$10,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Finale
End of Level 8: 500/1,000 with a 100 Ante
Remaining Players: 176 of 332 (registration still open)

Sunday was the start of the second World Poker Tour event on the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown calendar. The $10,000 WPT Finale has drawn a field of 332 players so far, with late registration still available until the start of Day 2.

David Laka leads after Day 1, ending atop the counts with 223,200 chips. Laka is followed by Matt Haugen (215,200) and Farid Jattin (203,600), and those three are the only three who ended with more than five times their starting stack.

James Romero is right behind the trio of leaders, though. Romero turned his 40,000 starting chips into 196,000 by the end of the day, good for fourth place on the overnight leaderboard. Romero is a Season XV WPT Champion, winning close to $2 million for his victory at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic back in December. He’s put himself in a good position to compete for another title, but there’s a long way to go between now and the hoisting of the trophy.

Both the SHRP Team and the World Poker Tour were well represented in the field on Day 1. The day was mostly unkind to the patched-up players, though. Chance Kornuth, Faraz Jaka, Jared Jaffee, Matt Stout, and Loni Harwood are all among the 150 or so who were eliminated over the course of the day.

Mukul Pahuja did advance to Day 2, though, bagging up 85,700 chips. The same can be said for Sheddy Siqqiqui, who finished with 62,900 at the end of the night. The WPT’s Tony Dunst (120,300) and Mike Sexton (91,200) also survived the day.

The list of remaining heroes is too long to mention them all, but a complete leaderboard can be found in the posts below, along with the Day 2 seat draw.

A total of 176 players made it through the eight-level day, and a handful more are expected to enter straight into Day 2. Action resumes Monday with 600/1,200 blinds and a 200 ante, giving new players just over 33 big blinds with which to work.

Late registration closes when the cards go in the air at 12 p.m. sharp.