$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 12: 800/1,600/200 Ante

Gregg Fund is taking a rather unique approach to his chip-stacking. Instead of spreading them out in a wall-style formation, Fund has them all in a straight line facing toward his opponents.  We’re not sure if we should call this a stair step, mountain range or battleship formation but either way it’s still impressive.  Though a lot of them are one hundred denomination chips, he still stands at 112,400 and looking for more as we continue on in Level 12.

$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 11: 600/1,200/200 Ante

Two more big stacks have emerged in Event 22.  WPT Season XII Player of the Year Mukul Pahuja has managed to run up his stack to 181,000.  Craig Varnell has also continued a steady climb and is at 165,000.  Both are looking to make a strong push into Day 2 with three more levels to play tonight.

180 players remain as play resumes following the players’ final break of the night.

$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 11: 600/1,200/200 Ante

Another player making a move tonight is Rafael Reis.   Reis built up a strong 148,300 chips putting him among the chip leaders.

The amount of players Reis will have to beat to win the Event 22 title is dwindling quickly as we’ve gone down to 198 players remaining this evening.

2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

August 16-18th, 2015

Total Entries:  502
Total Prize Pool: $1,217,350

1st: $236,400
2nd: $141,800
3rd: $84,800
4th: $70,900
5th: $59,100
6th: $47,300
7th: $35,500
8th: $29,500
9th: $23,150
10-12th: $20,100
13-15th: $17.150
16-18th: $15,350
19-21st: $13,600
22-24th: $11,800
25-27th: $10,050
28-36th: $7,700
37-45th: $5,900
46-68th: $4,450

$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 10: 500/1,000/100 Ante

As the final official number of entrants into Event 22 ends up at

502, we took a look around to find some of the top chip stacks in the room.

Among the leaders are Paul Hyden 149,100 at and Raj Vohra holding onto 142,300 and Cord Garcia with 125,100.  We’ll see if these players can carry their early success into tomorrow’s Day 2.

$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 9: 400/800/100 Ante

As registration closed for Event 22, we saw an all-star cast roll up to the table to get their seating assignments.  This field just got a lot tougher as Tristan Wade, Matt Waxman, Mohsin Charania, Chris Moorman, Bryn Kenney, “Miami Boss” Dan Suied, Xuan Liu, Alex Keating and Phil Laak all threw the hats into the ring at the last second.

The entry count has stopped for the moment at a massive 502 entries.  We’ll have the official count and payouts shortly.

$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante

Although a lot of money is on the line, poker players are still allowed to have some fun at the tables.

We found chip leader Zoltan Czinkota in a gleeful mood with some big stacks in front of him. Tyler Patterson was channeling his inner Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jennifer Tilly was being her usual perky self always having time to strike a pose.

It’s terrific to see our players at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open with smiles on their faces and actually enjoying their time at the tables. After all, that’s what this game is all about.

Speaking of relaxing, the tournament has just reached its final break before the close of registration with 478 entries in the books so far.

$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 7: 250/500/75 Ante

Here are some of the leaders coming off our last break in Event 22:

Zoltan Czinkota – 103,400
Ronald Sorci – 98,900
Craig Varnell – 90.000
Cord Garcia – 83,800
Thomas Sheets – 81,700
Jose Salazar – 80,650
Eric Vallee – 73,900
Jeannette Mendez – 73.025
Miguel Chajtur – 70,275
Rajesh Vohra – 69,100
Walter Buss – 63,300
Michael Dentale – 66,250
Josias Santos – 59,325
Iman Dan – 56,950
Chris Boegler – 56,675

Other Notables:
Barry Hutter – 49,425
John Racener – 47,500
Peter Walsworth – 45,600
Matt Glantz – 42,700
Darryll Fish – 42,000
Abbey Daniels – 41,100
Blake Bohn – 40,850
Mukul Pahuja – 39,825
Leo Wolpert – 36,975
Kathy Leibert – 36,000
Nigel Murray – 35,300
Nick Yunis – 30,150
Jacquelyn Scott – 27,450
Daniel Strelitz – 27,050
Matt Stout – 26,900
Tyler Patterson – 25,700
Esther Taylor-Brady – 24,625
Jared Hamby – 23,875
Byron Kaverman – 22,600
Blair Hinkle – 21,200
Ory Hen – 20,850
Sheddy Siddiqui – 19,350
Faraz Jaka – 18,050
Daniel Weinman – 15,375
Connor Drinan – 15,275
Andrew Hinrichsen – 14,925
Sasha Barrese – 14,250
Jennifer Tilly – 13,500
Allen Kessler – 13,300
David Peters – 10,200
Raymond Ruszkowski – 10,150
Matt Brady – 8,575
Ebony Kenney – 7,100

$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 6: 200/400/50 Ante

A star-studded field has taken to the felt in Event 22.  And with the million dollar guarantee left far behind, we’re two levels away from the end of registration.

Players have come from all over the poker world to be here this weekend including all-time great Kathy Leibert and world blackjack champion Kenny Einiger.  Also here is “Big Huni” Chris Hunichen who has spent time as the #1 ranked on-line poker player in the world plus newly-crowned WSOP National Champion Loni Harwood and the “Chainsaw” Allen Kessler.

$2,650 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out)
Level 5: 150/300/50 Ante

There was little doubt that $1 Million Guarantee Event 22 would miss its mark early in the day. It crossed over that number shortly after the first break with more than three hours to register.

The field seems to be having a good time as the prize pool nears $1.1 million. A little more laid back and jovial on a Sunday afternoon.

Hooray! @AlCantHang brings me & @randomsasha donuts from #Mojos! @HardRockHolly #SHRPO @shrpo pic.twitter.com/mJ0bSxzYgo

— Jennifer Tilly (@Jtillathekilla2) August 16, 2015