$360 Big O “Five Card PLO8” (Re-Entry) Structure | Payouts Level 10: 500/800 Players Remaining: 32 of 107
The doors are closed on the first RRPO Big O tournament and it drew 107 entries to create a prize pool worth $32,100. The last 14 spots will be paid with a min-cash worth $750 and the Big O champ will walk away with $8,775 along with the RRPO trophy.
$360 Big O “Five Card PLO8” (Re-Entry) Structure Level 9: 400/800 Entries: 107
Daniel Pearlman
The Big O tournament was another successful event on the early schedule. The newly added format drew a nice crowd of 107 entries with no past history to build upon. The prize pool is over $30,000 and we will post the payout information when it is available.
Two-time WSOP Circuit winner Daniel Pearlman looks like the current leader with only five tables remaining.
$360 Big O “Five Card PLO8” (Re-Entry) Structure Level 1: 25/50
Event 1 keeps blasting along and taking up most of the seats in the Hard Rock Event Center but the RRPO schedule continues to keep something around the non-hold’em folks. The first three, one-day events (Limit Omaha 8, H.O.R.S.E., and PLO) all surpassed their numbers from last year and we have a brand new RRPO game today.
Big O is a popular game these days and we put it on the schedule for the first time in August during the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. Today they will play the five-card Pot Limit Omaha 8 game again and we will award another trophy later this evening.
The eight-handed tables will start with 10,000 stacks and all levels last 30 minutes long. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 4:30pm.
Cards go in the air at noon and this should be a fun one.
Players begin with 10,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, FL Event 5 $300 Deep Stack Turbo (Re-Entry) $25,000 Guaranteed Entries: 203 Prize Pool: $51,765 August 5, 2018
Mark Smith
Mark Smith came back to the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood on Sunday afternoon with hopes of a victory in the $570 no-limit hold’em. He busted shy of the money and his dreams of a six-figure scores were squashed.
He missed out on a six-figure score, but the he still left with a victory. The Naples resident hopped in the $300 no-limit hold’em turbo event and walked away with a trophy and $12,734. Smith defeated a field of 203 entries and bested Timothy Hand heads-up to take home the title.
“It feels awesome,” said the native of South Carolina. “I’ve been playing really good cards. I went deep in event #1 and I knew I was due. I missed [the][money] by about 70 place and that’s the reason I hopped into this one. This is the equivalent of cashing in event #1.”
Coming into the final table, Smith was bunched in between a bunch of the short stacks, while it was local player Jorge Gomez with a massive chip lead.
Gomez’s chip lead didn’t last long as he ended up busting in fifth for $2,492. Smith took a couple of pots off Gomez which helped propel him to the top of the counts and eventually to the win.
“He was stacked,” said Smith of Gomez. “He had a couple of bad beats and then I hit him twice. Jorge is a good player. I was surprised that he went down as fast as he went.”
Smith doesn’t truly consider himself a poker pro, but poker is his main source of income. And he’s won enough to earn the right to be called one.
“Everything that I have on, I won,” said Smith, pointing to a plethora of wrist jewelry. “I play in a league over in Naples, I’ve played out at the [World] Series [of][Poker]. I didn’t get to play this year, but the year before I got to play in eight tournaments and cashed in five. I do travel and I came down here specifically for [the][$5][million][guaranteed][championship][event].”
Smith plans on heading back to the other side of the state to regroup and then come back for the Seniors event, as well as some of the bigger tournaments that are set to kick off near the end of the series.
The 56-year-old has been playing poker long enough to understand the swings. Even after busting out of the $570 no-limit hold’em, he stayed calm and let the cards fall where they may en route to his victory.
“At the beginning of the tournament, I wasn’t running good,” said Smith. “I had to be patient and let the game come to me. That’s just how it was. Some people start out fast and some people start out slow.”
