2018 Escalator Series (Week 3)
$350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed
Level 20: 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante
Players Remaining: 67 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts

Down to his last 31,000 South Florida’s Paul Balzano open-shoved  under the gun. It folded all the way around to the big blidn, Georges Boyadjian.

“Do you want action?” Boyadjian asked. “I haven’t looked.”

Balzano called for action and got it as Boyadjian plopped a lone 25,000 chip in the middle signifying a call.

Balzano:
Boyadjian:

Runout:

Boyadjina paired the flop giving Balzano a sweat. The turn was a blank, but the river gave Boyadjian trips and Balzano was dealt a brutal beat to bust in 68th place.

Georges Boyadjian – 500,000 (50 bb)
Paul Balzano – Eliminated in 68th place ($871)

2018 Escalator Series (Week 3)
$350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed
Level 19: 4,000/8,000 with a 1,000 ante
Players Remaining: 81 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts

Francis Margaglione recently called a 16,000-chip raise preflop. The was a 20,000-chip C-bet on the flop and Margaglione called that, too. On the turn, Margaglione was the aggressor betting 100,000 after his opponent checked. The opponent took some time, but folded. Margaglione took a small pot and continued his upward Day 2 trend.

Margaglione is a three-time Seminole Hard Rock champion and eyes a fourth title here in the Escalator $350. He claims 805,000 chips good for one of the biggest stacks in the room.

Francis Margaglione – 805,000 (100 bb)

The property’s Hot Seat Sundays promo is underway at the cash tables for any Escalator players that find the felt. Its set to pay $500 to random winners every hour between now and 8:15pm.

Full details on Hot Seat Sundays and a look at all other Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood poker promos are available HERE.

2018 Escalator Series (Week 3)
$350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed
Level 18: 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante
Players Remaining: 104 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts

Here’s a look at the updated results at the start of Level 18:

105th: Shadrach Samuel Tercy – $680
106th: Steve Karp – $680
107th: Witold Wasik – $680
108th: Bran Crudden – $680
109th: Haim Toorgeman – $680
110th: Dylan Drazen – $680
111th: Robert Kessler – $654
112th: Vitaly Chaika – $654
113th: Jonathan Williams – $654
114th: Marcus Stein – $654
115th: Joseph Rahman – $654
116th: Edgar Varas – $654
117th: Scott Zakheim – $654
118th: Francisco Castillo – $654
119th: Steven Bennett – $654
120th: Chad Freedman – $654
121st: Randy Burstein – $637
122nd: Antonio Colon – $637
123rd: Blake Kouwenhoven – $637
124th: Michael Kopjanski – $637
125th: Vito Polera – $637
126th: Ievgenii Geletek – $637
127th: Anthony Astarita – $637
128th: Sheldon Gross – $637
129th: Eric Mutschler – $637
130th: Brent Philbin – $637
131st: Nicolas Nieto – $629
132nd: Peter Chin – $629
133rd: Tomislav Krizanic – $629
134th: Adam Reitoral – $629
135th: Christopher Brown – $629
136th: Rayme Silvestre – $629
137th: Nissim Gozlan – $629
138th: Antonio Albanes – $629
T139th: Lawrence Klur – $315
T139th: Kharlin Sued – $315
T140th: Lee Cain – $314
T140th: Wlidir Guerra – $314

2018 Escalator Series (Week 3)
$350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed
Heading to Level 18: 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante
Players Remaining: 108 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts

Michael Graffeo began Day 2 near the top of the counts (second) and stayed there throughout the first two hours of the restart. To start the day, he claimed 332,500 chips but he’s nearly doubled his holdings and now sits on about 640,000 on first break.

Cards go back in the air shortly with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and a 500 ante. Graffeo holds one of the largest stacks in the room.

No stranger to the chip lead, Graffeo won the 2017 Lucky Hearts Poker Open WPTDeepStacks Main Event right here in Hollywood.

Michael Graffeo – 640,000 (106 bb)

2018 Escalator Series (Week 3)
$350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed
Level 17: 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 117 of 1,435 | Structure | Payout

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi recently flexed some muscle betting the last of his opponent’s 132,000-chip stack preflop. Mizrachi was caught with versus . An runout smacked the opponent and Mizrachi shipped a six-figure pot across the table.

Michael Mizrachi – 100,000 (20 bb)

2018 Escalator Series (Week 3)
$350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed
Level 16: 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 138 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts

The bubble came and went instantaneously.

The clock showed 142 players remaining (and 140 paying) and four players hit the rail. They split up 140th and 139th and sent the remaining 138 players into the money.

We will provide the first round of eliminations when the line subsides at the payout desk.

1st – $88,939* + $3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Seat
2nd – $53,460*
3rd – $33,362*
4th – $28,179*
5th – $23,505*
6th – $19,171*
7th – $14,892*
8th – $11,013
9th – $8,081*
10th – $5,531*
11th-12th – $4,971
13th-15th – $3,314
16th-18th – $2,252
19th-27th – $1,878
28th-36th – $1,581
37th-45th – $1,351
46th-54th – $1,168
55th-63rd – $1,020
64th-72nd – $871
73rd-81st – $790
82nd-90th – $744
91st-100th – $710
101st-110th – $680
111th-120th – $654
121st-130th – $637
131st-140th – $629

*Prize value is inclusive of $560 Escalator Week 4 seat

2018 Escalator Series (Week 3)
$350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed
Level 16: 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 162 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts

Local grinder Evan Teitelbaum is a little healthier to start Level 16 with a stack of 124,000.

It was on the last hand in Level 15 when a trio of players, Teitelbaum included, got 8,500 in the pot preflop. The action checked on a flop. The turn fell the . There was a check followed by a bet of 15,000. Teitelbaum called while the checker folded. They were heads up to the river. Teitelbaum’s opponent lead for stack of 5,000 chips and Teitelbaum snapped off his lat 32,000.

Teitelbaum: for a fullhouse

The opponent mucked and Teitelbaum took the pot.

Evan Teitelbaum – 124,000

2018 Escalator Series (Week 3)
$350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed
Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 189 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts

Marcus Stein has been looking for action early and recently put together a string of three consecutive preflop all-ins. The double-ups were nowhere to be found as Stein took down two pots without contest and chopped a third with Witold Wassik when the pair both turned up .

Stein sits on about 45,000 good for 15 big blinds.

While Stein has been lucky enough to hang on, Jonathan Hilton and Josh Beckley have met different fates. They both found the rail early well shy of a payday.

Marcus Stein – 45,000
Josh Beckley – Eliminated
Jonathan Hilton – Eliminated

2018 Escalator Series (Week 3)
$350 Buy-In, $300,000 Guaranteed
Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 206 of 1,435 | Structure | Payouts

Day 2 of the Escalator $350 is underway. Lester Trimino leads with the likes of Seminole Hard Rock regulars Michael Graffeo, Zoltan Czinkota and Charlemagne Benjamin in the top 10.