$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Flight A Entries: 335

Brett Apter was the biggest stack at the break but his lead did not last long. Canadian David Guay has 129,000 at the time but he made significant improvements to his stack since then, not up to 243,000 for the lead.

The entry count continued to move higher and the 335 in the game pushed the prize pool over $1,000,000 to move us closer to the $2,000,000 Guarantee.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Flight A Entries: 314

Players are back in their seats after the second break and we have a new leader in the room. Brett Apter is the next player to sport the biggest stack in the room and he’s wielding a castle worth 146,000.

He’s not a runaway frontrunner though because Nicholas Raio is on his tail with 145,100.

They have two more levels to go before they enjoy a 90-minute dinner break.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/300 with a 300 ante
Flight A Entries: 285

With the board reading , Mark “Bud” Wiser in the small blind check-called a 2,000 bet from Jennifer Tilly and the river came . Wiser checked again, Tilly bet 3,000 this time, and Wiser thought for a big before he mucked his hand.

It was a small battle between the local player and visiting star that pushed Tilly back over starting stack.

Jennifer Tilly – 42,300 (141 bb)
Mark “Bud” Wiser – 12,500 (42 bb)

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/300 with a 300 ante
Flight A Entries: 306

The second break is coming up and we have two more champions in the field among the 300+ entries.

Brian Altman has three major SHRP titles including a $1,100 Big 4 win in 2017 but the famous one was for $723,000 as the 2015 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Champion.

Joe McKeehen is well known as the 2015 WSOP Main Event Champion but he didn’t stop there. He picked up his second WSOP bracelet in 2017, this time a $10,000 Limit Hold’em title, and he continues to prove his skills.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/300 with a 300 ante
Flight A Entries: 285

The entry count keeps climbing and we’ve already surpassed the turnout from last year. A great start to the Championship with late registration open till 10:15pm and Flight B goes tomorrow at noon.

Matt Waxman is a recent edition and one of our former RRPO Champions. He won this event back in 2013, the last year it was held in the old Poker Room before expanding the series, That is also the same year Waxman won his first WSOP bracelet.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight A Entries: 264

We have old friends and new friends visiting from around the world. SHRP major Championships are true international gatherings and that is reflected in the quality of play.

Daria Feshchenko is making her first South Florida poker stop after picking up some nice scores over the last year. Most of the Russian’s results come from Europe and Asia, including a deep run in the 2017 partypoker Millions in Sochi, Russia, but her biggest was this summer with a 12th place finish in the WSOP Little One for One Drop event.

While Feshchenko is making her first SHRP appearance, Sweden’s Michael Tureniec is a regular in our events. The WSOP bracelet winner picked up two SHRP trophies in 2018; his first in January on the LHPO $1,100 Turbo event and he followed that up with the WPTDeepStacks Immokalee Main Event we hosted during the Poker Showdown.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight A Entries: 247

The first break is complete and action is back underway after a short welcome from the WPT crew.

Marc MacDonnell made the most of this first two levels and ran his 40,000 starting stack up to 109,500. He’s the only player over 100K with Stewart Chantler the closest with 92,000.

MacDonnell banked big in his last SHRP tournament. He was here for the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open and won the $1,100 Big 4 event for nearly $120,000.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200
Flight A Entries: 235

Level 2 has come to an end and the RRPO Championship is on its first break of the day. We have 235 entries in the game so far with more lined up at the registration desk.

A few more of favorites joined the game including Kelly Minkin and Aaron Massey and each has some nice results here. Minkin’s biggest tournament score came during the 2015 WPT LHPO Championship when she finished third for $262,000.

Massey consistently makes deep runs in all of our series with a bunch of SHRP final tables among his $3.6 million in career earnings.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200
Flight A Entries: 217

In addition to the big money payouts in the Championship, players also earn points towards the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year award. There are nine Championship events that qualify for point throughout the year around the state and the winner will earn a package with an estimated worth of $25,000 including an entry into all Championship events.

The race wraps up in August after the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and this year it was SHRP regular Brett Bader narrowly beating out WPT LHPO winner Darryll Fish for this year’s POY honors. He grabbed his “freeroll” seat this after and making his attempt to go back-to-back.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/200
Flight A Entries: 208

Some of our favorite visitors are taking their seats this afternoon and that includes one of those poker power couples.

Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Tilly is a dual threat and no slouch at the poker table, winning the WSOP Ladies Championship in 2005, a Bellagio $5K event in 2010, and runner-up in a $5K short-handed event this year at PCA. She’s been consistent over the years and proven she has the chops.

Her significant other, Phil Laak, is pretty decent at the game as well. He owns a WSOP bracelet and his name is on the WPT Champions Cup. Laak has four WPT final tables along with $3.7 million in career earnings.