$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 10: 500/1,000/100 Ante
We’re nearing twenty minutes left to play and are down to 216 players remaining. Barry Hutter, Vladimir Dobrovolski and Brian Altman look to have the largest stacks in the room as we close out play for tonight. Hutter has been one of the top two stacks nearly all day and is trying to set himself up for a big run on Day 2.
We’ll have counts for the top stacks on the final update of the night for Day 1A.
$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 9: 500/1,000/100 Ante
234 players remain as we have hit Level 10. The players will play out this final level and then bag up for the night. Barry Hutter still appears to be out in front of the field but quite a few players are closing in on his chip lead. With all of the amazing talent in the room, it should be an exciting finish to Day 1A coming up.
$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 9: 400/800/100 Ante
It’s obviously early in this event but two players in our field tonight are looking to make a little history here at Seminole Hard Rock-Hollywood.
Brian Altman will try to win back-to-back Seminole Hard Rock championship events. Altman won this year’s WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open and is looking to add another main event trophy to his case. Altman currently stands at 137,000 chips
Anthony Zinno is looking to take it to a whole new level in WPT history. Zinno already pulled off the back-to-back WPT titles earlier this year but now stands one WPT title away from doing something no one else has done – winning a fourth WPT championship. He stands at the top of the mountain in that category beside Carlos Mortensen and Gus Hansen and is looking to leave himself all alone in the history books with a victory here this week. Zinno currently has 77,200 chips.
3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 9: 400/800/100 Ante
It’s been a good night for many of our earlier winners in this series and two more are still standing as we close in on the end of play this evening.
Leonard Benitez, the winner of the $1,000,000 guaranteed Event 5, and Event 6 winner Eliyahu Levy are both grinding away looking for a berth in Day 2. Could one of them pull off the rare repeat in our championship event? We shall see as the tournament moves on.
$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 9: 400/800/100 Ante
The players have returned from their brief respite from the pressure of the WPT Poker Showdown championship event and grinding away. We’ve got two more levels to go before play is over for the night.
3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 9: 400/800/100 Ante
Brian Hastings has a problem. Three problems actually.
Their names are Jake Schindler, Sorel Mizzi and Mengchao Yu.
They’re all to his immediate left and his table isn’t breaking any time soon tonight. Looks like Hastings will be put to the test to make progress tonight in a rough spot as we close out Day 1A.
$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante
Day 1A has reached its final break with Chance Kornuth and Barry Hutter still leading the way. 270 players are still on the felt the players get 15 minutes to get refreshed for the final run to reach Day 2. We have two more levels to go before we call it a night.
$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante
We don’t think anyone is hoping to go to this table any time soon.
Check out this loaded table draw with Zo Karim, Andy Frankenberger, Darryll Fish, Sam Panzika, Natasha Barbour and Ravi Mathi.
Not much has to be said about that. Good luck to everyone who’s playing with this crowd.
3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante
Shannon Shorr decided to punish the limpers from the small blind as he made it 3,600 to go after three players in late position limped in. Only one player, Pasquale Caiazza, would make the call.
The flop came 
and Shorr led out for 3,800. Caiazza, a scowl on his face, studied Shorr and put out the call. The turn was the 
and Shorr bet 8,600 this time. Caiazza made a quick call.
The river was the 
and Shorr thought for a moment, his hand covering his mouth, while Caiazza glared at him. After slightly less than a minute, Shorr quietly announced that he was all in. The dealer tossed the red all in button in front of the Alabama native and Caiazza went deep into thought.
He would look at the board, back at Shorr, and then peeked at his cards. Shorr sat motionless, resting his head lightly on his hand. Caiazza in the meantime continued to think, shuffling chips clumsily in his right hand. He grabbed a stack of chips and then moved them back to where they originally came from.
“How much?” he asked. The dealer quickly counted and told him that it was 21,500. Caiazza took his earbuds out and muttered “sorry” to the rest of the table.
“I don’t want to battle it out with you man,” he said to Shorr. He grabbed the chips again, looking at Shorr the entire time, holding them out as if he is going to make the call. He tossed them towards Shorr and they land almost directly in front of the pro.
Shorr shakes his head and taps the table twice with his fist. Caiazza tables 
for third pair which was good as Shorr held 
for a flopped flush draw that did not get there. “Good call,” said Shorr as he grabbed his things. Caiazza ended the hand with approximately 155,000 in chips. Shorr will get to try his luck again tomorrow.
$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante
If you’ve never played in a WPT event that is going to be televised, one thing you not be ready for is a team of cameramen shining bright lights in your eyes and holding a mic over your table while playing a big hand.
The WPT team is out trying to find big hands and faces in the crowd for their upcoming broadcast of the Seminole Hard Rock WPT Poker Showdown. So if you see these guys coming to your table, get your poker face on and maybe fix that bedhead a little bit. You never know who’ll be watching.
