A complete overnight leaderboard and the Day 2 seat draw can be found in the posts below.
Blinds will be 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante when play resumes, putting the average stack around 33 big blinds. Only the final 16 players will earn shares of the $2.9 million prizepool, so bursting the bubble will be the day’s first order of business.
Day 2 begins at 12 p.m. and is scheduled to continue until a winner is determined. That’s the plan, but it may be a tall task; levels will increase to 90 minutes apiece once the final table is set.