$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining:  215 of 543

With the board showing on the turn and about 30K already in the pot, Kenny Hallaert had moved all in from the hijack for 44,500.

Scott Baumstein (UTG) went into the tank for a very long time before he called all in for 28,500 with for a pair of queens. Hallaert turned over a spade flush draw, and Baumstein needed his hand to hold to stay alive.

The river card was the , and Baumstein won the pot with his king high to double up in chips.

Scott Baumstein  –  86,000  (57 bb)
Kenny Hallaert  –  16,000  (11 bb)

With about 215 players remaining from an unofficial field of 543, the average chip stack is 101,000 (67 big blinds). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm, and Day 1B begins tomorrow at 11:00 am.

$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining:  225 of 543

Ren Lin raised all in for 10,000 from the cutoff, and Daniel Couzens isolated the action from the small blind.

Lin: 
Couzens: 

The board ran out , giving Lin a pair of tens to double up.

Ren Lin  –  23,000  (15 bb)
Daniel Couzens  –  205,000  (137 bb)

$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining:  231 of 543

The board read , and there was 12,000 in the pot when Alex Foxen bet 17,500 from middle position. Dmitrii Perfilev check-raised all in for 46,500 from the big blind, and Foxen called to cover him after tanking. The two players then flipped over their cards.

Perfilev:
Foxen:

River:

Perfilev doubled up to survive with 105,000, and Foxen was down to 10,800 after the hand.

Dmitrii Perfilev – 105,000 (70 bb)
Alex Foxen – 10,800 (7 bb)

$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining:  234 of 543

Gal Yifrach was all in preflop from the button against two other players, and the flop came . The big blind checked, and Li pan checked from the cutoff.

The turn card was the , putting four diamonds on the board, and both players checked. The river card was the , and they checked again.

Pan:    (pair of sevens)
Big Blind:    (pair of fives)
Yifrach:    (ace high)

Since no player had a diamond in their hand, Pan won the pot with his flopped pair of sevens to eliminate Yifrach from Day 1A.

Li Pan  –  75,000  (50 bb)
Gal Yifrach  –  Eliminated

With about 234 players remaining from an unofficial field of 543, the average chip stack is 93,000 (62 big blinds). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm, and Day 1B begins tomorrow at 11:00 am.

$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining:  260 of 543

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

Registration is now closed, and the tournament clock shows an unofficial field size of 543 entries, which would put more than $2.63 million into the prizepool on its way to the $3 million guarantee.

A scan of the field during the break turned up six players with at least 270K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Loni Hui  –  353,000  (235 bb)
2.  Daniel Clifford  –  328,500  (219 bb)
3.  Justin Liberto  –  321,000  (214 bb)
4.  Brandon Wittmeyer  –  286,500  (191 bb)
5.  Jon Borenstein  –  275,500  (184 bb)
6.  Mason Vieth  –  271,500  (181 bb)

With about 260 players remaining from an unofficial field of 543, the average chip stack is 83,500 (56 big blinds). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm, and Day 1B begins tomorrow at 11:00 am.

$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  538

The remaining players are taking their last 15-minute break of the night. Registration closes at the end of the break, and the field will play two more levels before the end of play tonight.

$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  530

Zyad Qasem raised to 3,500 from the small blind preflop, and Frank Stepuchin called on the big blind. The flop was dealt , Qasem bet, Stepuchin raised to 5,500, and Qasem reraised to 15,000. Stepuchin tanked before reraising to 30,000, and Qasem called after tanking as well.

The turn fell , Stepuchin bet 25,000, and Qasem check-raised all in for more than enough to put Stepuchin all in. He tanked again on the decision for his tournament life and folded his cards. Stepuchin was down to 63,000 after the hand, and Qasem was at 205,000.

Zyad Qasem – 205,000 (170 bb)
Frank Stepuchin – 63,000 (52 bb)

$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  528

After a flop of , Jon Borenstein checked from the big blind, Aaron Massey bet 3,400 from under the gun, and Borenstein called.

The turn card was the , and both players checked.

The river card was the , and they checked again. Borenstein showed to win the pot with a pair of jacks, and Massey mucked.

Jon Borenstein  –  195,000  (163 bb)
Aaron Massey  –  28,000  (23 bb)

At another table, after a flop of with about 14K already in the pot, the player in the hijack bet 10,000.

Natasha Mercier moved all in from early position for about 44,000, and her opponent thought for a while before he folded. Mercier took the pot.

Natasha Mercier  –  68,000  (57 bb)

The tournament clock shows 528 entries so far here on Day 1A, with the prizepool up over $2.56 million on its way to the $3 million guarantee.

Registration remains open with until the end of the next break, around 9:15 pm, and players are allowed one entry and one re-entry in each starting flight. Day 1B begins tomorrow at 11:00 am.

$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  527

All the cards were on the table when the button was all in with , but he missed all of his draws against the of Mo Arani that was good for trip nines on a final board reading . The button was eliminated on the hand, and Arani stacked up 144,000 after collecting the pot.

Mo Arani – 144,000 ( bb)

$5,300 SHRPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  525

Frank Funaro  –  213,000  (178 bb)
David Pham  –  200,000  (167 bb)
Landon Tice  –  112,000  (93 bb)
Martin Stausholm  –  105,000  (88 bb)
Josh Reichard  –  101,000  (84 bb)
James Romero  –  96,000  (80 bb)
Stephen Song  –  86,000  (72 bb)
David DiBernardi  –  68,000  (57 bb)
Clemen Deng  –  58,000  (48 bb)
Raj Vohra  –  57,000  (48 bb)
Sterling Savill  –  56,000  (47 bb)
Gal Yifrach  –  53,000  (44 bb)
Joseph Cheong  –  47,000  (39 bb)
Tom Dobrilovic  –  45,000  (38 bb)
Miguel Capriles  –  45,000  (38 bb)
Matt Glantz  –  39,000  (33 bb)
Clint Tolbert  –  38,000  (32 bb)
Dom Mosley  –  34,000  (28 bb)
David Jackson  –  20,000  (17 bb)
Dylan Smith  –  18,000  (15 bb)
Ken Einiger  –  17,000  (14 bb)
Ami Alibay  –  10,000  (8 bb)