$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1A Entries:  722

Following a flop of , a flurry of action between Robin Jofre in middle position and Aram Zobian on the button culminated with Jofre all in for 221,200 with for a set of sixes, trailing Zobian’s for a set of jacks.

The turn was the , giving Jofre quad sixes to take the lead, and he held through the river to win the hefty pot.

Down to 200, Zobian busted shortly thereafter.

Robin Jofre  –  290,000  (290 bb)
Aram Zobian  –  Eliminated

$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1A Entries:  722

Gytis Lazauninkas  –  235,000
Tony Joyce  –  186,000
Jonathan Jaffe  –  182,000
Fred Goldberg  –  167,000
Haim Toorgeman  –  153,000
Zhen Cai  –  117,000
Mukul Pahuja  –  112,000
Justin Zaki  –  107,000
Mike Graffeo  –  99,000
Aaron Massey  –  95,000
Nashaat Antonious  –  90,000
Frank Stepuchin  –  90,000
Joey Couden  –  88,000
Stan Jablonski  –  87,000
Tony Cousineau  –  79,000
Darren Rabinowitz  –  70,000
Cherish Andrews  –  70,000
Matthew Wantman  –  68,000
Paul Domb  –  63,000
Dimitri Vorbe  –  62,000
Kristen Foxen  –  61,000
Jake Schwartz  –  61,000
Nick Yunis  –  58,000
Jeff Madsen  –  57,000
Darren Elias  –  57,000
Matt Berkey  –  54,000
Natasha Mercier  –  53,000
Solange Lucas  –  49,000
David DiBernardi  –  48,000
Nadya Magnus  –  43,000
Faraz Jaka  –  33,000
Alex Foxen  –  32,000
Jeremy Ausmus  –  32,000
Pavel Plesuv  –  30,000
Loni Hui  –  13,000
Stanley Lee  –  13,000
Chris Tryba  –  11,000

$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1A Entries:  700

The players return from dinner to begin Level 7, with increased blinds of 500-1,000 with a 1,000 ante.

A scan of the field during the break turned up three players with at least 250K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Min Zhang  –  283,700  (284 bb)
2.  Richard Whitebrook  –  258,600  (259 bb)
3.  Mitchell Halverson  –  252,200  (252 bb)

The tournament clock shows 700 entries so far here on Day 1A, which means the prizepool is already worth more than $2.24 million, easily surpassing the $2 million guarantee.

Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until 9:15 pm, and action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.

$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1A Entries:  683

Level 6 has ended and tournament staff sent the Championship players on a 90-minute dinner break. They will return at 7 pm and play two more levels, plus a break before registration closes at 9:15 pm.

There are currently 683 entries in the LHPO Championship to put the prize pool at $2,185,600.

$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1A Entries:  672

Min Zhang raised under the gun to 2,500, James Calderaro called UTG+1, another player called from middle position, and the big blind called.

The flop came , the big blind checked, and Zhang bet 6,000. Calderaro called, and the other two players folded.

The turn card was the , Zhang bet 20,000, and Calderaro folded. Zhang showed for a pair of aces with an ace-high flush draw as she took the pot.

Calderaro smiled and said, “Of course she had the ace of spades. Honestly, I expected her to have a set of aces.”

Min Zhang  –  235,000  (294 bb)
James Calderaro  –  43,500  (54 bb)

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after this level (5:30 pm until 7:00 pm), and registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until 9:15 pm.

Action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.

$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1A Entries:  625

The guarantee made it less than five full levels today before it was a thing of the past. With 625 entries in Day 1A, the LHPO Championship prize pool officially hit $2,000,000 and will continue to climb until registration closes tomorrow evening.

Thank you for a great start to the Championship!

$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1A Entries:  599

The second break has come and gone and Day 1A Championship players are back in their seats. They have two more levels before the 90-minute dinner break and are on the verge of making the $2,000,000 guarantee before it gets here.

Kathy Liebert is moving in the right direction. The Women in Poker Hall of Fame member is up to 106,600 in the early stages of the tournament and has local regular Michael Newman talking to himself a bit after a hand.

But don’t worry about the eight-time Hollywood champ; he’s doing just fine with more than 100K himself.

$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  508

This is our 11th running of the LHPO Championship and we have a very solid list of former winners. Brian Altman is on the list twice as the first player to win the same WPT tournament twice; the first in 2015 and the second in 2020.

James Calderaro holds a special spot in LHPO Championship history, the only player to win the title outside of Hollywood. This event was run at Seminole Coconut Creek in 2014 and the Tampa favorite won his first WPT award.

We found two other former winners in the crowd with defending LHPO champ Alex Yen and 2017 WPTDeepStack Main Event winner Michael Graffeo in action.

2012  – Matthew Juttelstad
2013 – Matt Giannetti
2015 – Brian Altman
2016 – Salomon Ponte
2017 – Michael Graffeo
2018 – Darryll Fish
2019 – Jason Young
2020 – Brian Altman
2021 – Ilyas Muradi
2022 – Alex Yen

$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries:  508

Blinds are up and the entry count moved over 500 for Day 1A of the LHPO Championship. They’ve contributed more than $1.65 million of the $2,000,000 guarantee and should get there before too long.

More familiar faces in the crown include Sheddy Siddiqui, Asher Conniff, Esther Taylor, Faraz Jaka, Ido Askhenazi, Will “The Thrill” Failla, Kharlin Sued, and Chad Eveslage.

$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries:  445

Championship players made it through the first two levels and tournament staff sent the field on the first break of the day. They are back in action and getting closer to hitting the $2,000,000 guarantee in the first flight.

A lot of our success is thanks to those who come to town for each series and a fair share of them are regulars in our sister room in Tampa. There are a good number of them in action today including Tony March, Jeremy Becker, Justin Zaki, and Wagner Wysotchanski