Event 1 (Day 1B): Complete Day 1B Chip Counts

$350 Deep-Stack No-Limit Hold’em with re-entries ($150,000 Guaranteed)
Level 15: Blinds 2,500/5,000, Ante 500
Total Players Remaining (Day 1A & Day 1B): 47/387

After 14 Levels (plus half of Level 15), the 175 Day 1B entries are down to just 24 players who have locked up a seat for Day 2 on Sunday, joining the 23 Day 1A survivors.

Here is a complete list of Day 1B survivors

1. Francis Margaglione – 698,000
2. Yotam Bar-Yosef – 592,000
3. Santana Noronha – 356,500
4. Matthew Bray – 318,500
5. Dimitry Agrachov – 304,500
6. Scott Edwin Roberts – 275,500
(current Day 1A & Day 1B average – 247,000)
7. Arthur Andrade – 225,500
8. Gary Flur – 223,000
9. Austin Kempa – 213,500
10. Emre Ipeker – 210,500
11. Michael Monaco – 210,500
12. Patricio Gonzalez – 187,500
13. Edward Gilfillan – 175,000
14. John Sarver – 164,000
15. Nancy Thomas – 157,600
16. Matthew Lessor – 154,500
17. Jonathan Ounjian – 151,500
18. Dmitry Savelyev – 138,000
19. Riley Fuller – 120,500
20. Derrick Cutler – 114,500
21. Jaime Campos – 108,500
22. Paul Brettler – 79,500
23. Bradley Hinson – 57,000
24. Nicholas Mahabee – 53,000

Event 1: Complete Day 1A Chip Counts

After 14 levels and change, the 212 Day 1A entries are down to just 23 players that have punched their tickets to Day 2 on Sunday.

Here is a complete list of Day 1A survivors:

1. Carlo Rodriguez – 591,000
2. Robert Patrick Brown – 492,000
3. Michael Chiappetta – 470,000
4. James Salmon – 460,000
5. Stuart Paterson – 429,000
6. Steven Pollack – 413,000
7. Peter Striano III – 390,000
8. Paulo Castro – 325,000
9. Muzzafer Yesilce – 310,000
(average stack ~277,000)
10. Luis Santoni – 271,000
11. George Hortelano – 270,000
12. Stefan Alvarez – 249,000
13. David Smith – 241,000
14. John Depersio – 221,000
15. David Swatscheno – 218,000
16. Vitaly Shafran – 165,000
17. Marcus Obser – 138,000
18. Ken Bruno – 137,000
19. Jay Klitzner – 154,000
20. Bobby Bresner – 118,000
21. Matt Elsarelli – 118,000
22. Gregory Marcus – 108,000
23. Patrick Peduto – 88,000

Event 1: Chip Count Update

Day 1A: $350 Deep-Stack No-Limit Hold’em with re-entries ($150,000 Guaranteed)
Level 11: Blinds 1,000/2,000, Ante 300
Players Remaining: 65/211
Average Stack: (~97,000 – 49 big blinds)

Here are a few notable stacks from the field:

Peter Striano – 510,000 (255 bb)
Stuart Paterson – 255,000 (127 bb)
Muzaffer Yesilce – 167,000 (83 bb)
Luis Santoni – 128,000 (64 bb)
Matt Elsarelli – 90,000 (45 bb)
Michael Tait – 60,000 (30 bb)
Greg Marcus – 52,000 (26 bb)
Scott Zakheim – 28,000 (14 bb)

Championship: Paul Wins Race To Grab Chip Lead

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 34: 150,000/300,000/50,000 Ante

Joe Ebanks started things off with a raise to 600,000 and Griffin Paul re-raised to 1.8 million. Ebanks put in another raise, making it 3.5 million. As has been his custom, Paul had his mouth covered with his jacket, using his hand to hold it up. He peeked back at his cards and then announced that he was all in. Ebanks quickly called and turned over 6h6d. He would pump his fists as he stood up when he saw Paul was behind with his AcJs.

