$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Flight B Entries: 95

The entry count is nearing the century mark with one more level before the dinner break. Registration will remain open until the start of Day 2 on Sunday, so there’s time to get here.

Josias Santos made his return to the poker room this afternoon and comfortably grinding in the middle. He can feel relaxed in our games since the last time he was here, Santos finished second in the 3,000-entry $1.5 million prize pool opening tournament of the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown series.

$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8: 400/800 with a 800 ante
Flight B Entries: 92

The field is filling in as the afternoon moves along and we have a pretty nice lineup at Table 32. Phil Hui and Jake Schwartz were already two tough spots at the table and they were joined by Florida pro Tristan Wade.

That’s good for five WSOP Circuit rings, one WSOP bracelet, a handful of SHRP titles, and nearly $4.5 million in career earnings.

$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 300/600 with a 600 ante
Flight B Entries: 87

The break is over and we have 87 entries in the mix so far to push the combined prize pool over $250,000 and on an easy path to the $300,000 Guarantee.

Steve Harris is the new player sitting with the chip lead, his 163,000 the biggest in the room. There are no other stacks standing out. Everyone seems content to ride the deep stacks and slow structure.

$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 300/500 with a 500 ante
Flight B Entries: 83

Level 6 has come to an end which means players are taking their second break of the day. The entry count topped yesterday’s number and we have plenty of time to push it higher.

$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 300/500 with a 500 ante
Flight B Entries: 80

Ian O’Hara tweeted that he was coming in today with a new look and he grabbed his seat shortly before the first break. A new hat sits atop his head and he’s taking some good-natured needles from across the other table.

New look or not, O’Hara has some huge SHRP scores including this two biggest of his career. He booked a $527,000 cash for a second place in the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $25K High Roller and followed that up with a $212,000 win in the 2016 Coco Poker Open Championship. A deep run here this weekend will push him over $2,000,000 earnings for his career.

$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Flight B Entries: 68

A few players were joking around yesterday, wondering when Sheddy Siddiqui would enter the tournament.

“It’s Sheddy’s world,” the laughed. “This his tournament.”

There was some fact in that statement. Siddiqui has a bit of success in this tournament in this series. He finished second in 2016, fourth place in 2015, and he won it all in 2013 for three of his top ten career cashes.

Of course, his biggest cash came in 2015 when he finished fifth in the WSOP Millionaire Maker.

$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/300 with a 300 ante
Flight B Entries: 62

Cards are back in the air after the first break and we picked up another half dozen entries while they were gone. Tables are being added instead of broken and the numbers are climbing.

The previously mentioned Erik Christensen returned to the biggest stack in the room. He was one barrel of black chips over 100,000 and no one else reached that high.

$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight B Entries: 56

The back of the poker room is beginning to fill up as more people get moving this afternoon. We are going bigger than yesterday and we should have a full room before too long.

Level 3 is about to come to an end and players will take their first break of the day.

$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight B Entries: 48

There seems to be no hurry to get moving to start the holiday weekend. With the slow structure and deep stacks, no one needs to be here until they are ready to get moving.

Erik Christensen didn’t wait to jump in, he was here at the start.

He cashed in the 1,045-field opening event and picked up the second biggest cash of his career with a narrow miss for a WSOP Circuit win here in September. Christensen finished runner-up to Ryan McAllister but he was able to break through for the ring last month.

$1,650 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200
Flight B Entries: 38

We’ve crowned three champions so far this series and Jose Reyes was the first. It was the turbo Event 2 he added to his list of poker accomplishments which goes along nicely with his WSOP Circuit ring from earlier this year.

The other two series champions, Dion Jagroo and Chanpiseth Keam, played yesterday but neither was able to move to Day 2. We’ll wait to see if they take another shot today.