$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 375
We’d like to welcome Scott Blumstein to the ballroom for his first SHRPO visit. The reigning World Champion made a decision to play the tournament after his little score last month.
Blumstein outlasted 7,220 other players, dominated the final table, and was crowned WSOP Main Event champ. That was also Blumstein’s first career WSOP cash and he walked away with $8.15 million.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 369
This is the fifth running of the Seminole Hard Poker Open Championship and players keep coming back for more. With Dan Colman’s entrance after the break, we now have all three former champs along with defending champ Jason Koon in this afternoon’s field.
They each had success before and after winning the SHRPO title and now return trying to become the first two-time champ.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Total Entries: 350
Players returned from their first break of the day and the entrant count quickly climbed to 350 for the first flight. A fine start to the Championship and it will continue to move higher throughout the day.
WPT Champions Club member Jonathan Jaffe is the clear leader after running his 30,000 starting stack over 100,000. Carlos Rodriguez Rojas is his closest competitor with his 77,800 while Tony Sinishtaj continued his fast start.
Top stacks and random notables:
Jonathan Jaffe – 118,000 (393 bb)
Carlos Rodriguez Rojas – 77,800 (259 bb)
Tony Sinishtaj – 68,000 (227 bb)
Aboodi Gil – 65,000 (217 bb)
Alexander Queen – 63,000 (210 bb)
Paul Balzano – 62,500 (208 bb)
Matthew Yorra – 62,100 (207 bb)
Ryan Riess – 58,000 (193 bb)
Darryll Fish – 52,375 (175 bb)
Ryan D’Angelo – 46,300 (154 bb)
Matt Stout – 45,000 (150 bb)
Jonathan Little – 43,500 (145 bb)
Luke Brereton – 40,400 (135 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 37,925 (126 bb)
Blair Hinkle – 36,475 (122 bb)
Matt Glantz – 36,200 (121 bb)
Joe Kuether – 32,000 (107 bb)
Olivier Busquet – 31,850 (106 bb)
Cate Hall – 31,200 (104 bb)
Darren Elias – 27,275 (91 bb)
Kane Kalas – 25,475 (85 bb)
Jake Schwartz – 23,600 (79 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui – 22,150 (74 bb)
Scott Clements – 22,025 (73 bb)
Omar Zazay – 21,525 (72 bb)
Jason Koon – 19,800 (66 bb)
Jessica Dawley – 16,150 (54 bb)
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Entries: 339
Championship players are on their first break of the day as they near 350 entries. They’ll take a 15-minute breather and return for two more hour-long levels.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Entries: 307
The Championship Day 1A field crossed over 300 entries before the first break and it will continue to climb until registration closes at 9pm.
Ari Engel is having a good time at his table. They are all laughing, telling stories, and occasionally tossing some chips in the middle. The eight-time WSOP Circuit winner came close to two WSOP final tables this summer and his last SHRP trophy came with a Heads Up win last August.
If you’re going to go to one poker tournament series a year in usa- I reccomend @shrpo. Quite amazing what they have built in short time.
— Ari Engel (@AriEngelPoker) August 11, 2017
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Entries: 292
We are 90-minutes into the first flight of the Championship and closing in on 300 entries with plenty of time to fire today or tomorrow.
Seminole Hard Rock Poker team members are here early including Sheddy Siddiqui, Stewart Newman, and Darryll Fish. There are others spread throughout the room and we’ll keep an extra eye on them throughout the day.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Entries: 280
Nick Schulman could brick the Championship and still consider this a very successful trip, though he would much prefer to run it down to another title.
Schulman played in the $50,000 Super High Roller event earlier in the week and conquered a tough group of players to book himself a $440,000 payday.
He’s back in the ballroom today and peacefully grinding in the middle of the room, looking for his second big title in a week.
Yesterday, Maria Ho had a chance to discuss his $50,000 Super High Roller victory and you can catch the interview below.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Total Entries: 258
The field is filling in nicely and we found Joe Kuether and Brian Altman sharing a table again. On Wednesday, both players made it deep in the $1,100 Big 4 event and each booked a seat at the final table to be played out in the Hard Rock Live Arena on Tuesday.
By luck of the draw, they are at the same table today at the start of the Championship.
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Total Entries: 207
Tony Sinishtaj was already off to a hot start in the Championship when he picked up more chips. In an early hand, the button moved all in for 9,600 and Sinishtaj called with a chance for the knockout.
Sinishtaj: 
Opponent: 
The 2017 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown champ was in good position and stayed that way as the board ran 
to move his stack up to 55,000.
Tony Sinishtaj – 55,000 (367 bb)
$5,250 SHRPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1: 75/150 with a 25 ante
After issuing player instructions, Tournament Director Tony Burns issued the “shuffle up and deal” command to get the Championship underway.
They will play two hour-long levels before taking their first break. There is a 75-minute dinner break schedule at 5:30 with late registration available until the start of Level 9 at 9pm.