$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Total Entries: 404

Zach Smiley who came here directly after bubbling the WPT Choctaw final table is looking for redemption. Smiley won WPT Maryland Live! almost one year ago, which was his first recorded live cash. He had been going to medical school and on a whim decided to drive to Maryland with a few of his friends and take a chance at the event. It turned out to be the chance of a lifetime when he won himself $320,948 and now plays poker quite often.

Five players checked the flop of . The came on the turn bringing a 1,300 bet from Smiley,  and Natasha Mercier called from the big blind. The hit the river, Mercier checked, and Smiley bet 4,200 winning himself the pot.

Zach Smiley  –  48,000
Natasha Mercier  –  51,000

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Total Entries: 404

Knocked out of @shrpo $5k main 4b shoved QQ over a squeeze and got called by AQ for a 125bb pot and lost . Will re enter tomorrow

— Faraz Jaka (@FarazJaka) August 11, 2017

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Total Entries: 404

We mentioned earlier that the four previous Champions of this event are all in attendance, and they’re all seated in a row along the far wall — one per table at four of five adjacent tables.

Blair Hinkle is the first in line, both literally and figuratively. The accomplished tournament standout won the inaugural SHRPO Championship in 2013, earning more than $1.7 million and a career-best score. He’s sharing a table with Steve Karp and Keven Stammen at the moment, sitting with about 18,500 chips.

Dan Colman is next up with about 53,000. The 2014 win was good for close to $1.5 million, which is a lot. It’s not even close to his largest score, though. That came in the $1 million Big One for One Drop, where his victory was worth more than 10 times that amount. Colman is joined at his table by the likes of John Racener and Aron Dermer.

Omar Zazay won in 2015. Zazay pocketed a cool $1 million for outlasting a field of 904 entries two years ago. Colman made that final table, too, ultimately falling in third place just shy of a repeat. Zazay is sandwiched by Jake Schindler on his right and Ian O’Hara on his left, and he has 68,000 chips in front of him.

Jason Koon is the defending Champion. The $1 million top prize he collected was a career-best for him at the time, too, though he’s gone on to add another, larger seven-figure score in the meantime. Koon has close to $10 million in career earnings and is widely considered to be one of the best high-stakes tournament players in the world. He has about 16,500 chips at a table that contains Sam Soverel and Faraz Jaka.

Omar Zazay – 68,000
Dan Colman – 53,000
Blair Hinkle – 18,500
Jason Koon – 16,500

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Total Entries: 402

Dan O’Brien was heads-up and out of position against Barry Hutter on the end of a board. O’Brien checked, and Hutter bet 3,400 into a pot of about 10,000. O’Brien check-raised to 13,500, and Hutter spent an eternity in the tank before calling.

O’Brien showed , winning the pot with trip fives. He’s on the rise, while Hutter has been set back to about half a starting stack.

Dan O’Brien – 84,000 (140 bb)
Barry Hutter – 14,500 (24 bb)

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Total Entries: 398

There was already around 25,000 in the pot as the turn card arrived on a board. It checked to Steve Karp in heads-up action, and he bet 14,200. His opponent only had about 40,000 left, and he spent a long while in the tank before moving all in. Karp  quickly called to put him at risk.

Karp:
Opponent:

Karp’s set of tens had him poised for the knockout, and he got it as the completed the board on the river. He’s now contending for the chip lead as Level 5 winds toward a close.

Steve Karp – 118,000 (236 bb)

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Total Entries: 399

It wouldn’t be a big South Florida tournament if we didn’t see the Merciers make their way to the tables, even if Natasha won’t be able to very soon.

They arrived this afternoon after Jason was busy finishing fifth in the WSOP Global Casino Championship but they made it in time. Jason had a productive summer with ten WSOP cashes (not including the GCC score) including a final table in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship.

Natasha cashed seven times herself during the WSOP, all while preparing herself for motherhood. She’s very close to delivering the couple’s first child but she’s working on adding some money to the college fund.

On our way to @shrpo for the 5k! #teammercier ???? @SHRTPoker pic.twitter.com/MwB4PIoIx3

— Natasha Mercier (@natasha_mercier) August 11, 2017

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Total Entries: 398

Players returned to their seats and play is back underway with everyone chasing Andy Philachack. He came back to a stack up to 122,000 and Tony Sinishtaj sits in second as the only other player over 100,000.

Top stacks and random notables:

Andy Philachack – 122,000 (244 bb)
Tony Sinishtaj – 101,450 (203 bb)
Nicholas Augustino – 95,000 (190 bb)
Matthew Smith – 95,000 (190 bb)
Ryan McKnight – 88,375 (177 bb)
Mehdi Belhassan – 86,500 (173 bb)
Jean “Prince” Gaspard – 85,300 (171 bb)
Paul Balzano – 84,500 (169 bb)
David Dayan – 84,000 (168 bb)
Tony March – 76,000 (152 bb)
James Hughes – 73,025 (146 bb)
Robert Mizrachi – 72,000 (144 bb)
Rainer Kempe – 68,700 (137 bb)
Isaac Haxton – 66,000 (132 bb)

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 391

Championship players are on their second break of the day and the field is on the verge of topping 400 entries. They’ll return to play two more levels before enjoying their 75-minute dinner break.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker team members Loni Harwood and Jessica Dawley were two more players hitting the tables in the last two levels. They are settled in for the long grind with six more levels remaining in the day.

$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 383

We caught up to the action at Darren Elias’ table with the board complete and Elias all in. The spread was and Elias shove was for 14,325 with near that much in the pot.

His opponent took his time, thought it out, and called with for a flush. Elias quickly tabled the nut flush and the three-time WPT champ built up his stack.

Darren Elias – 43,000 (108 bb)