$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 14: 1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 ante
Flight A Entries: 356
Players Remaining: 72
Flight A is down to the last level of the night and some big stacks are beginning to emerge. Carey Pickus (pictured) and Andre Rakusa are among the leader with more than 200,000 out front to put themselves in great position for a nice Day 2 stack.
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 13: 1,500/2,500 with a 2,500 ante
Flight A Entries: 356
Players Remaining: 81
Flight A returned from their final short break of the day and they are down to the last nine tables. Math says it should get to seven before the end of Level 14 and they are moving it along.
Despite the late day pressures, Table 8 seems to be having a good time with some talent in the mix. Brett Apter, Chris Nomikos, Jeff Kessler, and James Salmon are spread around the felt trying to add to their bankroll. All but Apter already own one of our trophies but his $700K in career earnings makes up for it.
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1: 100/100
Flight A is playing down to their end of night and the second flight is getting set up on the other side of the Event Center. There are already 356 entries in the multi-day tournament and they will get closer to the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool this evening.
Event 1 players will sit down to 20,000 starting stack and all Day 1 levels last 30 minutes. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 10:30pm. The flight will end after Level 14 with all survivors returning on Sunday for Day 2.
This tournament will also feature a big blind ante structure from start to finish to move it along with more hands seen during the event.
Cards go in the air at 6pm and we will continue our coverage until their night comes to an end.
2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, FL
Event 2
$360 Omaha 8 or Better (Re-Entry)
Entries: 113
Prize Pool: $33,900
August 1, 2018
Registration closed on the Omaha/8 tournament and it attracted a huge crowd of 113 entries. That is the biggest Omaha/8 field since we expanded to four major series a year in the SHRPO era and a fantastic turnout.
The 113 entries created a prize pool worth $33,900 and the tournament will payout the last 15 spots. A min-cash will earn $763 and the Omaha/8 champ will walk away with an even $10,000 along with the first 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open trophy.
1st: $10,000
2nd: $6,187
3rd: $3,695
4th: $2,373
5th: $1,797
6th: $1,492
7th: $1,288
8th: $1,136
9th: $1,000
10th – 12th: $881
13th – 15th: $763
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11: 800/1,600 with a 1,600 ante
Flight A Entries: 356
Players Remaining: 144
The field is dropping fast and we’re down to 16 tables in Flight A with the expectation of cutting that in half before the end of the night after Level 14.
Table 5 has a pair of players trying to stick around for Day 2 and they’ve made it through big fields before. Jacquelyn Scott is one of our favorite regulars in the room and we were all happy when she won the 2015 WSOP Ladies Championship. Now she has some more company in that unique club after Jessica Dawley, another popular player in our games, earned that honor this summer by winning the 2018 WSOP Ladies Championship.
The two are sharing the same table this afternoon and we are sure the stories are entertaining.
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Flight A Entries: 356
Players Remaining: 180
We have a few players who moved their stacks over 100,000 and running out front with a few more levels remaining in the day.
Gerardo Gonzalez sits atop all the counts with 117,000 followed by SHRP regular Chris Nomikos at 105,000. Both are in great position to bag big and return for Day 2 among the leaders.
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Flight A Entries: 356
Players Remaining: 198
The second break is complete and registration has closed for Flight A of the $1,000,000 Guarantee opener. The first session drew 356 entries to put it on an easy path to the seven-digit prize pool.
They will play six more levels today, with a break midway through, and those with chips after Level 14 will bag up for a Day 2 return on Sunday.
| Day/Time | Flight | Entries | Advanced |
| Thursday at 11am | A | 356 | TBD |
| Thursday at 6pm | B | — | — |
| Friday at 11am | C | — | — |
| Friday at 6pm | D | — | — |
| Saturday at 11am | E | — | — |
| Saturday at 6pm | F | — | — |
| Total | 356 | TBD |
$570 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8: 400/800 with a 800 ante
Flight A Entries: 353
Level 8 has come and gone and Flight A players are enjoying their second break from the game. Another new option for this series; we now have two snack stands outside the Event Center with food, beverages, candies, and nuts.
Registration will close for this flight when they return but there are five more chances to get in the game including Flight B this evening starting at 6pm.
Scott Baumstein got in the game before the break and he has some recent success in our opening events. In January we opened the Lucky Hearts Poker Open with a $1,000,000 Guarantee WPTDeepStacks event and Baumstein survived to take the title over 1,366 entries for more than $220,000.
Even before the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open kicked off, there were some big awards paid out in the Poker Room. We held a freeroll for our top cash players during from July with more than $65,000 in prizes up for grabs including a $30,000 PokerStars Platinum Pass to their Players No Limit Hold’em Championship in January.
The tournament was open to the first 235 players who logged at least 100 hours of play form the month of July. The top twenty players earned a prize:
1st place – $30,000 PokerStars Platinum Pass, a $5,250 entry into the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a three-night stay with a $200 food comp to Kuro
2nd place – $5,250 entry into the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a $2,650 entry into Big 4 event
3rd place – $5,250 entry into the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a $1,100 entry into Big 4 event
4th through 6th place – $2,650 entry into SHRPO High Roller satellite
7th through 10th place – $1,100 entry into Big 4 event on August 8
11th through 20th place – $570 entry into SHRPO Championship mega satellite on August 9
The tournament quickly played down to the final table but slowed when the really big prizes were in play. Grant Lasseter and Vasile Ionut Merisescu reached heads-up play and battled it out for nearly 90 minutes. Both held the lead at different points before Merisescu finished with all the chips to win the big first place package.
For his victory, Merisescu earned the PokerStars Platinum Pass which includes a $25,000 entry into their 2019 Players NL Hold’em Championship along with a six-night stay at the Atlantic Resort and $2,000 for travel expenses. He also won a seat into our Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship plus a three-night stay and Kuro comps.
Results:
1st: Vasile Ionut Merisescu
2nd: Grant Lasseter
3rd: John Dignan
4th: Matthew Milton
5th: Rolando Sacremento
6th: Matthew Kuba
7th: Brian Caits
8th: Michael Amrich
9th: Peter Fellows
10th: Nicholas Avena
11th: Faisal Ahmed
12th: Jonah Miller
13th: Zachary Mullennix
14th: Nissim Dahan
15th: Albert Palma
16th: Phillip Joffey
17th: Jonathan Pilger
18th: Mark Nahama
19th: Chad Vetstein
20th: Mario Atroce
$360 Omaha 8 or Better (Re-Entry)
Structure
Level 4: 300/600 Limits
Total Entries: 83
Event 1 Flight A returned from its first break of the day a little while ago and it’s just about time to send the Omaha/8 on their breather. We are ten entries away from topping the count from this tournament from the Poker Showdown and we should get there easily.
We have a South Florida poker legend in this afternoon’s field. “Miami John” Cernuto grabbed his seat today and he’s an immediate favorite for the title. He earned his first of three WSOP bracelets in 1997 and won an Omaha/8 WSOP Circuit ring in 2012. Cernuto has nearly $6 million in career earnings and also finished second for an Omaha/8 WSOP bracelet twice.