Event 1 Flight A: Three Hundred and Counting

$360 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 4: 100/200
Flight A Entries: 309

Charlemagne Benjamin

The opening flight of the Ultimate Re-Entry continues to climb and they topped 300 entries before the end of Level 3. It’s an unofficial race to see if today’s field can top last year’s opening flight of 500 entries.

Charlemagne Benjamin is another regular back with us today and shooting for his second LHPO title (and third SHRP trophy). He topped the field last January in the $130 buy-in tournament, his second career title to go along with his 2014 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” win. Benjamin went over the $100K mark in career earning in December when he finished in third place in Event 1 of the Fun in the Sun series.

Event 1 Flight A: Growing Fast

$360 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 3: 75/150
Flight A Entries: 261

Larry Klur (left) and Daren Stabinski (right)

Some of our regular SHRP players are here early and mixing it up with more than 260 in the game so far. We found two alongside each other at the front of the room after Larry Klur and Daren Stabsinski drew neighboring seats.

Klur has over $500,000 in career tournament earnings including a tenth place finish in the 2013 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship and a fourth place result at a Foxwoods WPT televised final table.

Stabinski has eight career tournament victories with seven of them coming here. He owns a LHPO trophy from 2013 and his most recent title came with an Event 5 win during the 2016 Fun in the Sun series to close out his 2016 in style.

Event 1 Flight A: Hen Doubles Early

$360 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 2: 50/100
Flight A Entries: 223

Ory Hen

We were taking a quick walk through the field, only looking for notables at the start but caught one of them making a big hand.

Ory Hen, the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year, was all-in on the river for 9,725 with the board reading AsTh6cJdKc. His opponent called off to see Hen’s turned KsQs straight, good enough to beat a rivered set.

“Any other river card and I don’t pay off,” his opponent said as he tabled KhKd. The case ace sent enough chips over to Hen to pile his stack up to 27,000.

Event 1 Flight A: Cards in the Air

$360 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 1: 25/50
Flight A Entries: 143

Tournament Director Tony Burns kicks off the Flight A of the Ultimate Re-Entry

After the first reading of the rules, Tournament Director Tony Burns issues the “shuffle up and deal” command to get the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open.

This is the first of eight starting flights in the Ultimate Re-Entry event and had 110 entries at the start, an increase from the start of the first flight last year.

Event 1 Flight A: Kicking off the 2017 LHPO

$360 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em
Level 1: 25/50

The New Year’s break is over and it’s time to kick off the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open. And it will be huge.

It’s the second year for the Ultimate Re-Entry tournament which set a record last year for the biggest tournament field in Florida poker history. Last year’s inaugural run of the event drew 4,075 entries to set the mark with Thai Ha outlasting them all to take the title for more than $230,000. A very nice payday for a small buy-in.

That record has since been broken when the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” Event 1 field topped 5,000 entries.

The Ultimate Re-Entry structure has a unique format that allows players to enter as many flights as they wish, even if they move on to Day 2 in a previous flight. If players manage to move another stack forward, they will receive a $2,500 payout for the smallest bag(s) and play the biggest on Day 2.

Each of the eight starting flights will play down to 10% of the starting field and everyone advancing to Day 2 will already be in the money. Two flights will run over the next four days and everyone who survives will return on Monday for Day 2 and try to ladder their way up to the top prize.

The $360 buy-in tournament has a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool which should be reached early in the event. Players sit down to 15,000 starting stacks with late registration and unlimited re-entries available until the start of Level 13 at 5:45pm. They will continue to play until the flight makes the money and those with chips are guaranteed some money on Day 2.

Cards go in the air at 11am for the first flight and we will be tracking this big opening tournament from start to finish.

  • $500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 15,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 13
  • Day 1 will end when 10% of starting field remain
  • Players may enter any/all starting flights
  • Multiple Day 2 stacks will be paid per Structure Sheet
  • See Event 1 Structure Sheet for more details

LHPO Day 1 Schedule

Main Event Schedule

11AM: Event 1 Day 1A – $360 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em

  • $500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 15,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 13
  • Day 1 will end when 10% of starting field remain
  • Players may enter any/all starting flights
  • Multiple Day 2 stacks will be paid per Structure Sheet
  • See Event 1 Structure Sheet for more details

5PM: Event 1 Day 1B – $360 Ultimate Re-Entry No Limit Hold’em

  • $500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 15,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 13
  • Day 1 will end when 10% of starting field remain
  • Players may enter any/all starting flights
  • Multiple Day 2 stacks will be paid per Structure Sheet
  • See Event 1 Structure Sheet for more details

Secondary and Satellite Schedule

9AM: Event 17 – $90 Mega Turbo Satellite to Event 1 (1-in-5)

