$360 Pot-Limit Omaha (Re-Entry) 
Structure | Payouts
Level 14: 1,200/2,400
Players Remaining: 21 of 152

Level 14 is winding down and the players are just a few minutes away from taking a break while the staff races off the 100 denomination chips.

With 21 players remaining, they are one elimination from hand-for-hand play and two eliminations from securing a spot in the money.

Manuel Gomez is leading the pack with 174,000 in chips, while Doug Booth and John Palace are in second and third in chips with 127,000 and 114,000, respectively.

Other notables still alive are Gabriel Ramos (96,000), Pete Walsworth (71,000), David Shmuel (57,000), Jacobo Fernandez (35,000) and Zach Donovan (24,000).

When players return, level 15 will start with blinds of 1,500/3,000.

$300 Seniors 50+ NLH (Re-Entry)
Payouts
Level 19: 4,000/8,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 6 of 147

After moving all in preflop to take the blinds and antes, Jeff Silverstein finally hit a new personal peak with his chip stack in this event — 55,000. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a sign of things to come.

A short while later, Silverstein moved all in from the cutoff for about 35,000, and Ozzie Amor called from the button with . Silverstein turned over , and he was dominated and facing elimination.

The board came , and Amor won the pot with his jack kicker to eliminate Silverstein in seventh place.

Ozzie Amor  –  443,000  (55 bb)
Jeff Silverstein  –  Eliminated in 7th Place  ($1,312)

$360 Big Stack Black Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 18: 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante
Players Remaining: 12 of 226

On a flop of Joe Villacci checks from early position and Chris Valade bets 20,000 into a pot of around 40,000.

Villacci folded his and Valade showed pocket jacks saying “When I play, I have the right cards.”

Valade raked in the pot and extended her chip lead.

Chris Valade – 1,035,000 (173 bb)
Joe Villacci – 210,000 (35 bb)

$300 Seniors 50+ NLH (Re-Entry)
Payouts
Level 19: 4,000/8,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 147

With eight players remaining, Ofer Peleg raised from the button, Paul Balzano reraised from the small blind, and Peleg called. There is nearly 100K already in the pot.

The flop came , Balzano bet 17,000, Peleg raised to 50,000, and Balzano tanked for a while before he moved all in.

Peleg paused for a moment before he called all in for 166,000 with for a pair of jacks. Balzano turned over for a pair of sevens, and Peleg needed his hand to hold to stay alive.

The turn card was the , the river card was the , and Peleg’s pair of jacks held up for him to win the pot and double up in chips.

Ofer Peleg  –  430,000  (54 bb)
Paul Balzano  –  151,000  (19 bb)

A short while later, Julian Wohlgemuth got it all in from the big blind for about 75,000 with , but he was drawing thin to stay alive against the of Ofer Peleg, who was under the gun.

The board came — Wohlgemuth paired his king on the flop to give himself some outs, but improved no further. Peleg won the pot with his pocket aces to eliminate Wohlgemuth and increase his chip lead.

Ofer Peleg  –  552,000  (69 bb)
Julian Wohlgemuth  –  Eliminated in 8th Place  ($1,171)

The remaining seven players are guaranteed at least $1,312 each.

2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event #1
$570 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guarantee
Entries: 3,064
Prize Pool: $1,532,000
August 2-6, 2018

The 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open began with a big bang and the first tournament of the series kept the Hard Rock Event Center busy. The $570 buy-in, multi-day tournament cruised past its $1,000,000 Guarantee and it was Matt Edge walking away with the biggest piece of the prize pool after an extra day of play.

Edge had to endure some tough situations throughout the tournament but held on, pushed his stack back up, and took home nearly $200,000 in a three-way deal.

“Day 1 was rough. I was down to 10K early,” Edge said. “But I played steady and progressed through the day and was able to bag up a top ten stack at the end of the day.”

The tournament drew 3,064 entries over six starting flights to put more than $1,500,000 in the prize pool. The last 300 players were set to take home some of that money with 477 players surviving into Day 2.

The money bubble hit quickly after less than two hours on the second day. There was no need for the hand-for-hand process as two players went out to leave 300 players looking to move up over the course of the day.

There were ten players remaining when Edge had his pocket kings run into the pocket aces of Jeffrey Trudeau on the very last hand of the evening. The ten players bagged up at 3am and returned on Monday to play out the final table.

“On Day 2 there were a lot of tough players and I did lose quite a bit,” Edge said about his deep run. “Then I lost half of my stack running kings into aces on the last hand of the day.”

Edge had to dodge a bad beat at the hands of Tom Nguyen, swapped the lead several times with Noam Muallem and John Miller throughout the day but took the lead for good as the table began playing short-handed. Edge knocked out Trudeau when he flopped a set of jacks against pocket kings to take out a tough opponent.

“That was pretty big,” Edge commented about his hand versus Trudeau. “Other than that, the other hands were pretty standard.”

Edge knocked Andre Rakusa out in fourth place and the last three players quickly agreed on a deal to divide the remaining prize pool. Shorter stacked Jay Romano earned $159,813 in the deal followed by John Miller with $191,788.

