$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries: 1,084

Andrew Heckman – 210,000 (210 bb)
David Shmuel – 158,000 (158 bb)
Shankar Pillai – 117,000 (117 bb)
David Brookshire – 110,000 (110 bb)
Lexy Gavin – 109,000 (109 bb)
Jesse Lonis – 107,000 (107 bb)
Darren Rabinowitz – 87,000 (87 bb)
Brian Hastings – 64,000 (64 bb)
Garrett Greer – 61,000 (61 bb)
Curt Kohlberg – 56,000 (56 bb)
Jim Collopy – 54,000 (54 bb)
Ronnie Bardah – 47,000 (47 bb)
Victor Figueroa – 47,000 (47 bb)
Landon Tice – 38,000 (38 bb)
Pat Lyons – 37,000 (37 bb)
John Gordon – 30,000 (30 bb)
Katie Stone – 27,000 (27 bb)
Marle Cordeiro – 18,000 (18 bb)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries: 1,084

The 2021 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship hit another record after the dinner break; the 2,131 entries now make this the biggest field in WPT Main Tour history by surpassing the 2,130 they attracted for the WPT Online Championship last May.

The qualifier “live” poker is no longer needed, our players helped set the record for the top WPT field in their history whether online or brick-and-mortar.

Top five all-time WPT fields:

2021 Poker Showdown – 2,131 entries (reg open till ~9:20pm)
2020 WPT Online Championship – 2,130 entries
2014 Poker Showdown – 1,795 entries
2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open – 1,573 entries
2015 Poker Showdown – 1,476 entries

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries: 1,083

Larry Hirons raised to 2,200 from the hijack, Allen Kessler three-bet all in for about 19,500 from the cutoff and Hirons called.

Hirons:
Kessler:

The board ran out , no help to Kessler, locking up the pot for Hirons.

Larry Hirons – 173,000 (173 bb)
Allen Kessler – Eliminated

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries:  1,064

During the dinner break Tournament Director Jason Heidenthal looked into the matter of the abandoned chip stack, and was able to determine that the seat belonged to Alcides Gomez.

Heidenthal then tracked down Gomez’s phone number so he could reach out to him, and Gomez started heading back to the casino.

He just retook his seat a short while ago, and now we’ll see how far Gomez can parlay this second chance in the Championship.

Alcides Gomez  –  114,000  (114 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm. There were 1,048 entries on Day 1A, and the total field size is currently up to 2,111, with a prizepool worth more than $6.7 million.

Action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:20 pm.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries: 1,064

Faraz Jaka – 152,000 (152 bb)
Evan Teitelbaum – 125,000 (125 bb)
Farid Jattin – 115,000 (115 bb)
Andrew Moreno – 113,000 (113 bb)
Shannon Shorr – 112,000 (112 bb)
Ido Ashkenazi – 97,000 (97 bb)
Cary Katz – 97,000 (97 bb)
Matthew Zarcadoolas – 96,000 (96 bb)
Dorian Rios – 78,000 (78 bb)
Nick Palma – 75,000 (75 bb)
Ken Aldridge – 70,000 (70 bb)
Joe McKeehen – 66,000 (66 bb)
Neil Blumenfield – 58,000 (58 bb)
Patrick Quinn – 57,000 (57 bb)
Alex Foxen – 43,000 (43 bb)
Cory Zeidman – 42,000 (42 bb)
Francis Anderson – 38,000 (38 bb)
James Romero – 37,000 (37 bb)
Filipp Khavin – 33,000 (33 bb)
David Levi – 33,000 (33 bb)
Javier Zarco – 27,000 (27 bb)
Jarod Einsohn – 19,000 (19 bb)
Matt Affleck – 14,000 (14 bb)
Jewook Oh – 11,000 (11 bb)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries:  1,064

The players return from dinner to begin Level 7, with increased blinds of 500-1,000 and a 1,000 ante.

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm. There were 1,048 entries on Day 1A, and the total field size is currently up to 2,111, with a prizepool worth more than $6.7 million.

Action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:20 pm.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries:  968

Level 6 comes to an end, and the players take a 90-minute dinner break. Action is scheduled to resume around 7:04 pm EDT.

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm. There were 1,048 entries on Day 1A, and the total field size is currently up to 2,015, with a prizepool worth more than $6.4 million.

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after this level, around 5:35 pm, and action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:20 pm.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1B Entries:  968

Update:  During the dinner break, Tournament Director Jason Heidenthal determined that the unknown player was Alcides Gomez, and he contacted Gomez to let him know he still had chips. Gomez has retaken his seat. More details available by clicking here.

An unusual situation happened at Table 18, and it’s one most of us have never seen before.

Eventually, most poker players see somebody get it all in and lose a pot, then walk away assuming they’re eliminated, only to find out they survived with a couple of big blinds.

This was similar to that, but with an important twist.

According to the players at the table, three players saw a flop of . Ken “Teach” Aldridge bet, Michael Gonzalez raised, and the unknown player moved all in. Aldridge folded, and Gonzalez called with for a pair of sevens with an eight-high flush draw and a gutshot straight draw.

The unknown player turned over for an ace-high flush draw, and needed to improve to stay alive.

The turn card was the , and the river card was — the .

Gonzalez slapped the table in frustration when the river card hit, while the player who won the pot quickly walked away from the table.

Everyone at the table was confused for a few moments, wondering where he was going, until they realized that he thought he was eliminated and he was leaving the tournament — and he never came back.

The theory among the players at the table is that the unknown player misread his opponent’s hand and thought he had flopped a straight instead of a straight draw, so in his mind he needed to catch a heart to stay alive with a flush. When he paired his ace on the river, he thought he was still losing to a straight, so he took off.

Nobody at the table knows who the player is or how to get in touch with him. But at the dinner break, the abandoned stack is worth 125,600 (126 big blinds).

Missing Player  –  125,600  (126 bb)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1B Entries:  968

With the final board showing and about 10,000 already in the pot, Eric Panayiotou moved all in from the small blind.

Mike Dentale was tanking in the hijack, and at one point he told Panayiotou, “Don’t show me a bluff. If I fold, don’t show me a bluff.”

Panayiotou said, “I will never show my cards.”

Dentale thought a little while longer before calling all in for about 7,000, flipping over his and immediately walking away, confident that he lost the hand.

On the other side of the table, Evan Teitelbaum pointed to Panayiotou and said, “Ace-king.”

Sure enough, Panayiotou turned over to win the pot with two pair, aces and sixes, eliminating Dentale, who was already several tables away and heading out the door.

Eric Panayiotou  –  97,000  (121 bb)
Mike Dentale  –  Eliminated

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm. There were 1,048 entries on Day 1A, and the total field size is currently up to 2,015, with a prizepool worth more than $6.4 million.

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after this level, around 5:35 pm, and action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:20 pm.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1B Entries:  968

The player in the big blind is all in with , but he’s dominated and facing elimination against the of Sharman Olshan in middle position.

The board came , and Olshan won the pot with her king kicker to win the pot and eliminate her opponent.

Sharman Olshan  –  62,000  (78 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm. There were 1,048 entries on Day 1A, and the total field size is currently up to 2,015, with a prizepool worth more than $6.4 million.

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after this level, around 5:35 pm, and action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:20 pm.