WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
End of Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 882

Championship players are on their second break of the day with 900 entrants on the horizon. The next big milestone comes with the 938 entrants to put the prize pool over $3 million.

Poker pro/Amazing Race star Maria Ho is here today and one nice score from moving over the $2 million mark for career earnings. Her biggest result came with a runner-up finish in the 2011 WSOP $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event, out-lasting everyone in the field except Allen Bari.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 860

There are poker stars everywhere we look in the room, you can’t aim a camera without one champion or another showing up in the viewfinder.

We’ve added another WSOP Main Event champion to the field when Joe Hachem took his seat in the Championship. He won his title in 2005 and was the last player to raise the Main Event bracelet at Binion’s in downtown Las Vegas.

Hachem has over $12 million in earnings with only $7.5 million of it coming from the WSOP Main Event title. Less than 18 months after winning the biggest prize in poker, Hachem earned a WPT title at the 2006 Five Diamond World Poker Classic for another $2.5 million.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 844

The Championship field continues to grow and the prize pool went right past $2.7 million in the fourth level. With seven hours left to register or re-enter, we’re going to be awarding some huge money when the tournament is complete.

One of the latest entrants was Jason Mercier, considered to be one of the very best players in the game. He has more than $16 million in career tournament earnings, three WSOP bracelets, one EPT title, dozens of six-digit payouts, and he leads the all-time tournament cash list for Florida-based players.

One thing missing from his impressive résumé, a World Poker Tour title. Mercier closest call to getting on Champions Cup was an 11th place finish in the 2010 WPT World Poker Finals.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 815

We’ve had a chance to look over the entire field and grabbed more than a handful of chip counts, both big and notable.

We also have another new Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member, patched up and playing. Loni Harwood is the reigning WSOP National Champion and now representing us in the big games.

Top stacks and notable names:

Justin Young – 91,450 (610 bb)
Eric Afriat – 91,300 (609 bb)
Philip Woerner – 80,900 (539 bb)
Wendy Freeman – 73,475 (490 bb)
Danny Nguyen – 69,250 (462 bb)
Bruce Kramer – 69,200 (461 bb)
Paul Balzano – 60,525 (404 bb)
Barry Hutter – 59,575 (397 bb)
Tim West – 51,575 (344 bb)
Jamie Gold – 50,850 (339 bb)
Jacquelyn Scott – 46,000 (307 bb)
Matt Stout – 45,375 (303 bb)
Nipun Java – 45,050 (300 bb)
Darryll Fish – 41,100 (274 bb)
David Diaz – 39,350 (262 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 37,375 (249 bb)
Stewart Newman – 36,125 (241 bb)
Esther Taylor – 35,600 (237 bb)
Kane Kalas – 35,250 (235 bb)
Ian O’Hara – 35,150 (234 bb)
Wally Maddah – 34,375 (229 bb)
Brent Roberts – 34,200 (228 bb)
Eric Baldwin – 33,375 (223 bb)
Ryan Riess – 32,875 (219 bb)
Tony Cousineau – 31,475 (210 bb)
Jared Jaffe – 30,650 (204 bb)
Christian Harder – 30,525 (204 bb)
Marvin Rettenmaier – 30,000 (200 bb)
Tony Dunst – 29,850 (199 bb)
Loni Harwood – 29,225 (195 bb)
Hunter Cichy – 28,850 (192 bb)
Mukul Pahuja – 28,725 (192 bb)
Mohsin Charania – 28,650 (191 bb)
Jessica Dawley – 27,300 (182 bb)
Jason Mercier – 26,625 (178 bb)
Cate Hall – 25,650 (171 bb)
TK Miles – 24,325 (162 bb)
Neil Blumenfield – 23,950 (160 bb)
Yevgeniy Timonshenko – 21,425 (143 bb)
Tristan Wade – 20,800 (139 bb)
David Prociak – 20,675 (138 bb)
Michael Laake – 18,525 (124 bb)
DJ MacKinnon – 18,475 (123 bb)
Asher Conniff – 14,000 (93 bb)

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 777

We found two big stacks in the room with Eric Afriat and Justin Young more than tripling up their 30,000 starting stack.

They are separated by a handful of green chips but both are rocking more than 600 big blinds in early action.

Justin Young – 91,450 (610 bb)
Eric Afriat – 91,300 (609 bb)

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
End of Level 2: 75/150
Total Entries: 736

Championship players are taking their first break of the day and the lobby is going to be a crowded place for the next 15 minutes. The field beat the $2 million guaranteed prize pool by more than 100 players in the first two hours with late registration open until 10:15pm.

We’ll try to find some big stacks in the room while they are away from the tables.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 2: 75/150
Total Entries: 700

The meeting room tables continue to build themselves an impressive lineup as more players join in. Natasha Barbour and two-time WSOP Circuit champion Ryan Tepen already made Table 80 a tough one, now they are joined by 2006 WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold.

Gold isn’t the only World Champ we have in the house today. He’s joined by 2013 winner Ryan Riess and 2007 champ Jerry Yang. We expect a few more to make an appearance including reigning champ Joe McKeehen.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 2: 75/150
Total Entries: 650

With five minutes remaining in the first level, we saw our 625th entrant get in the game to officially hit the $2 million guaranteed prize pool.

There’s still plenty of time to get in the action with late registration and re-entries open until 10:15.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 1: 50/100
Total Entries: 600

The Championship entrant count continues to climb at a steady pace and there’s a good chance we’re going to hit the guarantee before the end of the first level.

Speaking of “chance”, the Seminole Hard Rock Poker team has a new member in Chance Kornuth. He’s a regular here in the cash games and big tournaments with more than $3.6 million in career tournament earnings (plus another $1.7 million during the glory days of online poker).  Kornuth most recently added a cool million dollars to his total with a win in the 2016 Aussie Millions $25,000 Challenge and second place in the EPT Dublin High Roller.

Welcome sir.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship
Level 1: 50/100
Total Entries: 550

The ballroom is already hopping and the Championship is 75 entrants away from hitting the $2 million guarantee nice and early. We are packed solid with top players mixing with our local regulars.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker team members Matt Stout and Stewart Newman drew seats right next to each other (with former WSOP National Champion Ryan Eriquezzo also in the table mix) and they are battling early.

Not necessarily with their chips, it’s more a needle fight with both more than skilled enough to dish it out.