The second of two-Day Ones is in the books at the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event, with the top four finishers from the Day 1B action taking down the overall leaderboard of the tournament because of their play.
Before the cards even went into the air on Saturday, an important milestone had been eclipsed. With 212 players in their seats (at $5000 a pop), the $3 million guarantee was met for the Main Event. This was important because the last three SHRPO Main Events had failed to meet their guarantees, with the Seminole Indian operators of the Hard Rock picking up the overlay. Before the tournament even started, the Tribe was clear of any financial dues for the tournament, something that they had to be pleased with.
As with Day 1A, top poker pros were more than willing to step back into the ring following a post-World Series of Poker slumber. Jonathan Little was one of those players, getting a big double up only four hands into the action. As Little recounted over Share My Pair, he was UTG +1 with pocket Aces and found a willing combatant in the big blind with pocket Jacks who wanted to three-bet him. After some back and forth, all the chips were in the center, with Little’s pocket Aces standing tall to give him twice his starting stack and leaving an unfortunate soul questioning how to play pocket Jacks.
By the time noon had passed, the tournament clock showed 700 entries in the tournament, with former SHRPO champion Blair Hinkle back for a second bite of the apple after not making it through Day 1A (the other three former champions – Dan Colman, Omar Zazay and defending champion Jason Koon – all made it through Day 1A). Tony Dunst, Matt Stout, former World Champion Joe McKeehen, Brian Altman, and current World Champion Scott Blumstein were also on their second chances (or fourth, depending on how you count – players could re-enter once each Day One, for a grand total of $20,000 (plus juice) if all four chances were used) in the tournament.
After late registration/re-entry closed following Level 9, the players got their first look at the bounty they were playing for. An astounding 887 entries were received in the tournament, building a $4,301,950 prize pool for the top 111 players to divvy up. Nearly the entire final table will take home a six-figure payday (ninth place will “only” earn $75,413), with the eventual champion of the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event taking home a $754,083 boost to the bankroll.
When the clock called for the end of Day 1B, it wasn’t surprising that the top four players from Day 1B’s action would take over the tournament leaderboard:
1. Diana Shirey, 398,900
2. Chance Kornuth, 365,000
3. David Diaz, 346,000
4. Shawn Nguyen, 345,800
5. Benjamin Ridgway, 285,900
6. Gabriel Andrade, 277,000
7. John Dubois, 234,100
8. Samuel Bernabeu, 214,700
9. Nipun Java, 213,900
10. Jorge Gomez, 211,100
When merged with the leaderboard from Day 1A, here are your overall leaders:
1. Diana Shirey, 398,900
2. Chance Kornuth, 365,000
3. David Diaz, 346,000
4. Shawn Nguyen, 345,800
5. Andy Philachack, 290,000*
6. Pablo Fernandez, 290,000*
7. Benjamin Ridgway, 285,900
8. Gabriel Andrade, 277,000
9. Lahn Pham, 270,500*
10. Alexander Turyansky, 263,300*
(* – Day 1A players)
142 players from the 480 entries made it through the Day 1B battlefield and, combined with the 127 players from Day 1A, will make for a busy Day 2 with 269 players. Plans are to play down to a final table by Tuesday, however, meaning that there will be a great deal of carnage today, not only to just get to the money bubble but also to get to a manageable number of players for action on Monday at the 2017 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event.
