$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 18: 3,000/6,000/1000 Ante

We’ve moved into Level 18 here in our championship event.  The big board has been updated and we’re down to 167 players remaining.  We’re 17 players from the money as action continues on here in the ballroom.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

We picked up the action with approximately 125,000 already in the pot and Raj Vorha checking the action over to Michael Laake with the board showing . Laake made a bet of 80,000 prompting Vorha to ask Laake how much he had behind.  Laake lifted his hands so Vorha could take a peek at his remaining stack and then Vorha put in a check-raise to 160,000.

Laake didn’t think too long before putting out the call. The river was the and Vorha carefully counted out a bet of 170,000 and place it into the middle. Laake immediately called and grimaced when he saw Vorha turn over for queens full of sixes. Laake turned over for his own full house and to his credit staved off elimination although he was severely crippled with just 25,000 in chips left.

Vorha is up to 1.35 million after winning that massive pot.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

Brian Green has battled through a brutal table today with players like Marvin Rettenmaier, Nancy Birnbaum and Anthony Zinno and is coming out smiling so far.

Green is one of the first players to clear the million chip mark as he has raked in 1,170,000 and is near the top of the leaderboard as we continue to close in on the money bubble.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

With the tournament officially listing 189 players left, Saturanino Rodriguez still had not made it to Day 2.  And his chip stack is now no longer in the room either.

Rodriguez did not make it here to salvage his day and was officially eliminated from the tournament as his last ante just went into the middle.  We still have no word on why Rodriguez missed today’s play and hope everything is fine.

But on his table, some players are going the other way and piling up some big stacks.  Matt Berkey is at 585,000, Michael “Coach” Lipman is at 510,000 and Scott Zakheim holds 447,000.

Now that that distraction at the table is gone, these players can concentrate on making the money later tonight.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

We didn’t catch the hand but Faraz Jaka recently tweeted about a pot he picked up with ten high. Well played sir!

210k now after this hero call with 10 high vs another reg. @shrpo #shrpo http://t.co/OOKNIt0Dey

— Faraz Jaka (@FarazJaka) April 20, 2015

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

With approximately 55,000 in the pot and the action on him after his opponent checked, Seth Berger bet 22,000. His opponent then check-raised all in for 65,000 total. Berger thought for a minute, at one time whispering to himself looking as if he was playing the hand through in his head. He removed the chip protecting his cards, thought for another moment, and then folded leaving himself with just over 200,000 in chips behind.

Berger burst onto the poker scene in 2013 when he took third and second at two World Series of Poker events. Those two finishes netted Berger over $600,000 in tournament winnings. Berger’s biggest score since then was $29,830 – he’ll be looking to top that mark and perhaps even more with a deep run here this week.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

He’s already won the biggest tournament in this series so far and now he’s hunting for the big one.

Leonard Benitez, the winner of the $1,000,000 guaranteed Event 5, is still alive in this championship event.  Though he just lost a hand, Benitez is working with 143,000 chips chasing the dream of adding a WPT title to his resume.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

The remaining 200 players have returned from their dinner break. It should be an exciting couple of levels as the money bubble approaches.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 16: 2,000/4,000/500 Ante

Players are now on a 90-minute dinner break. They will return at approximately 8:05 p.m. local time. The tournament clock currently shows that there are 216 players remaining but the number will likely be adjusted as they make an official count. We’ll have some updated chip counts shortly.

Down to 1big blind in @shrpo Main missed a str8 flush draw vs KK… Now just doubled up 3 times up from 1bb to 10bbs.

— Faraz Jaka (@FarazJaka) April 19, 2015

Boom up to 84k (21bbs) after being down to 4k (1bb). Doubled A9 > 77 this time. 214 players left 150 make the $ in @shrpo $3500 Main Event

— Faraz Jaka (@FarazJaka) April 19, 2015