The crowd started yelling out different cards depending on who they were rooting for. Some were yelling for an ace or a jack, obviously that was the Paul contingent. Others yelled for any card but an ace or a jack — the Ebanks crowd.

It would be Paul’s rail that would get their wishes fulfilled as the flop came AhQd9d. Screaming and screeching ensued as their man was one step closer to taking the chip lead. He would do precisely that when the turn was the 8s and the river was the 2c.

Paul, who had been pacing the stage nervously, pumped his fists, having doubled up to nearly 31 million and taking control of the heads up match with a more than 2:1 chip lead.

Seat 1: Griffin Paul 30,950,000 (103 bb)
Seat 2: Joe Ebanks 13,275,000 (44 bb)

Joe Ebanks awaits his fate
Joe Ebanks awaits his fate

Championship: Break Time And Chip Counts

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 31: 60,000/120,000/20,000 Ante

It’s been fairly slow action here on Level 31.  Both Griffin Paul and Shawn Nguyen went all-in late in the level but no one bit.

It’ll be good for the room every time Nguyen wins a pot as by the sound of it he’s got the loudest cheering section on the set. With the action being somewhat restrained so far, the room can always use pepping up a little bit.

In the meantime, the players have reached the break and here are the updated chip counts:

Griffin Paul – 13,650,000
Joe Ebanks – 11,300,000
Andre Crooks – 10,675,000
Shawn Nguyen – 3,275,000
Ryan Rivers – 2,675,000
Brian Green – 2,650,000

Event 17: Final Table Chip Counts

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 25: 15,000/30,000/5,000 Ante

Here are the unofficial chips counts for the eight remaining players in Event 17:

Seat 1 – Ravi Shanmugam – 320,000
Seat 2 – Michael Corbett – 470,000
Seat 3 – Ross Lebo – 1,105,000
Seat 5 – Emil Soffer – 1,710,000
Seat 6 – Josias Santos – 1,550,000
Seat 7 – Sean Yu – 690,000
Seat 8 – Louis Leo IV – 750,000
Seat 9 – Jamie Gomez – 1,195,000

Event 20: Chip Counts On The Break

$250 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 18: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

Table 33
Seat 2: Gil Morgensztern 104,000
Seat 3: Alex Boytan 190,000
Seat 4: David Albertson 233,000
Seat 5: Arlene Vasquez 68,000
Seat 6: Jose Navarrete 136,000
Seat 7: Greg Marcus 215,000

Table 41
Seat 1: Howie Hershkovich 340,000
Seat 3: Tony Burns 140,000
Seat 4: Allan Bieler 58,000
Seat 5: Eric Piderit 143,000
Seat 7: Luis Bergolla 55,000
Seat 8: Raymond Ruszkowski 45,000
Seat 9: Kenny Bhakta 99,000

Event 17: Soffer Chipping Away, Smith Out

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 23: 10,000/20,000/3,000 Ante

David Smith couldn’t survive the big hit he’d taken a few mintues ago and is gone.  Smith lost most of his chips to Jamie Gomez after Smith flopped aces but Gomez flopped a set of nines.  After doubling up, Smith could not hang on and finishes in 12th place.

In the meantime, Emil Soffer has been more than holding his own on the other table.  Soffer took two hands off of Josias Santos and has now gotten to 1.325 million.

Emil Soffer
Emil Soffer

Championship Day 4: Updated Chip Counts

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 29: 40,000/80,000/10,000 Ante

Seat 1: Griffin Paul – 9,755,000
Seat 2: Dan Heimiller – 6,170,,000
Seat 3: John Thrower – 2,222,000
Seat 4: Joe Ebanks – 7,360,000
Seat 5: Sean Shah – 1,685,000
Seat 6: Ryan Rivers – 2,520,000
Seat 7: Shawn Nguyen – 1,780,000
Seat 8: Brian Green – 5,960,000
Seat 9: Andre Crooks – 6,765,000