$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 6: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Players: 312

John Dolan was all in as Seminole Hard Rock Poker Team Members Faraz Jaka and Mukul Pahuja were battling for a side pot. There was a round of betting on a board as Pahuja checked from the big blind and Jaka bet from his direct left. Pahuja called and they saw fifth street.

The river was the . Pahuja checked. Jaka bet 16,000 and Pahuja mucked. Dolan stood from the table as he flipped over for ace-high. He was no good against Jaka’s trips — . Jaka took the pot and now claims a stack of 142,000.

Faraz Jaka – 142,000
Mukul Pahuja – 40,000
John Dolan – Eliminated

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 6: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Players: 312

Tony Dunst, the WPT’s Raw Deal host, recently picked up a fullhouse to double through an unknown opponent. Following the hand, Dunst’s stack sits at 73,500.

Tony Dunst – 73,500

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 6: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Players: 312

Greg Merson was in the big blind facing off against a lone opponent on the button. The board read and Merson lead for 1,700. The button called.

The river fell the and Merson shoved for what appeared to be 9,000. The button, who had Merson covered, called. Merson exposed his cards first, tabling for two pair. The button showed next and flipped over for a better two pair. Merson surrendered the pot, politely pushed his chips toward the button, gathered his things and hit the rail.

Greg Merson – Eliminated

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Players: 311

Myles German, who turned a $500 promotional ticket into a $10,000 seat, was under the gun and opened to 1,100. It folded to Mike Sexton on the button and he called. Maria Ho folded her small blind and the big blind mucked as well. German was heads up with Sexton to the flop.

German checked. Sexton bet 1,200. German called.

German checked again. Sexton bet 3,100. German called again.

German checked a third time. Sexton announced an unknown amount and plopped a 5,000 chip in the pot. German quickly raised, throwing 10,000 in the pot. Sexton took a few minutes to think, but ultimately folded. German took the pot.

Myles German – 66,500
Mike Sexton – 16,500

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Players: 304

The newest entrant in the $10,000 WPT Finale is none other than Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Team Member John Racener. Racener busted the Championship 25th for $23,217 and wasted little time ponying up $10,000 of it for his Finale buy-in.

He’s been dealt a few hands, but has yet to see a flop.

Busted the main in 25th blahhh

— John Racener (@racener) April 17, 2016

Jumped right into the 10k event @HardRockHolly

— John Racener (@racener) April 17, 2016

John Racener – 39,500

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Players: 304

The second break is done for the $10K Finale and the player count is getting very close to creating a $3 million prize pool. If they add 12 players between now and the start of Day2, it will get there.

Griffin Abel is your new Finale leader with 144,475 with Bryn Kenney and Rainer Kempe rounding out the list of those over 100,000.

Top stacks and random counts:

Griffin Abel – 144,475 (289 bb)
Bryn Kenney – 114,275 (229 bb)
Rainer Kempe – 100,500 (201 bb)
Bryan Piccioli – 97,500 (195 bb)
Curt Kohlberg – 94,775 (190 bb)
Barry Hutter – 93,650 (187 bb)
Dietrich Fast – 93,525 (187 bb)
Alexander Queen – 93,350 (187 bb)
Samuel Bernabeu – 92,250 (185 bb)
Myles German – 91,925 (184 bb)
Christian Harder – 91,525 (183 bb)
Joe Hachem – 88,350 (177 bb)
Vlad Dobrovolskiy – 87,925 (176 bb)
Jeff Madsen – 87,725 (175 bb)
Joseph Cheong – 83,350 (167 bb)
Noah Schwartz – 82,175 (164 bb)
Jon Borenstein – 81,075 (162 bb)
David Malka – 80,500 (161 bb)
Jared Jaffee – 73,550 (147 bb)
Jake Schwartz – 72,600 (145 bb)
Loni Harwood – 68,125 (136 bb)
Anthony Zinno – 62,475 (125 bb)
Chance Kornuth – 62,100 (124 bb)
Ryan Riess – 50,100 (100 bb)
Justin Zaki – 46,800 (94 bb)
Allen Kessler – 45,025 (90 bb)
Michael Laake – 38,900 (78 bb)
Ray Qartomy – 35,900 (72 bb)
Phil Laak – 35,125 (70 bb)
Mike Sexton – 33,075 (66 bb)
Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 29,275 (59 bb)
Shawn Cunix – 28,975 (58 bb)
Richard Seymour – 20,275 (41 bb)
Maria Ho – 15,875 (32 bb)
Darryll Fish – 14,650 (29 bb)

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 5: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Players: 301

The flop was out and it laid . Yevgeniy Timoshenko is was in the small blind with 3,500 in front of him. Action had moved to Taylor Paur in the cutoff and he shoved having Timoshenko’s remaining 22,000 well covered.

“I think I know what you have,” Timoshenko said. “Unfortunately it has a lot of equity against my hand.”

Paur sat still while Timoshenko spent a good few minutes in the tank. He found a fold and Paur earned the pot.

Taylor Paur – 66,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko – 22,000

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Players: 287

The clock shows 287 entrants toward the end of Level 4 putting the prize pool at an unofficial $2,726,500. The $2,000,000 guarantee is long gone and the next milestone hits when the event’s 316th participants registers. At that point, the prize pool will cross the $3,000,000 mark. With registration open until tomorrow at noon, tournament staff expects that number to come and go without much problem.

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Players: 283

The WPT Finale added some athletic talent to the field this afternoon when Shane Warne grabbed a seat this afternoon.

Warne is considered one of the best bowlers in cricket history and the Aussie was inducted into the Cricket Hall of Fame in 2013. That success hasn’t completely translated to the felt but he does have a couple deep WSOP runs plus a third place finish in the A$10,000 2010 Victorian Poker High Stakes Event.

$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale (Freeze-Out)
Level 4: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Players: 279

Seminole Hard Rock Poker Team Member Sheddy Siddiqui was among those to bust today’s Day 3 of the Showdown Championship. After hitting the rail, he took to Twitter saying he wasn’t in the mood to play another tournament and thought he’d maybe late register the $10,000 Finale tomorrow.

Well, he couldn’t stay away for long. Siddiqui had a change of heart and is one the tournament’s newest entrants. He currently holds just under starting stack.

GL to all the heros in the $10k @SHRThePokerRoom today. Not in mood to play another tourney today, MMN buy in tmrw tho

— Sheddy (@Sheddy88) April 17, 2016

Firing up the $10k here @SHRThePokerRoom
Gonna be another big one!#HomeCourt

— Sheddy (@Sheddy88) April 17, 2016

Sheddy Siddiqui – 39,500