$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 340

Flight A is in its last level with open registration and 350 is looking like a lock with more players buying in and re-entering. We caught up with Jon Borenstein in the front of the room, moments before he busted his first bullet in the game. He fired again and grinding away.

Borenstein spent a little time in the tropics before coming back to the states for a WSOP Circuit series in Los Angeles. Instead of going back to Costa Rica to relax, he decided to come across the country for a little Showdown action.

Borenstein started off his 2016 in fine fashion with a sixth place finish in the big Borgata $2 Million Deep Stacks for $86,000. In 2015 he cashed three times for five-digit paydays including a PCA Main Event final table appearance and seventh place result in the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $2,650 Freezeout as part of the Big 4 tournaments.

Had a flight booked back to Costa Rica today… Somehow am now on a flight to Florida to play the whole hard rock series instead #????????forme

— Jon Borenstein (@JBoishere) March 29, 2016

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 7: 250/500/75 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 325

Flight A is moving steadily towards a possible 350 entrants for the opening session. That would be a great start with five more flights to go. More top players are taking their shot today including Loni Harwood.

Harwood has the biggest results in the room right now and has more success in her early career than many pros will have in their lifetime. She holds two WSOP bracelets, two WSOP Circuit rings, and a Seminole Hard Rock trophy.

Harwood won her first WSOP bracelet in 2013 during a summer that saw her make two other final tables among her five cashes. She followed that bracelet up with a WSOP National Championship title last summer to push her over $1,000,000 in career earnings.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 6: 200/400/50 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 300

David Jackson is one of our more successful regulars we find during our big events. He’s here often and he’s here early.

Jackson has over $725,000 in career earnings including tournament cashes around the country. He has a handful of final tables appearances here and WSOP Circuit events but his two biggest came in Las Vegas during the summer of 2014. He won a Phamous Poker event to start his June that year and ended it with a fourth place finish in the WSOP $1,500 buy-in Event 55.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 5: 150/300/50 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 280

Flight A crossed over 275 entrants during the break and they’re back in their seats ready to play another two hours before registration is closed for the early session.

Miami’s Edwin Cabrera made the most out of his first four levels, running up his 20K starting stack over 80,000 in two hours. That’s a great start to the day but there’s plenty of time for the other players to catch him.

Thomas Collazo is his nearest competitor with 65,750 and Ross Willner isn’t far behind. Collazo finished fourth in this event during the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” for a cool $56,000.

Top stacks and notables:

Edwin Cabrera – 85,375 (285 bb)
Thomas Collazo – 65,750 (219 bb)
Ross Willner – 60,275 (201 bb)
Alejandro Duque – 58,900 (196 bb)
Gary Bodley – 55,550 (185 bb)
Joelle Guarino – 46,775 (156 bb)
Nancy Birnbaum – 32,000 (107 bb)
Kim Stone – 27,900 (93 bb)
John Depersio – 22,625 (75 bb)
Steven Bennett – 21,450 (72 bb)
David Jackson – 19,525 (65 bb)

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 245

Players are heading off on their first break of the day and we’ll take this chance to walk the empty room looking for our leaders.

Robert Campbell is having an open-and-down first few levels but can never be counted out. The local poker pro has over a dozen tournament wins to his credit, most of the Omaha/8 variety, but the biggest score of Campbell’s career came with a 30th place finish (out of 6,683 players) in the 2014 World Series of Poker Main Event.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150/25 Ante
Flight 1A Entries: 225

We’re starting to see some of our more successful regulars join the 225 entrants in early action.

Martin Carnero jumped in and looking for his first Seminole Hard Rock Poker trophy. Even without a first place finish, he still has some huge results among his $228,000 in career earnings. He finished second in this tournament during last year’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown and ended his year with a final table fourth place finish in the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” Championship Event.

Flight A is one level away from hitting the first break of the day and we’ll start looking for our early leaders.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: 50/100
Flight 1A Entries: 185

The first flight of Event 1 is closing in on 200 entrants before the clock moves into the afternoon hours. We have 185 showing on the clock as Level 2 winds down with more than three hours left to get in the game. Or get back in if needed.

We found Seminole Hard Rock Poker regular Francis Margaglione in the front of the ballroom, grinding away and enjoying himself as usual. He kicked off his 2016 with a near-$2,000 cash in the Escalator series after finishing 2015 with a Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” title in the huge-field $150 buy-in tournament. That was Margaglione’s second career SHR trophy with his first coming last summer during the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50
Flight 1A Entries: 125

It didn’t take long for the first flight of Event 1 to jump over 100 entrants. They hit that mark five minutes into the first level, in traditionally the slowest of the six starting flights, and 125 at the mid-point. A great indicator of how big Event 1 will grow before registration is closed late on Saturday evening.

John Depersio is one of our early adopters today, taking his seat in Event 1 while still in its morning hours. He’s looking to pick up his first tournament cash of the year after finishing off 2015 with a nice run. Depersio had a few very nice days at the end of September. He picked up his first WSOP Circuit ring on the 24th and followed that up with a third place finish in the opening tournament of the 2015 Coco Poker Open. A $50,000 weekend for the South Florida grinder.

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50

After months of planning and scheduling, it’s finally time to get down to business and kick off the 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. The series features over 100 tournaments awarding big money and 30 major events adding the shiny Seminole Hard Rock Poker trophies. It all culminates with three WPT events late in April but we’re ready to kick things off today with the first tournament of the series.

Event 1 is a $350 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament with a huge $500,000 guaranteed prize pool. We expect a great crowd in the six starting flights over the opening three days of the series. Entrants start with 20,000 in tournament chips and play 30-minute levels throughout the day.

Late registration is open until the start of Level 9, approximately 3:30pm, with unlimited re-entries available during that time. The flight is scheduled to end after Level 14 and survivors will bag up their chips for a Day 2 return on Sunday.

There’s always a great turnout for the first event of each series and we expect this one to be no different. Players are taking their seats and cards will be underway after the daily reading of the rules.

• $500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
• Event 1 Structure Sheet