  • 2 seats guaranteed into the $500,000 Guarantee Event 1
  • Players begin with 6,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 8
  • Satellite will be held in The Poker Room
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 17 Structure Sheet

8PM: Event 18 – $140 Turbo Satellite to Main Event (1-in-10)

  • 2 seats guaranteed to $1 Million WPTDeepStacks Main Event
  • Players begin with 7,500 in chips and 15-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 8
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 18 Structure Sheet

Brent Philbin Wins $20K in Fun in the Sun Opener

2016 Fun in the Sun
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Hollywood, FL
$250 Big Stack No Limit Hold’em
Entries: 517
Prize Pool: $108,570
December 26-27, 2016

 

Brent Philbin won the opening event of the Fun in the Sun at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood on Tuesday evening. Philbin emerged victorious from a field of 517 entries in the series’ $250 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool kickoff event. The prize pool was more than doubled in the end, and Philbin won the lion’s share of it after a three-handed deal earned him $20,817.

Philbin is 32 years old and resides in Fort Myers, Florida. The victory marks his first at the Seminole Hard Rock and moves him just below $200,000 in career tournament earnings.

PlaceFirst NameLast NamePrize
1BrentPhilbin*$20,817
2RobertoBendeck*$17,970
3CharlamagneBenjamin*$13,218
4RaffaelloLocatelli$7,763
5PeterPetakus$6,080
6NashaatAntonious$4,994
7MichelGariepy$3,963
8MarieFisher$3,094
9GeorgeBoyadjian$2,171
10Dimitry Agrachov$1,411
11MarkNahama$1,411
12FariborzZojaji$1,411
13JeffFogel$1,086
14YvesFequiere$1,086
15AngelBracho$1,086
16TheoLawson$814
17EdgarVaras$814
18MatthewZarcadoolas$814
19JulioSanchez$597
20GeorgeDavis$597
21FernandoPages$597
22AlGomez$597
23EricSiegel$597
24MichaelYenko$597
25PasqualeCaiazza$597
26SteveOlivier$597
27EliezerGonzalez$597
28RichardWhitebrook$543
29LarryKlur$543
30PedroAldave$543
31CraigWitz$543
32RichardLeger$543
33NicolasBaussan$543
34HaimToorgeman$543
35FrankLerczak$543
36JeremieGuez$543
37JackRolnitzky$489
38LarryStoddard$489
39AnthonyOcampo$489
40JonHouseworth$489
41WilliamThibeault$489
42AmirSujak$489
43MarshaWolak$489
44EricMutschler$489
45GeorgeHortelano$489
46DevondMarshall$434
47EdwardMedoff$434
48EvanTeitelbaum$434
49SheldonGross$434
50StewartNewman$434
51NathanManuel$434
52JohnMalczan$434
53AlcidesGomez$434
54RobertRosquete$434

*denotes three-handed deal

Event 1: Three-Handed Deal Reached

$250 Big Stack No Limit Hold’em (re-entry)
Level 27: 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 517
Average Stack: 2,585,000 (51 bb)

After a chip count, the remaining three players quickly agreed to an ICM deal. Here were their chip counts and the resulting payouts:

Brent Philbin – 4,115,000 (82 bb) – $20,817
Roberto Bendeck – 2,635,000 (52 bb) – $17,970
Charlamagne Benjamin – 1,025,000 (20 bb) – $13,218

A full recap of the event will be posted later tonight.

Event 1: Raffaello Lacotelli Eliminated in 4th Place ($7,763)

$250 Big Stack No Limit Hold’em (re-entry)
Level 27: 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 517
Average Stack: 2,585,000 (51 bb)

Raffaello Lactotelli raised to 125,000 from under the gun and Brent Philbin called from the button.

The flop fell Ah10d6s and Lacotelli continued for 175,000. Philbin called to see the 10h turn and Lacotelli bet about 500,000. Philbin raised all in with a covering stack and Lacotelli called all in for about 1,050,000.

Lacotelli: AdJd
Philbin: Kc10c

Philbin led with with trip tens and held up through the 8d river to eliminate Lacotelli in fourth place.

Brent Philbin – 4,115,000 (82 bb)
Raffaello Lacotelli – Eliminated in 4th Place ($7,763)

Event 1: Peter Petakus Eliminated in 5th Place ($6,080)

$250 Big Stack No Limit Hold’em (re-entry)
Level 27: 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 517
Average Stack: 1,940,000 (48 bb)

Peter Petakus raised all in for his remaining 70,000 from the cutoff and Roberto Bendeck isolated the action with a raise from the button.

Petakus: JcJs
Bendeck: As5s

The board ran out AhKhKc8h2c, giving Bendeck aces and kings to score the elimination.

Roberto Bendeck – 3,080,000 (61 bb)
Peter Petakus – Eliminated in 5th Place ($6,080)