$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante

We found Dan Ishaki doing what he’s been doing all night – stacking chips.

Ishaki has now cleared the 200,000 mark standing at 207,000 as the tournament progresses into Level 8 with 198 players remaining.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 8:  300/600/75 Ante

Hunter Cichy raised under the gun, Barry Hutter moved all in for a little more than 8,000 from middle position, one of the blinds called, and Cichy moved all in over the top for about 23,000. The player in the blind folded.

Hutter turned over , but he’d need to improve to stay alive against the of Cichy.

The board came , and the pocket aces held up for Cichy to win the pot and eliminate Hutter from Day 1A.

Hunter Cichy  –  43,000  (72 bb)
Barry Hutter  –  Eliminated

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 8:  300/600/75 Ante

Level 7 comes to an end, and Level 8 begins with increased blinds of 300-600 and a 75 ante. With about 200 players remaining from a field of 334, the average chip stack is about 50,000 (83 big blinds).

Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10 (around 12:15 am).

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 7: 250/500/75 Ante

We just got the word that today’s field is officially 334 entries, putting the tournament ahead of the pace needed to meet the guaranteed prizepool of $2 million.

A total of 625 entries is needed for the guarantee, which means tomorrow’s Day 1B field only needs 291 entries to meet it.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 7: 250/500/75 Ante

You’ll never fail to find poker’s best here at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.  All you have to do is walk in the door.

Seated at one table right by a doorway entering the ballroom, a massive group of talent is battling it out.  Aaron Massey, John Dolan, Faraz Jaka, Matt Salsberg, Steve Karp and Raj Vohra are staring each other down tonight.

But right now Fabrizio Gonzalez is getting the best of the table.   Gonzalez is up to 97,225 and will look to fight his way through this outstanding group of players.

216 players remain as we close in on the end of Level 7.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 7:  250/500/75 Ante

Mohsin Charania was one of the final players to register for Day 1A, entering during the dinner break to take his seat at the start of Level 7.

Less than 20 minutes later, he was chipleader with about 190,000 in chips.

As you can see by the tweet below, Charania was up near 100,000 before he had even played a full orbit. Then this happened:

Andy Andrejevic raised under the gun to 1,300, another player called, and Charania reraised from the button to 4,700. The big blind reraised to 13,700, and Andrejevic and the other player folded. Charania reraised to about 35,000, and the big blind six-bet all in for nearly 90,000.

Charania snap-called with , and the big blind turned over .

The board came , and the pocket aces held up for Charania to win the pot and eliminate the big blind from Day 1A.

As you can see from the photo, Charania didn’t even bother to stack up his chips right away, focused instead on his laptop computer.

Mohsin Charania  –  190,000  (380 bb)

Jumped into the @shrpo 3500 after dinner break at bb 600. I haven’t played 1 orbit yet but I have 100k from 30k starting #shrpo

— Mohsin Charania (@chicagocards1) November 28, 2015

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 7: 250/500/75 Ante

Yves Fequiere is not going to have an easy ride for the rest of the evening but he did just manage to get one major obstacle out his way.

Fequiere busted Noah Schwartz as his kings held up against Schwartz’s queens taking him to the 140,000 chip mark.  But this night is nowhere near done for him as he still has to face off with Matt Waxman, Adam Levy and Ian O’Hara on one of the toughest tables in play.

Play continues with 225 players remaining Day 1A of the Championship Event.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 7:  250/500/75 Ante

The players return from dinner to begin Level 7, with increased blinds of 250-500 and a 75 ante.

Registration is now closed, and the tournament clock shows an unofficial Day 1A field size of 334 entries. Players who bust may re-enter as often as they’d like on Day 1B (tomorrow) until the end of the dinner break (about 8:00 pm).

The field will play four more one-hour levels tonight before the survivors bag up their chips.

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 7:  250/500/75 Ante

The Championship added two more players so far during dinner with 40 minutes left to go.

William Parker will be their leader at the restart a black chip short of 179,000. Michael Massri is his closest competitor with two handfuls of players over six-digits including Seminole Hard Rock Poker ambassadors Michael Laake and Darryll Fish.

1. William Parker – 178,900 (358 bb)
2. Michael Massri – 160,375 (321 bb)
3. Robert Zlatkiss – 139,800 (280 bb)
4. Jack Duong – 128,975 (258 bb)
5. Yves Fequiere – 127,300 (255 bb)
6. David Prociak – 127,050 (254 bb)
7. Je Oh – 112,050 (224 bb)
8. Richard Whitebrook – 112,050 (224 bb)
9. Ford Fairlane – 110,300 (221 bb)
10. Michael Laake – 105,850 (212 bb)

Other notables:
Darryll Fish – 101,325 (203 bb)
Nathan Horton – 97,275 (195 bb)
Erik Christensen – 94,775 (190 bb)
James Gilbert – 91,400 (183 bb)
Dan Ishaki – 82,600 (165 bb)
Dadesky Saintil – 82,325 (165 bb)
Antonio Salerio – 80,700 (161 bb)
Marc Duquette – 77,375 (155 bb)
Chance Kornuth – 69,450 (139 bb)
Stuart Paterson – 58,450 (117 bb)
Jared Jaffee – 57,475 (115 bb)
John Dolan – 47,025 (94 bb)
Kane Kalas – 46,175 (92 bb)
Aaron Massey – 44,775 (90 bb)
Ari Engel – 43,150 (86 bb)
Harrison Gimbel – 40,700 (81 bb)
Allen Kessler – 34,950 (70 bb)
Jessica Dawley – 34,725 (69 bb)
Dan Shak – 33,250 (67 bb)
David Jackson – 30,250 (61 bb)
Justin Zaki – 30,125 (60 bb)
Mark Herm – 29,025 (58 bb)
Hunter Cichy – 29,000 (58 bb)
Micah Raskin – 27,575 (55 bb)
Ian O’Hara – 25,300 (51 bb)
John Racener – 24,375 (49 bb)
Matt Stout – 23,550 (47 bb)
Jake Bazeley – 22,450 (45 bb)
Vanessa Rousso – 16,850 (34 bb)
Adam Levy – 12,375 (25 bb)

$3,500 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open” Championship
Level 7:  250/500/75 Ante

Level 6 comes to an end, and the players take a 90-minute dinner break. Action is scheduled to resume at 8:00 pm ET.

Registration remains open until the end of the dinner break, and players who bust may re-enter as many times as they’d like during the registration period.

With 219 players remaining from a Day 1A field of 320, for an average chip stack around 43,800 (88 big blinds).