$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 6: 200/400/50 Ante

2013 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Ryan Riess opened from early position to 1,000 and was called by a player in middle position and the big blind. The flop came and the player in the big blind and Riess checked. The lone remaining player put out a bet of 4,400 which would be enough to win the pot as the other two folded.

Riess was sitting with approximately 15,000 after the hand with 45 minutes left in the level.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 6: 200/400/50 Ante

Level 6 is upon us and time is running out for players to get in the game or reload a buy-in. There are 515 entrants in the flight so far, taking the combined total over 1,400 for the Championship, but there is room to grow before registration closes at 8pm.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300/50 Ante

The players are biding their time and picking their spots right now. A few players have made their way back into the tournament. One of them is Jacob Bazeley who said that he “ran set into set against Jesse Martin” as he headed to his new table.

Others spotted that we didn’t see earlier include Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Amanda Musumeci, Ravi Raghavan, and James Mackey.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/250/50 Ante

DJ MacKinnon was not having much luck today but found a spot to get over a starting stack in front. He was in a three-way pot with the board reading and led out for 4,500 with ~7,500 in the pot.

The first opponent let his hand go but the 1-seat eventually put MacKinnon to an all-in test after asking how much he was playing behind. MacKinnon considered his two options and before calling for his stack.

It was the correct decision when his was outkicking and he dodged the three bad beat outs on the river to move up near 40,000 midway through Level 5.

The WSOP Circuit grinder has not had much luck on property but he has seven WSOP-C final table on his résumé. A final table run in the $5,000,000 guaranteed Championship would be a good way to change his fortunes here.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300/50 Ante

We did a quick scan of the room and found four stacks sitting above the 100,000 chip mark with Oliver Gergely looking to hold the lead with 126,000 in chips. He’s followed closely by Zo Karim who has 120,000. Oleg Gaidouk rounds out the top three with 115,000 and Jeffrey Griffiths also has six figures with 105,000.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 5: 150/300/50 Ante

Players are back in their seats and play is back underway. We are closing in a 500 entrants for the flight with two more levels and the 90-minute dinner break left to get in the game.

Didn’t realize I was playing the WPT championship here @shrpo #EmptyingTheClip #6Shooter

— matt berkey (@berkey11) April 18, 2015

30Kss…….14k…..26k……10k………35k……….9k…..just a little swingy today..@shrpo — ChristopherUnderwood (@cbunderwood) April 18, 2015

77 <AA in 3 bet pot on A73 vs ..bullet 4 now @shrpo @WPT #4thenati

— Bazeman (@JakeBazeley) April 18, 2015

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

Players are on their second break of the day. They’ll be back in action in approximately 15 minutes.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

Players use different options to pass the time during the long grind of a poker tournament. A lot listen to music, some watch shows or movies on their mobile devices, and there are a few playing video games.

Mario Sanchez has decided to go “old school” and opted to use an actual book to fill the time.  Note for the younger generation, books are physical objects with paper pages containing the printed word.

Poker pro Ryan D’Angelo is sitting to his left using his brain to play chess on his device when he’s not in action at the table.

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 3: 75/150/25 Ante

Tyler Stafman was indeed the leader at the first break with Christopher Pierro not far behind. Local pro Tristan Wade is also among the leaders along with Seminole Hard Rock Poker ambassador “Sheddy” Siddiqui.

Notable counts:

Tyler Stafman – 92,125 (614 bb)
Christopher Pierro – 90,025 (600 bb)
Oliver Gergely – 83,175 (555 bb)
Devis Multa – 69,075 (461 bb)
Arthur Peacock – 68,475 (457 bb)
Tristan Wade – 65,775 (439 bb)
David Shmuel – 64,325 (429 bb)
“Sheddy” Siddiqui – 63,125 (421 bb)
Todd Whitaker – 62,500 (417 bb)
Scott Lushing – 61,475 (410 bb)
Ory Hen – 51,075 (341 bb)
Erik Cajelais – 45,575 (304 bb)
Ryan Riess – 37,000 (247 bb)
Matt Brady – 35,375 (236 bb)
Corey Burbick – 35,000 (233 bb)
Marsha Wolak – 34,825 (232 bb)
DJ MacKinnon – 28,800 (192 bb)
Aaron Massey – 26,000 (173 bb)
Abbey Daniels – 25,725 (172 bb)
Hans Winzeler – 23,950 (160 bb)
Jesse Martin – 23,875 (159 bb)
Paul Magriel – 23,650 (158 bb)
Loni Harwood – 23,550 (157 bb)
Nenad Medic – 23,275 (155 bb)
TK Miles – 20,200 (135 bb)
Micha Raskin – 16,775 (112 bb)

$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 2: 75/150/25 Ante

Players are back in their seats and it looks like Tyler Stafman is our early front-runner. He’s more than tripled his stack to 92,125 at the break but plenty of time to catch him.

More counts coming shortly.