Day 2 of the $1,100 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed April Big Slick (with a $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship seat added) begins at 1pm. The event drew 148 entries over the course of two starting days and saw a prize pool of $143,560 easily eclipse the six-figure target.
Flight A (Friday at 11am): 74 Entries, 11 Advanced Flight B (Saturday at 11am): 74 Entries, 11 Advanced
The opening flights played to 14 percent of their respective starting fields and Day 2 kicks off to blinds of 1,200/2,4000 with a 400 ante (Level 13). Only the top 19 spots finish in the money with a min-cash worth $2,153. Payouts escalate from there and top out in the form of a $39,632 top prize.
Here’s a look at the top 10 returning chip counts:
Kevin Chan – 296,200 (123 bb)
Oleksiy Lyashenko – 252,700 (105 bb)
Eric Beller – 218,600 (91 bb)
Alexander Gambino – 212,800 (88 bb)
Carlos Rodriguez Rojas – 211,200 (88 bb)
Michael Newman – 201,500 (83 bb)
Chad Eveslage – 189,800 (79 bb)
John Valevich – 182,100 (75 bb)
Bryan Rosen – 164,800 (68 bb)
Michael Mizrachi – 124,600 (51 bb)
Complete chip counts, seat draws and prize pool information are available one post below.
Tournament updates begin when cards go in the air and continue through the crowning of a champion.
April Big Stack Special champion, Michael Mizrachi
One of poker’s most prolific grinders claimed another tournament title early Monday morning at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood. Florida’s own Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi bested a field of 1,817 entries in the $130 buy-in April Big Stack Special earning $41,924 and a $1,100 seat in the process.
Mizrachi, whose victories include two $50,000 Poker Players Championship gold bracelet wins at the World Series of Poker, dominated the event claiming more than 22,000,000 of the 27,255,000 chips in play three-handed. A three-way chop saw Mizrachi take first outright while Robert Harris and Paulo Castro finished second and third respectively.
With more than 1,800 entries, the $100,000 guaranteed event easily surpassed its target before the prize pool settled in at $181,700. The top 108 players finished in the money with Paul Balzano and Elliott Zaydman among those joining Mizrachi in the money.
Next up at the Seminole Hard Rock is the $1,100 buy-in Big Slick April 28-30 ($100,000 guaranteed and $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open seat added) followed by another Big Stack Special May 4-7.
2017 April Big Stack Special Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, FL $130 No Limit Hold’em $100,000 Guaranteed Entries: 1,817 Prize Pool: $181,700 April 20-23, 2017
2016 June Big Stack Special Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood, Fla. $150 No Limit Hold’em Entries: 1,018 Prize Pool: $122,160 June 9-12, 2016
Daren Stabinski pictured following his victory in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open $1,100 event in 2014
Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood regular Daren Stabinski claimed yet another South Florida victory Sunday night. The Miami resident overcame a field of 1,018 in the $150 buy-in June Big Stack Special to earn $21,105 as well as a seat in the $5,250 buy-in, $5,000,000 guaranteed Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship August 13-16. The victory moves Stabinski over $470,000 in career earnings and marks his sixth South Florida tournament win.
