$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

Vanessa Kade – 145,000 (145 bb)
Roberto Bendeck – 136,000 (136 bb)
Ian O’Hara – 135,000 (135 bb)
Anthony Zinno – 121,000 (121 bb)
Chris Grigorian – 109,000 (109 bb)
Tony Sinishtaj – 108,000 (108 bb)
Kristen Bicknell – 85,000 (85 bb)
Andrew Brinkley – 83,000 (83 bb)
Dylan Wilkerson – 73,000 (73 bb)
Dean Baranowski – 71,000 (71 bb)
A.J. Gambino – 70,000 (70 bb)
Denise Pratt – 62,000 (62 bb)
Ryan Eriquezzo – 60,000 (60 bb)
James Carroll – 60,000 (60 bb)
Frank Stepuchin – 60,000 (60 bb)
Nadya Magnus – 56,000 (56 bb)
Jessica Dawley – 55,000 (55 bb)
Darren Rabinowitz – 55,000 (55 bb)
Dylan Linde – 48,000 (48 bb)
James Calderaro – 48,000 (48 bb)
Chad Eveslage – 43,000 (43 bb)
Melisa Singh – 39,000 (39 bb)
Sam Panzica – 37,000 (37 bb)
Erik Seidel – 34,000 (34 bb)
Joseph Cheong – 29,000 (29 bb)
Larry Greenberg – 28,000 (28 bb)
Bob Mather – 26,000 (26 bb)
Raj Vohra – 25,000 (25 bb)
Lee Markholt – 24,000 (24 bb)
Lexy Gavin – 24,000 (24 bb)
Eric Afriat – 22,000 (22 bb)
Matas Cimbolas – 21,000 (21 bb)
Paul Snead – 17,000 (17 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: 978

Stu Paterson – 160,000 (160 bb)
Justin Zaki – 146,000 (146 bb)
Alex Foxen – 112,000 (112 bb)
Aaron Massey – 112,000 (112 bb)
Matt Stout – 108,000 (108 bb)
Nipun Java – 105,000 (105 bb)
Howard Mash – 68,000 (68 bb)
John Dollinger – 66,000 (66 bb)
David Jackson – 60,000 (60 bb)
David Moreno – 54,000 (54 bb)
Sean Winter – 54,000 (54 bb)
Darren Elias – 53,000 (53 bb)
Jared Griener – 52,000 (52 bb)
Ryan Laplante – 48,000 (48 bb)
Michael Wang – 45,000 (45 bb)
Aaron Van Blarcum – 43,000 (43 bb)
Barry Hutter – 40,000 (40 bb)
Scott Baumstein – 40,000 (40 bb)
Ali Imsirovic – 34,000 (34 bb)
Ken Aldridge – 27,000 (27 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:  939

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, 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 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1A Entries:  942

A scan of the field during the dinner break turned up four players with at least 210K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Scott Stewart  –  247,700  (248 bb)
2.  Alejandro Gonzalez  –  232,500  (233 bb)
3.  Brian Altman  –  225,100  (225 bb)
4.  Dovid Lakein  –  218,600  (219 bb)

Action is scheduled to resume around 7:05 pm EDT.

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 7:  500/1,000 with an 1,000 ante
Day 1A Entries:  934

Level 6 comes to an end, and the players take a 90-minute dinner break. Action is scheduled to resume around 7:05 pm EDT.

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 6:  400/800 with an 800 ante
Day 1A Entries:  888

After a flop of , Eric Panayiotou got it all in with (ace high), but he was drawing very thin against Scott Stewart’s .

The turn card was the , the river card was the , and the pocket aces held up for Stewart to win the pot and eliminate Panayiotou.

Scott Stewart  –  245,000  (306 bb)
Eric Panayiotou  –  Eliminated

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm.

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 an 800 ante
Day 1A Entries:  888

WPT champions aren’t the only ones in the field with big scores, the WSOP has their share of bracelet winners in the field including Ryan Eriquezzo and Jason Young.

Eriquezzo owns two bracelets in similar events; the WSOP National Championship in 2012 and the Global Casino Championship in 2019, his entries based on his WSOP Circuit performance (where he picked up four rings).

Jason Young earned his WSOP bracelet in 2008 in the $1,500 NLH Shootout. He is also a former SHRP Player of the Year after winning the WPTDeepStacks Hollywood Main Event in 2019 plus other big runs.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with an 800 ante
Day 1A Entries:  888

A player limped from the cutoff for 800, and Eric Afriat moved all in from the button for 12,300. The player on the button called, and the cutoff folded.

Afriat turned over , and he needed it to hold to stay alive against the big blind’s .

The board came , and the pocket fives hold up for Afriat to win the pot and double up in chips.

Eric Afriat  –  26,600  (33 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm.

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 an 800 ante
Day 1A Entries:  880

Tony Dunst raised from the hijack to 2,000, Roger Campbell moved all in from the cutoff for 12,300, and the player in the small blind reraised to 25,300.

Dunst five-bet all in for 38,000, and the small blind called, covering both players.

Small Blind:  
Tony Dunst:  
Roger Campbell:  

The board came , and Campbell turned a nine-high straight to win the main pot and triple up in chips to 38,500.

Dunst won the side pot with his pocket aces to make a profit of 13K on the hand.

Roger Campbell  –  38,500  (48 bb)
Tony Dunst  –  51,000  (64 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm.

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 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1A Entries:  836

Matt Ahmed moved all in UTG+1 for 5,700, a player called from middle position, and the small blind also called.

Both players checked to the river on a board of , and then all three players showed their cards.

Matt Ahmed:    (pair of kings)
Middle Position:    (pair of sixes)
Small Blind:    (ace high)

Ahmed won the pot with his pair of kings to triple up in chips.

Matt Ahmed  –  18,300  (31 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry per starting flight until the start of Level 9, around 9:20 pm.

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after Level 6 (around 5:35 pm), and action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:20 pm.