$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11: 600/1,200/200 ante
Flight A Entries: 441
Players Remaining: 171

The field is shrinking and the stacks are growing. Two-time SHRP champ Eric Piderit is quietly moving into contention for the lead and sits with more than 70,000 heading into the late levels.

The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Black Chip Bounty champ also has a little help from home. Piderit is sporting his daughter’s dollar sign fidget spinner as a card protector and he might not be able to send it back if it proves to be good luck.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 500/1,000/100 ante
Flight A Entries: 441
Players Remaining: 198

Now that registration is closed, the tournament tables are breaking in quick succession and nearly 100 players hit the rail over the first level back from break. Players still have plenty of time to run up a stack before they bag after Level 14 or jump in the 6pm flight.

Asher Conniff is fighting to stay in the flight but grinding a sub-starting stack late. The former WPT World Champion is back down in Florida after watching his friend Scott Blumstein win the WSOP Main Event Championship bracelet a few weeks ago.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 400/800/100 ante
Flight A Entries: 441
Players Remaining: 288

Registration is officially closed on the opening flight of Event 1 and the 441 entries put the tournament on a path to easily surpass the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.

One more member of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker team hit the tables before they locked the doors. The last time we saw Darryll Fish, he was in the process of finishing second in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship for more than $450,000. It was the fifth WPT final table for Fish and he’ll have a few more chances to make another televised final table this series.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8: 300/600/75 ante
Flight A Entries: 422

Event 1 has moved into Level 8 and it’s the last chance for players to get down to the ballroom for a piece of the early action. They’ll finish out this level, take a break while the quarters come out of play, then lock down registration when they return at 3:30pm.

We found a poker legend in the field this afternoon, and he’s not only a local legend. “Miami John” Cernuto is old-school old-school poker. His first tournament cash was 30 years ago and earned his first bracelet 21 years ago. He has three WSOP bracelets (in Limit Omaha, Stud/8, and No Limit Hold’em), two WSOP Circuit rings, plus more than $5.7 million in career earnings.

And “Miami John” has not been resting on his laurels. He picked up seven more cashes this summer including a H.O.R.S.E. win at Binions and a PLO8/Omaha8/Big O Mix tournament title at the Golden Nugget.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 250/500/75 ante
Flight A Entries: 411

Flight A won the race to 400 entries with more than an hour remaining in late registration. A very nice start to the series and we expect even bigger numbers moving forward.

Jon Borenstein jumped in shortly before the first break and looking for another nice payday this summer. The Florida transplant has some nice scores here, including a seventh place finish in the inaugural $2,650 Big 4 Freeze-Out, and he earned his biggest payout earlier this summer.

Borenstein had three WSOP cashes before he decided to jump in the WPT500 Las Vegas tournament. The small buy-in/big prize pool tournament drew more than 3,500 entries and Borenstein was the last player sitting to get his picture taken with the trophy. He banked $230,000 for the win and that number pushed him to the edge of $1,000,000 earned for his career.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 200/400/50 ante
Flight A Entries: 388

Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Loni Harwood was an early entrant today and she was joined by fellow team members Jessica Dawley and Matt Affleck before the first break.

Since the last time we saw Dawley cashing tenth in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $570 tournament, she went out to Vegas to pick up four cashes in the World Series of Poker (including 30th out of 7,761 in the Millionaire Maker) plus a final table eighth place finish in The Grand Finale during the Goliath Phamous Poker Series.

Affleck added five more WSOP cashes this summer where he went out in 31st right before Dawley in the Millionaire Maker. He also booked another six-digit cash when he finished eighth out of 18,054 in The Colossus III tournament.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 150/300/25 ante
Flight A Entries: 374

Players returned to their seats and the ballroom is filling with four more levels of late registration/re-entries available. Another large group of entries jumped in during the break and they will push towards 400.

SHRP regular Roberto Alberro is the early leader after more than tripling his 20,000 starting stack but he can’t get comfortable. There are plenty of talented players trying to chase him down and ten more levels before bagging up.

Big counts and random stacks:

Roberto Alberro – 60,200 (201 bb)
Steven Zaffos – 57,550 (192 bb)
Glenn Menne – 54,700 (182 bb)
Michael Panto – 52,200 (174 bb)
Hagan Stein – 50,000 (167 bb)
Lewis Gallo – 50,000 (167 bb)
Luiz Farias – 50,000 (167 bb)
Neil Blumenfield – 44,000 (147 bb)
Michael Ortiz – 42,025 (140 bb)
Eric Piderit – 40,100 (134 bb)
Francis Margaglione – 29,000 (97 bb)
Stuart Greenbaum – 22,350 (75 bb)
Jessica Dawley – 22,225 (74 bb)
Loni Harwood – 22,000 (73 bb)
David Bradshaw – 18,500 (62 bb)
Matt Affleck – 17,300 (58 bb)
Stacy Matuson – 16,750 (56 bb)
Errol Massey – 12,500 (42 bb)

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
End of Level 4: 100/200/25 ante
Flight A Entries: 333

Event 1 players are taking off for their first break of the day as the entrant count continues to climb at a steady pace. It made its nut in the first four levels and will push higher until registration closes at 3:30.

We’ll take this first opportunity to walk among the tables to identify our early leaders.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 100/200/25 ante
Flight A Entries: 300

The opening flight of the opening event of a series is usually one of the smallest fields. Thursday morning, five other flights, and other factors usually keep the size down as it builds towards the weekend. But it’s also a good indicator of how the tournament will play out and 300 entries before the first break in Flight A before is a big start.

We’re also not used to seeing big names get in the game early but we found two-time WSOP bracelet winner/three-time WSOP Circuit champ/2015 WSOP National Champion Loni Harwood grinding in the middle of the room.

The Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member is coming off a summer that saw her run deep in the WSOP Circuit New Orlean Main Event then cash six times in the WSOP itself. Three of those cashes came in The Colossus III, The Giant, and the $1,500 Monster Stack. Three of the biggest fields in poker history.

In recent SHR Poker accomplishments, Harwood picked up the second biggest cash of her career in April when she finished third in the 2017 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $25K High Roller.

$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 75/150/25 ante
Flight A Entries: 260

One table in the back of the room is going to have a fun time getting through the 1 and 2 seats, they have to deal with Paul Balzano and Neil Blumenfield in their path to collect some chips.

Balzano is a long time regular with four SHRP titles, over $1 million in career earnings, and Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza wins the last two summers. Blumenfield jumped over seven-digits in a hurry when he finished third in the 2015 WSOP Main Event for nearly $3.4 million and the Florida transplant also has several deep WPT and WSOP runs as well.