$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Flight A Entries: 395

Players returned to their seats after the second break and registration closed on the opening flight of the $1 Million Guarantee Event 1. It drew 395 entries for a big start to the tournament and series and puts it in good shape to hit a seven-digit prize pool.

Matt Stout was one of the later entries today but he wasted no time running up his stack. The poker pro began with a 20,000 starting stack but now sits with 80,000 with six more levels remaining in the day.

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Flight A Entries: 380

The Event Center is filling up but time is running out to get into the first flight. Players are preparing for their second break of the day and registration will close when they return.

There are 380 entries in so far, well above the pace needed to hit the $1 Million Guarantee, and this will be one of the smaller of the six flights.

A good start to the series.

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 250/500 with a 50 ante
Flight A Entries: 354

Nancy Birnbaum was looking to get her stack back in contention when she three-bet shoved from the cutoff for 8,625. She picked up a call and it was a race.

Birnbaum:
Opponent:

The three-time WSOP Circuit champ was ahead and flopped a set, but her opponent was better on the board. Her set was behind the flopped straight and she couldn’t build a boat on the turn or river. She was left with crumbs and went out on the next hand.

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight A Entries: 330

With the board reading , Jason Young and another player were facing a bet of 2,000. Young thought for a moment and called before the other opponent released.

It was checked to Young after the river and he bet 18,300. After a few minutes to think it through, his opponent called and Young turned over for the rivered nut flush.

The hand pushed the WSOP bracelet up to 48,000 for a good start to his day.

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Flight A Entries: 318

The Flight A field continues to grow at a steady pace with more than 300 in the so far and plenty of time to join in the fun. We have a lot of talented players already in the opening event including Sam Panzica making his return.

Panzica has an impressive list of accomplishments along with his nearly $4 million in career earnings. He holds four WSOP Circuit rings and two World Poker Tour titles, the latest coming a year ago in the WPT Bay101 Shooting Stars event. Panzica has seven cashes over $100,000 including $109,000 for his third-place finish in this event during the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown.

$300 Seniors Event (Re-Entry)
Structure
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Total Entries: 140

The Seniors Event is off for their first break of the day, along with the big opening flight of Event 1, and they are pushing up a nice prize pool. There are 140 in the game and on pace to top the 160 entries from this tournament last year.

Jeff Kessler is among the senior crowd today and looking for his second SHRP title in this unique game. He won the Seniors Event during the 2013 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open back in the days when that series ran in the old poker room.

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Flight A Entries: 243

Seminole Hard Rock Poker has run a Player of the Year race for a few years and we found our first winner back in action after taking a break.

Angel Vu was the SHRP Player of the Year in 2014 and the first player to earn that title. She picked up two trophies that year with a win during the Tampa Summer Poker Open followed by another in the Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open. Those accounted for two of her three biggest scores with the other coming after a fourth-place finish in this event during the 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown.

Vu took some time off from poker to concentrate on her successful business in Daytona. She still gets in the action to keep her skills sharp and final tabled an HPT event this past October.

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Flight A Entries: 205

Raphael Reis knows a little something about winning these big opening events. The SHR Poker regular earned the biggest score of his career when he won Event 1 of the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open for more than $150,000.

If he wants to repeat that performance, Reis will have to do it on at least two bullets.

He was all in at his starting table for 15,275 in a three-way pot with the board reading . Only one player stuck around and Reis showed top pair/nut flush draw but he was behind his opponent’s flopped two pair .

Reis couldn’t find a club or bigger two pair on the river and he shrugged it off before heading to the re-entry desk.

$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 50/100
Flight A Entries: 135

Flight A kicked off precisely at the top of the hour and 30 minutes later we had another 60 players jump in the game. We expect the event center to continue to fill up as we hit the afternoon hours.

Florida poker legend Ari Engel was an early entrant and we are not surprised. He’s running well in 2018 and maximizing his time at the tables.

Engel has earned more than $580,000 since the start of the year including a win during the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open, his ninth WSOP Circuit ring at the Bike, and he followed that up with a $315K win in their Mega Millions Quantum Reload tournament.

Not too shabby for a few months work.

Somehow the best venue for tournament poker @shrpo got better. I’ll say it again if you’re going to play 1 series a year- skip @wsop and come to hardrock for a way better players experience #notanad

— Ari Engel (@AriEngelPoker) April 5, 2018