$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1: 50/100
Flight B Entries: 169

Tournament Director Tony Burns dispensed the daily rules and announcements before issuing the command to “shuffle up and deal”.

Cards are in the air and the Championship will hit the $3 Million Guarantee with entry number 292.

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1: 50/100

We are halfway through the 2018 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship and the last flight is set to kick off at 11am.

Flight A drew an impressive 646 entries but only 227 of them made it through the day to bag up for the return on Sunday. They need less than 300 today to reach the $3 Million Guarantee and it should get there early. This will be one of the biggest Showdown Championship and it will be more than $600,000 to the winner

Players will start out with 30,000 stack and levels will last 60 minutes on both Day 1 and Day 2. Late registration is available until the start of Level 9 around 9:15pm with a dinner break scheduled at 5:30pm. Flight B will play down through Level 10 and all survivors will bag up for a return tomorrow for Day 2.

We will be here for all the milestones throughout the day and all the action from start to finish.

• $3,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 30,000 in chips
• Day 1 & 2 levels last 60 minutes; Day 3 levels last 90 minutes
• Late registration available until start of Level 9
• Day 1 will end after Level 10 or Tournament Director discretion
• WPT Showdown Championship Structure Sheet

Primary Event Schedule

11AM: Day 1B – $3,500 WPT Showdown Championship

• $3,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 30,000 in chips
• Day 1 & 2 levels last 60 minutes; Day 3 levels last 90 minutes
• Late registration available until start of Level 9
• Day 1 will end after Level 10 or Tournament Director discretion
• WPT Showdown Championship Structure Sheet

Secondary and Satellite Schedule

9AM: Event 59 – $390 Turbo Championship Satellite (1-in-10)

• 2 seats guaranteed into $3,000,000 GTD Championship
• Players begin with 8,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• Satellite will be held in the Poker Room
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 59 Structure Sheet

12PM: Event 60 – $375 Super Turbo into WPT Championship

• 1 seat guaranteed into $3,000,000 GTD WPT Championship
• Players begin with 8,000 in chips and 10-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 60 Structure Sheet

7PM: Event 61 – $2,650 High Roller Satellite (1-in-10)

• • 2 seats guaranteed into $1,000,000 GTD High Roller
  • Players begin with 10,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 7
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
  • Event 61 Structure Sheet

8PM: Event 62 – $130 Turbo Survivor (Re-Entry)

• 1-in-10 player will earn $1,000 in cash
• Players begin with 10,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 62 Structure Sheet

10:30PM: Event 63 – $2,625 Super Turbo into High Roller

• 1 seat guaranteed into $1,000,000 GTD High Roller
• Players begin with 10,000 in chips and 10-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 63 Structure Sheet

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
End of Level 10: 500/1,000 with 100 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 227 of 646

Flight A: 646 Entries; 227 Advanced
Flight B: Saturday at 11am

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
End of Level 10: 500/1,000 with 100 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 227 of 646

At the end of 10, one-hour levels, the 646-entry Day 1A field was trimmed down to 227. Robert Transue was atop the chip counts for most of the day, but Uri Kadosh finished the dya with the chip lead, edging out Transue.

Kadosh finished the day with 245,500 and Transue finished just behind with 239,500. Nguyet Kim Dao (237,300), Josh Rittenberg (235,800) and Paul Snead (220,000) round out the top five. They are also the only five players with more than 200,000 in chips.

Other notables to survive the day include Matt Glantz, Joe McKeehen, Zachary Smiley, Joe McKeehen, Brian Hastings, Scott Clements, Jeff Gross, Jon Borenstein, Jason Mercier, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Tony Dunst, Kathy Liebert, Jerry Wong, Bob Bounahra and Justin Liberto.

The players who survived Day 1A will return on Sunday for Day 2. Anybody who busted today’s action is able to take another shot on Saturday at 11 a.m. for Day 1B.

Complete chip counts will be posted shortly.

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 500/1,000 with 100 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 252 of 646

The tournament staff paused the clock with 10 minutes left on the clock. The field will play three more hands and then bag and tag chips for the night.

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 500/1,000 with 100 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 252 of 646

There was about 13,000 in the pot on the turn with the board reading .

Phong “Turbo” Nguyen moved all in out of the big blind for 18,000 and a player in early position moved all in for 20,000. Zachary Smiley was in the cutoff and thought for about a minute before folding.

Nguyen showed , giving him a nine-high straight and had his opponent’s drawing dead.

The river was the irrelevant and Nguyen doubled up just before the end of the night.

Phong “Turbo” Nguyen – 49,000

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 500/1,000 with 100 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 261 of 646

Mike Chiappetta opened to 2,500 from late position and Kathy Liebert made it 8,000 from the big blind. Chiappetta moved all in for 50,000 effective.

Liebert went into the tank for a while before eventually deciding to call all in with . It was a classic coin flip as Chiappetta tabled .

The board came and Liebert hit an ace on the river to stay alive.

“I gambled.. maybe Allen Kessler would’ve folded it”

Kathy Liebert – 100,000
Mike Chiappetta – 60,000

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 500/1,000 with 100 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 285 of 646

John Gordon raised to 2,300 from the hijack and Ryan D’Angelo three-bet to 9,000 out of the small blind which sent Gordon into the tank.

“You say call, I’ll call. You say fold, I’ll fold,” said Gordon.

“I don’t want to do this. You’re too good at this,” said D’Angelo.

“I’m 100 percent serious,” said Gordon. “I’ll do whatever you say.”

“Ok, fold,” said D’Angelo.

Gordon immediately tosses his hand into the muck and claimed he had a small pocket pair. D’Angelo mucked his hand and won the pot.

John Gordon – 207,000
Ryan D’Angelo – 56,000

$3,500 WPT Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 400/800 with 100 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 324 of 646

There were five players taking a flop of . Loni Harwood bet 5,000 from under the gun and Jorge Martinez raised to 15,000 from early position.

David Inselberg folded from the hijack and Matt Stout folded from the cutoff. The button folded and Harwood moved all in for about 50,000. Martinez called.

Martinez showed , good for two pair, but needed to dodge a lot of cards against Harwood’s .

Harwood needed a club, four or nine to double up, but the on the turn and the on the river sent the pot to Martinez and eliminate Harwood just before the end of the level.

Jorge Martinez – 135,000
Loni Harwood – Eliminated