Edge collected $196,150 for his SHRPO Event 1 title for the biggest cash of his career. He came to Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood to play some cash games and enter this tournament. Edge was scheduled to fly back to North Carolina but thinks he will now stick around the play the $3 Million Guarantee SHRPO Championship starting later this week.

Congratulations to all who cashed and thanks to our players for the fantastic turnout to start the series.

Final table results:

1st: Matt Edge – $196,150 + Trophy *
2nd: John Miller – $191,788 *
3rd: Jay Romano – $159,813 *
4th: Andre Rakusa – $94,601
5th: Noam Muallem – $76,983
6th: Tom Nguyen – $60,514
7th: Don Vu – $44,428
8th: Jeffrey Trudeau – $29,874
9th: Domenico Albano – $21,448
10th: Ido Ashkenazi – $13,788
* – denotes three-way deal

Complete Event 1 results

$150 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 12: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante
Players Remaining: 162 of 529

There was about 30,000 in the pot on the river with a completed board of .

The player in the big blind checked, a player in middle position bet 16,000 and Aish Ayyash moved all in from late position for 40,300. The big blind called and the player in middle position went into the tank for a couple minutes.

“If you got a three, you got it,” said middle position before calling.

All three hands were tabled with the big blind showing , middle position showing and Ayyash won the pot with .

Ayyash tripled up and chipped up over the 100,000-chip threshold.

Aish Ayyah – 155,000

$300 Seniors 50+ NLH (Re-Entry)
Payouts
Level 18: 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 8 of 147

Spencer Liebmann moved all in from middle position for 55,000, and Ozzie Amor was next to act and called with . Liebmann turned over , and he would need his hand to hold to stay alive.

The board came — Amor flopped trip jacks and Liebmann turned an open-ended straight draw, but the river card was a blank. Amor won the pot with his trip jacks to eliminate Liebmann in ninth place.

Ozzie Amor  –  245,000  (41 bb)
Spencer Liebmann  –  Eliminated in 9th Place  ($1,035)

A short while later, Jeff Silverstein (who has a cute little dog sitting next to him in a doggie backpack) moved all in from the small blind, and Ozzie Amor asked for a count from the big blind. The dealer stacked the chips to make the amounts clear, and announced, “Twenty-seven,” indicating 27,000.

Silverstein smiled and said, “That’s twenty-seven thousand,” over-enunciating the thousand to make it sound like a large amount.

Amor rechecked his cards and decided to fold, showing . Silverstein returned the favor by turning over his cards — .

Jeff Silverstein  –  41,000  (7 bb)

Silverstein has been treading water with a short stack for a long time, and says he’s been below 50,000 for most of the tournament, with a peak chip count of about 54,000.

Silverstein mentions that most people around here know him by his nickname, “Short Stack,” which has definitely been appropriate for his path so far thru this field.

$360 Big Stack Black Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
End of Level 17: 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 14 of 226

The final fourteen players are currently on a fifteen minute color-up break. They will return with increased blinds and antes of 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante

$360 Big Stack Black Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)
$30,000 Guaranteed | Payouts
Level 17: 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 18 of 226

Here’s a look at the results from 19th to 29th Place

19th:  Ian Casey – $553
20th: Christopher Arcidiacono – $553
21st:  Stuart Taylor – $553
22nd: Stephen Ibrahim – $418
23rd:  Glenn Menne – $418
24th: Vladmir Kovalchuk – $418
25th: Kevin Blewitt – $356
26th: Carlos Loving – $356
27th: Randy Kondler – $356
28th: Angel Jara – $312
29th: Richard Riviello – $312

$300 Seniors 50+ NLH (Re-Entry)
Payouts
Level 18: 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 9 of 147

The final 10 players redrew for random seats at a single table, and then played for a short while before it was time for a 15-minute break.

When they returned, it didn’t take long for an all-in situation to develop.

Miguel Munoz moved all in from UTG+1 for 50,000, and Paul Balzano called from the small blind with . Munoz turned over , and he was a big favorite to double up.

But there was a queen in the window as the board came . Balzano won the pot with two pair, queens and nines, to eliminate Munoz in 10th place.

Paul Balzano  –  326,000  (54 bb)
Miguel Munoz  –  Eliminated in 10th Place  ($900)

That means the official final table of nine is set and ready to play down to a winner. Here are seating assignments and approximate chip counts for the final nine players:

Seat 1.  Ozzie Amor  –  205,000  (34 bb)
Seat 2.  Dave Roy  –  175,000  (29 bb)
Seat 3.  John Holley  –  250,000  (42 bb)
Seat 4.  Marc Sacheli  –  115,000  (19 bb)
Seat 5.  Julian Wohlgemuth  –  148,000  (25 bb)
Seat 6.  Ofer Peleg  –  135,000  (23 bb)
Seat 7.  Paul Balzano  –  326,000  (54 bb)
Seat 8.  Jeff Silverstein  –  40,000  (7 bb)
Seat 9.  Spencer Liebmann  –  55,000  (9 bb)

As you can see, Balzano has the chip lead, while short-stack Jeff Silverstein has been hovering around the 40K mark ever since they were playing hand-for-hand on the Money Bubble — and he’s survived four pay jumps so far.