$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Entries: 1,048

Katie Stone raised all in from under the gun for 14,500 and the player in the big blind called with , racing with Stone’s .

The board ran out , giving Stone queens and tens to double through her opponent.

Katie Stone – 30,500 (20 bb)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Entries: 1,048

The player under the gun raised to 3,500, Blair Hinkle called from middle position and Brian Altman called from the hijack.

The flop was and action checked to Hinkle who bet 6,500. Only Altman called.

The turn was the and both players checked.

The river was the , Hinkle checked, Altman bet 13,000 and Hinkle folded.

Brian Altman – 125,000 (83 bb)
Blair Hinkle – 253,000 (169 bb)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Entries: 1,049

Greg Himmelbrand raised to 3,500 from the button and James Calderaro called from the big blind.

The flop was and Calderaro check-called 4,500 from Himmelbrand.

The turn was the and both players checked.

The river was the , Calderaro checked, Himmelbrand bet 11,000 and Calderaro called.

Himmelbrand tabled for eights and fours with a king kicker, Calderaro mucked and Himmelbrand collected the pot.

Greg Himmelbrand – 74,000 (49 bb)
James Calderaro – 18,500 (12 bb)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  1,049

A scan of the field during the break turned up five players with at least 300K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Dapo Ajayi  –  327,000  (218 bb)
2.  Salim Admon  –  310,500  (207 bb)
3.  Scott Stewart  –  308,500  (206 bb)
4.  Frank Funaro  –  307,000  (205 bb)
5.  Evan Sandberg  –  306,000  (204 bb)

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 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  1,046

The players return from break to begin Level 9, with increased blinds of 1,000-1,500 and a 1,500 ante.

Registration has now closed, and the Day 1A field looks to be more than 1,000 entries. As soon as official numbers are released by the casino, we will post them here in the updates.

A scan of the field during the break turned up five players with at least 300K in chips, and as soon as we identify them (now that they’re back in their seats), we’ll post an unofficial leaderboard.

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 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  1,026

There is a three-way all-in situation, with the UTG player all in for 15,400, another player in middle position with about 34,000, and both of them covered by Nadya Magnus in the cutoff with about 43,000.

Nadya Magnus:  
Middle-Position Player:  
UTG Player:  

The board came , and the pocket jacks held up for Magnus to win the pot, eliminating both of her opponents.

Magnus had been up to 100K earlier in the day, but she ran pocket queens into pocket aces to lose a large portion of her stack. This pot gets her back close to where she was.

Nadya Magnus  –  95,400  (80 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 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 8: 600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries: 1,024

Greg Nerenberg raised to 2,400 from the hijack, Alex Foxen three-bet to 8,100 from the cutoff, Nerenberg four-bet to 27,400, Foxen five-bet jammed with a covering stack and Nerenberg called all in for 101,400.

Nerenberg:
Foxen:

The board ran out , giving Nerenberg a pair of aces to double through Foxen.

Greg Nerenberg – 205,800 (172 bb)
Alex Foxen – 15,000 (13 bb)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  1,010

After a flop of , Joseph Cheong got his short stack all in with for a nine-high straight, and he needed it to hold to stay alive against his opponent’s (open-ended straight draw).

The turn card was the , the river card was the , and Cheong won the pot with his straight to double up in chips.

Joseph Cheong  –  52,000  (43 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 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 8: 600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries: 991

Scott Stewart – 312,000 (260 bb)
Blair Hinkle – 216,000 (180 bb)
Shawn Cunix – 165,000 (138 bb)
Alex Keating – 160,000 (133 bb)
Michael Newman – 140,000 (117 bb)
Art Papazyan – 135,000 (113 bb)
Erkut Yilmaz – 104,000 (87 bb)
Joshua Cranfill – 96,000 (80 bb)
Adam Hendrix – 83,000 (69 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui – 71,000 (59 bb)
Ayaz Mahmood – 64,000 (53 bb)
Greg Himmelbrand – 56,000 (47 bb)
Larry Ormson – 55,000 (46 bb)
Tony Dunst – 55,000 (46 bb)
Matt Berkey – 54,000 (45 bb)
Kevin Garosshen – 52,000 (43 bb)
Nick Yunis – 43,000 (36 bb)
Richard Seymour – 43,000 (36 bb)
Paul Balzano – 38,000 (32 bb)
Jason Brin – 34,000 (28 bb)
Joe McKeehen – 34,000 (28 bb)
Ronnie Bardah – 33,000 (28 bb)
Ryan Depaulo – 28,000 (23 bb)
Jon Brody – 27,000 (23 bb)
Andony Wasaya – 27,000 (23 bb)
Noah Bronstein – 25,000 (21 bb)
Sean Perry – 24,000 (20 bb)
Craig Varnell – 21,000 (18 bb)
Joey Couden – 7,000 (6 bb)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1A Entries:  991

A player raised UTG+1 to 2,500, Melisa Singh called from middle position, and Jonathan Akiba reraised from the hijack to 8,500. The UTG+1 player tanked for a while before moving all in for about 20,000, and Singh quickly folded.

Akiba quickly called with , and the UTG+1 player turned over .

The board came , and the pocket kings held up for Akiba to win the pot and eliminate his opponent.

Jonathan Akiba  –  105,000  (105 bb)

A few hands later, another player got it all in from UTG+1, and once again, Akiba had , though this time he was in the big blind. His opponent showed , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Akiba made an unnecessary set on the river to win the pot and eliminate his second opponent in the span of about five minutes.

Jonathan Akiba  –  150,000  (150 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm, and action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:20 pm.