June Big Stack Special final results:
1st : DAREN STABINSKI – $21,105 + $5,250 SHRPO seat 2nd : MICHAEL GULLIFORD – $16,929 3rd : JORGE CHAVEZ – $11,414 4th : JOEL BORDEN – $9,493 5th : MARCUS WU-HAMEL – $8,310 6th : PAUL SMERDON – $7,059 7th : JESUS LEON – $6,501 8th : JONATHAN SNEAD – $5,027 9th : ROBERT MCMANUS – $1,771 10th : NALTON WILLIAMS – $1,344 11th : VICTOR NASSIF – $1,344 12th : ROSTANT RAMLAL – $1,344 13th : SAMUEL WYNDER III – $1,038 14th : SAMUEL MAYER-BACKER – $1,038 15th : MICHAEL NEWMAN – $1,038 16th : DANIEL PEREZ – $855 17th : JULIO FERNANDEZ – $855 18th : ANTONIO COLON – $855 19th : DONOVAN WALKER JR – $733 20th : PAUL HUMPHREY – $733 21st : RICHARD VARGAS – $733 22nd : ANGELO SORRENTINO JR – $733 23rd : GEORGE EL-KHOURI – $733 24th : GUSTAVO VAZQUEZ – $733 25th : PAUL SHAFRAN – $733 26th : ERIK NOMBERG – $733 27th : THEOPHILUS LAWSON – $733 28th : RICHARD LEGER – $623 29th : KEVIN WRIGHT – $623 30th : MATTHEW VINKE – $623 31st : JOSEPH DORIVAL – $623 32nd : HANY AYOUB – $623 33rd : ROBERT PLOTKIN – $623 34th : OLEG VAYMAN – $623 35th : ADEWALE ADEYEMI – $623 36th : DIRK PERDRIX – $623 37th : ROBERTO BERROCAL – $525 38th : CHARLES SIMON – $525 39th : CAROLYN ZEGEER – $525 40th : GREG ROSEN – $525 41st : CARLOS TORRES VASQUEZ – $525 42nd : RAFIKI BROWN – $525 43rd : MAURICE LIGHTNER – $525 44th : GEORGE HORTELANO – $525 45th : MICHAEL GRAFFEO – $525 46th : SETH GILSON – $464 47th : DANIT DAYAN – $464 48th : FRANCOIS ZAYAS – $464 49th : MARC DUQUETTE – $464 50th : YUAN SHEN – $464 51st : BLAKE KWEK – $464 52nd : GEORGES BOYADJIAN – $464 53rd : ANTHONY MOREDA – $464 54th : RUDOLFO RODRIGUEZ-CASTILLO – $464 55th : ISMAIL PATEL – $415 56th : STEVE OLIVIER – $415 57th : ONEIL MC CALLA – $415 58th : DOLPHUS POWERS – $415 59th : ARI DINOV – $415 60th : REINALDO TROCONIS – $415 61st : ADRIAN ENACHE – $415 62nd : JONATHAN SIMON – $415 63rd : JAMES LLOYD JR – $415
Day 1A: $350 Deep-Stack No-Limit Hold’em with re-entries ($150,000 Guaranteed) Level 7: Blinds 400/800, Ante 100 Players Remaining: 108/183
On top of the chip counts after six levels is Peter Striano with about 225,000. Striano, seated at the same table as former chip leader Muzaffer Yesilce, took a significant pot off of Yesilce at the end of Level 6. Yesilce, though, is still sitting with a solid stack of about 95,000.
Chip leaders after Level 6
Peter Striano – 225,600 Francis Margaglione – 129,000 Vladimir Kovalchuk – 128,700 John Depersio – 107,600 Rodolfo Enriquez – 114,700 Claudio Kalili – 114,400
Day 1A: $350 Deep-Stack No-Limit Hold’em with re-entries ($150,000 Guaranteed) Level 5: Blinds 200/400, Ante 50 Players Remaining: 126/170
The Day 1A field is up to 170 entries, more than 1/3rd of the way to reaching the guarantee. The average stack is currently about 40,000 (100 big blinds).
Among those who have recently entered the field include Stuart Paterson, Tony Ruberto, and Matt Elsarelli.
Day 1A: $350 Deep-Stack No-Limit Hold’em with re-entries ($150,000 Guaranteed) Level 4: Blinds 150/300, Ante 50 Players Remaining: 126/154
With the board reading and about 4,000 in the pot, chip leader Muzaffer Yesilce checked from the small blind. The player under the gun bet 2,000, the player on the button raised to 4,500, and Yesilce check-reraised to 12,000. After a few moments the UTG player folded, leading to the player on the button reraising all in for about 24,000.
Yesilce called with for a full house, eights full of sevens, leading his opponent’s for trip eights. The river was the , securing the pot for Yesilce and giving him about 163,000.
, facing chip leader Peter Striano’s 
in the big blind.
, giving Striano quad aces to win the pot and eliminate Harwood.
for a full house, eights full of sevens, leading his opponent’s 
for trip eights. The river was the