High Roller: One Out, One In

$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 400/800 with a 100 Ante
Entries: 74

Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Loni Harwood

SHRP Team member Chance Kornuth was eliminated a moment after losing that pot against Jonathan Little.

Good news for the Team, though; Loni Harwood has just walked in through the same door Kornuth walked out of, taking a seat at a table that contains Scott Seiver, Brandon Adams, and Jerry Wong, among others.

Erik Seidel has also returned for another entry after being eliminated before the first break. His second entry is number 74 overall into this High Roller field.

Loni Harwood – 100,000 (125 bb)
Erik Seidel – 100,000 (125 bb)

High Roller: Chance Kornuth Getting Short

$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 400/800 with a 100 Ante
Entries: 74

Three players were involved in a small pot on a Js7h3c flop. Giuseppe Iadisernia was first to act from the small blind, and he bet 2,000. Jonathan Little raised to 7,000 from the big blind, Chance Kornuth called in position, and Iadisernia called the remainder to proceed.

The turn was the Kh. It checked to Little, who bet 16,000. Kornuth called, Iadisernia folded, and it was heads-up to the river. It was the Qc. Kornuth had 9,200 chips left in front of him, and Little bet enough to set him all in. Kornuth quickly folded, and Little won the pot with no showdown.

Jonathan Little – 195,000 (244 bb)
Chance Kornuth – 9,200 (12 bb)

High Roller: First Break Update

$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 400/800 with a 100 Ante
Entries: 68

Players are back in their seats following the first break and dealers are dealing to blinds of 400/800 with a 100 ante. The clock shows 68 entries to this point with an unofficial prize pool of $1,700,000. Leading the way is Olivier Busquet with a stack of 216,000. Next up is Nghi Tran with 197,000.

Here’s a look at some of the counts:

Olivier Busquet – 216,000
Nghi Tran – 197,000
Grayson Ramage – 160,000
Scott Seiver – 125,500
James Calderaro – 98,000
Chance Kornuth – 58,000
Jason Mercier 49,500
Eddie Ochana – 29,500

Others in the event include Ari Engel, Jonathan Little, Aditya Prasetyo, Justin Bonomo, Joe McKeehen, Ryan LaPlante, Jerry Wong, John Racener and Ian O’Hara.

High Roller: Busquet Climbing High

$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 300/600 with a 75 Ante
Entries: 63

Olivier Busquet

Olivier Busquet is one of the early chip leaders following a heads-up pot versus Dietrich Fast. The flop was out and it laid AdJs6h. Busquet checked and Fast bet 1,200. Busquet called.

The turn fell the 8c. Busquet checked again. Fast bet 4,000. Busquet called again.

It was time for the river and it fell the 3s. Busquet checked a third time. Fast reached into his stack and pulled out a bet of 9,000. Busquet nearly beat him into the casually plopping a chip in the middle.

Fast: 2s2h for a pair of twos
Busquet: Jd8s for two pair

Olivier Busquet – 231,500
Dietrich Fast – 62,000

High Roller: All-In and a Call, Table 9

$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: 250/500 with a 75 Ante
Entries: 56

Nghi Tran

Table 9 was the site of Erik Seidel’s 150,000-chip pot and was recently the site of James Calderaro’s elimination. The player on the best end of the action is Nghi Tran in Seat 2. He’s turned his 100,000 starting chips into over 200,000 and is in great position early.

Nghi Tran – 225,000

High Roller: Tran with an Unfriendly Welcome for Seidel

$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 200/400 with a 50 Ante
Entries: 52

Erik Seidel

Erik Seidel was one of the most recent entries into the game as he took his seat late in Level 1. After some confusion that first saw him pull up a chair at the wrong table, Seidel arrived at his proper table only to see a misdeal. After all was sorted out, Seidel was in the big blind facing a cutoff raise from Nghi Tran and a call on the button from James Calderaro. Seidel raised to 5,000 and Tran promptly three-bet to 16,100. Calderaro folded and Seidel called. They were heads up on Seidel’s first hand of the day.

Flop: AdKh6s

Seidel checked. Tran bet 16,100 again and Seidel called.

Turn: AdKh6sAc

Seidel checked again and Tran followed suit.

River: AdKh6sAc4s

Seidel checked a third time. Tran assembled a bet of 48,700 and slid it forward. Seidel was reluctant.

“Alright. Show me quads,” he said as he called.

Tran couldn’t show quads, but he could show AhKs for aces-full. Seidel mucked and his starting stack took a big hit.

Nghi Tran – 200,000
Erik Seidel – 19,100

High Roller: Fast Action for Chidwick

$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 200/400 with a 50 Ante
Entries: 43

Stephen Chidwick (right) and Dietrich Fast (left)

Dietrich Fast claimed the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Super High Roller title just a few days ago and parlayed his big score into an entry in today’s High Roller. He’s been active in a few pots early, most notable raising to 1,000 from the cutoff only to see Stephen Chidwick three-bet to 3,000 from the button.

The flop was 9c9h8h and Fast checked. Chidwick bet 2,300. Fast called.

The turn fell the 4s. Fast checked again. Chidwick bet 7,000. Fast came along for one more and the dealer finished the board with the Qh. Both players quickly checked and Fast’s pocket sixes were second best to Chidwick’s pocket jacks. Despite surrendering the pot, Fast owned just over starting stack.

Dietrich Fast – 110,000

High Roller: Shuffle Up and Deal Starting Strong

$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 200/400 with a 50 Ante
Entries: 36

Cards went in the air for the $25,500 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown High Roller just moments ago and the event is off to a strong start already. With 36 entries, the $1,000,000 guarantee is all but guaranteed to be bested. Last year, this same event kicked off with 24 entries and saw the final tally sniff the 100 mark before the field settled in at 94.

Late registration and re-entry in this year’s installment are available until 11:45pm.

High Roller: Big Money Action

$25,500 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 200/400 with a 50 Ante

There are four tournaments on schedule with buy-ins of $10,000 or higher and today brings the third of those. We’ve already crowned a Super High Roller, the $10,000 WPT Finale is playing down in the other room, and the $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions starts on Friday.

Today we have the $25,500 High Roller featuring a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and two-day format. Last year the guarantee was more than doubled and we very much expect the same thing today.

The tournament kicks off at 2pm in the rearranged ballroom with a lot of chips and slow structure. Entrants start with 100,000 out front and the tournament will run 40-minute levels until the final table, then they will switch to 90 minutes per. Late registration is available till the start of Level 13 at 11:45pm with unlimited re-entries during that time.

The tournament will continue will continue to play until only eight players remain and they will bag up their chips for a return tomorrow for Day 2.

It will be a tournament full of top pros and local grinders, battling it out for a huge six-digit payday.

  • $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 100,000 in chips and 40-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 13
  • Day 1 will end when 8 players remain or Tournament Director discretion
  • High Roller Structure Sheet