The 203-entry field paid out the top 26 players. Here is a look at the results:
1st: Mark Smith – $12,734 2nd: Timothy Hand – $8,838 3rd: William McKown – $5,306 4th: Jill Fiorentino – $3,228 5th: Jorge Gomez – $2,492 6th: Aaron Speer – $2,065 7th: Israel de la Cerda – $1,760 8th: Dwight Cool – $1,517 9th: Michael Harley – $1,273 10th: Chad Freedman – $1,108 11th: Paul Domb – $1,108 12th: Allen Levine – $1,108 13th: Carlo Rodriguez – $942 14th: Rene Martinez – $942 15th: Michael Seago – $942 16th: Vladimir Kovalchuk – $776 17th: Michael Rodriguez – $776 18th: Ronnie Tate – $776 19th: Franke Velasquez Soto – $621 20th: Joseph Duchman – $621 21st: Marc Levy – $621 22nd: Daniel Wilson – $479 23rd: Paul Alvarez – $479 24th: Steven Weintraub – $479 25th: Bobby Bryant – $387 26th: Raminder Singh – $387
$300 Deep Stack Turbo No-Limit Level 25: 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante Structure | Payouts Players Remaining: 10 of 203
With just a few minutes remaining in level 25, the 203-entry field was trimmed down to the final 10 and they have redrawn for seats at the unofficial final table.
With one more elimination, the final nine players will be credited with making the official final table.
Here is a look at the seating arrangement and chip counts of the final 10 players:
Seat 1: Michael Harley – 200,000 Seat 2: Aaron Speer – 125,000 Seat 3: Timothy Hand – 455,000 Seat 4: Dwight Cool – 350,000 Seat 5: Jorge Gomez – 1,160,000 Seat 6: Bill McKown – 525,000 Seat 7: Jill Fiorentino – 475,000 Seat 8: Israel de la Cerda – 250,000 Seat 9: Chad Freedman – 205,000 Seat 10: Mark Smith – 350,000
$300 Deep Stack Turbo NLH (Re-Entry) $25,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 17: 2,500/5,000 with a 500 Ante Players Remaining: 54 of 203
Today’s 12pm one-day Turbo easily passed its $25,000 guarantee ultimately more than doubling the targeted figured. With 203 entries, the prize pool hit $51,765 and will pay the top 26 finishers at least $387. Payouts escalate from there before topping out in the form of a $12,734 top prize.
Full payouts:
2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event #5 $300 Deep Stack Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $25,000 Guarantee Entries: 203 Prize Pool: $51,765 August 5, 2018
While previous Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year David Prociak recently hit the felt, there’s another David looking to add a trophy to his extensive Seminole resume — David Shmuel.
David Shmuel
Shmuel owns three titles at this property including two during last November’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open.
Much of the live reporting efforts this evening will be concentrated on the big, 3,000-entry $1M guarantee, but we’ll provide a Turbo update when they reach the 10-handed final table, then post the final results along with a winner report and winner photo after it concludes.
$300 Deep Stack Turbo NLH (Re-Entry) $25,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 2: 75/150 Total Entries: 81
Joel Harwood
The Sunday Turbo event is moving along quickly, as expected, and they are close to hitting the $25,000 guaranteed prize pool before the first hour is complete.
Joel Harwood is back in the Hard Rock Event Center, wasting no time getting back in the action. He’s having a fine start to his series with a final table in the Limit Omaha/8 game and he followed that up with a win in the Pot Limit Omaha/8 game early this morning.
Other familiar faces in the Turbo crowd include Bill McKown, Jacquelyn Scott, and Jorge Gomez.
If you, unfortunately, missed out on the Event 1 Day 2 action, we have two new tournaments on the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open schedule with something for everyone.
The first new event of the day is a $300 Deep Stack Turbo tournament with a $25,000 guaranteed prize pool that kicks off at noon. It will be a fast, fun tournament on a Sunday afternoon.
Players sit down to 20,000 deep starting stacks and the tournament plays peppy 15-minute levels from start to finish. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 15 at 4pm.
This is a one-day tournament and will award a SHRPO trophy before the night is through.
$25,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 15-minute levels
Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 15
This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
