$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$2 Million Guaranteed

End of Level 2:  Blinds 75/150

Two levels are done and players are scattering for their first break of the day.  There are about 230 entrants so far today and the magic number is 366 to make the guarantee.

Players still have plenty of time to register and re-enter — until the start of level 7 (about 8pm).

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$2 Million Guaranteed

Level 2:  Blinds 75/150

Wally Maddah (Tampa, FL) is a staple around here.  He’s been here since the beginning of the series, grinding away in nearly every event., without muck luck.  He played this event yesterday, but came up short and it back again today for another try.

Wally has two titles from Seminole Hard Rock Tampa, but is still chasing his first, elusive, Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood trophy.

It is also his Birthday today, so we’re wishing him a Happy Birthday and Best of Luck!

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$2 Million Guaranteed

Level 2:  Blinds 75/150

Some new faces are popping up in today’s field.  Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler and Matt Glantz are making their Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ’N’ Roll Poker Open” debuts today.

Vanessa Selbst is playing today as well.  She’s also in town to participate in the taping of Poker Night in America’s Ladies night, filming in a few days.

Matt Affleck and WSOP bracelet winner Ken ‘Teach’ Aldridge are another couple of fresh faces in action early today.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$2 Million Guaranteed

Level 1:  Blinds 50/100

Unfortunately we’re seeing a lot of the same faces today that we saw yesterday in Flight A, which means they busted out at least once already.

Scott Efron busted out twice yesterday and is hoping the third time is the charm today.

Also back for more are

Zach Kessler
Errol Massey
Juan Peralta
Ory Hen
Sheldon Gross
Chance Kornuth
Andy Frankenberger
Timothy ‘TK’ Miles
Dan Alspach
Alfonso Perez
Natasha Barbour
Micah Raskin
David Levi
Ari Engel
Darryll Fish

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$2 Million Guaranteed

Level 1:  Blinds 50/100

The second and final starting flight of the $2 Million Guaranteed Championship is underway!

Players began Flight B with 30,000 chips and Day 1 levels are 60 minutes long.  Late registration and re-entry are available until the start of level 7, following a 90-minute dinner break (about 8pm).

Day 1 will end at the conclusion of level 10 when surviving players bag their chips for the night.  Day 2 is scheduled for Sunday at 12 noon.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$2 Million Guaranteed
End of Level 10: Blinds 400/800/100 ante

With a quick run at the end of the night, the field played down just into single digits as play came to a close for the Flight A of the 2014 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” Championship.

It was a race to see who would end the day as chip leader between Elliott Zaydman, Noah Schwartz, Hans Winzeler, Jacob Bazeley, and Derrick Simon.

In the end it was Zaydman bagging up the most chips with 287,000 with the rest not far behind.

Today’s remaining players will join up with those from Flight B on Sunday at 1pm.

Elliott Zaydman – 287,000
Jacob Bazeley – 237,600
Donald Lehn – 236,500
Derrick Simon – 204,000
Han Winzeler – 200,000
Noah Schwartz – 186,000

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 9: Blinds 400/800/100 ante

One of the most interesting parts of tonight’s field is a group of players who have been battling it out at the tables for years before finally reaching world-wide prominence at the tables in the past two years.  All came from backgrounds of humble beginnings to recently reach superstar status.

Florida native Matt Waxman started off on the live circuit picking off cashes and getting some solid scores before winning his first WSOP Circuit ring in 2010.  He continued building on his success before winning the WPT Grand Prix de Paris in 2011 and winning his first WSOP bracelet in 2013 in one of the most brutal heads-up matches in WSOP history.  Waxman has continued his success winning last year’s “Rock N’ Roll” Poker Open Main Event and finishing 45th in the 2014 WSOP Main Event.

Jared Jaffee and Mukul Pahuja have both emerged from the Atlantic City poker scene to reach new heights.  One of the most well-liked players on the circuit, Jaffee finally broke through in 2013 winning his first WPT title taking down the bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble, final tabling the main event at the Borgata Winter Open the next Janaury and then winning his first WSOP bracelet this past summer.

Pahuja, along with his brother Vinny, were also well-known as two of the most dangerous players on the east coast and Mukul had his breakout year in 2014.  A winner of a WSOP Circuit ring in 2009, he went on to eventually win the WPT Season XII Player of the Year title in 2014 and did it without winning an event making the feat even more incredible.  While a major title has eluded him, Puhaja showed off his talents again last week finishing 3rd in the WPT event in Montreal.

Alex Bolotin, while not necessarily a household name, also broke out on the live circuit in 2014.  The #1 ranked player in the history of Belarus, Bolotin was well-known as a feared and respected player in the poker community.  But he had also stuggled to win a major with his most important win being the WSOP Ante Up for Africa title in 2009.  Bolotin continued to travel the world chasing victory but finally hit paydirt in Las Vegas winning Event #6 at this year’s WSOP capturing the gold that had eluded him for far too long.

And now Aaron Massey has joined the championship club as well.  One of the most likeable and fun-loving players on the poker scene, Massey also struggled his way through the circuit before finally finding the winner’s magic in September 2012 at Winstar and has now followed it up with two wins on the Heartland Poker Tour in 2014 and wrapping up the tour’s Player of the Year race.

All five of these players have proven to themselves to be blueprints for building a successful poker career and they all meet tonight here at the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock N’ Roll” Poker Open Main Event.  We’ll see next week if one of them can leave Hollywood with just a little more hardware.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 10: Blinds 500/1,000/100 ante

While there are very few soft spots in a field this packed, there are a few players who wouldn’t mind their table breaking next.

Table 9: Carlos Mortensen, Matt Waxman, and Andy Frankenberger
Table 10: John Dolan, David Diaz, and Chris Bolek
Table 12: Jason Mercier, Michael Mizrachi, and Derrick Simon (replacing Dennis Phillips)
Table 18: Jared Jaffe, Eli Elezra, Daren Stabinski, and Luis Santoni
Table 25: Faraz Jaka, Stuart Paterson, and Mike Beasley
Table 27: Corey Burbick, Keven Stammen, Elliott Zaydman, and Errol Massey
Table 33: Noah Schwartz, Moshin Charania, and Ross Fischer

Players are in the final level of play and will bag up chips a little after midnight for Day 2.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 9: Blinds 400/800/100 ante

The Mortensen/Pahuja/Bolotin table has now broken and the WSOP Main Event Champion got the worst of it.  He now joins defending champion and WSOP bracelet winner Matt Waxman and WPT Season IX Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger at Table 16.

The other table move did not help Jean Robert-Bellande as he has been eliminated.  Dennis Phillips has also fallen at tonight’s table of death and Jason Mercier has been steadily chipping up.  Two players have stunningly tried to run bluffs at Jason who put down his open-face Chinese game long enough to casually pick them off and build up his stack.

126 players still remain here on Day 1A of the Main Event.