It worked. The bold move by organizers of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open to guarantee a $10 million prize pool for $5,300 Main Event was risky, but it worked. After 634 players bought-in on Day 1A and another 690 did the same on Day 1B, 1,060 more players paid the toll on Day 1C, bringing the total number of registrants to 2,384. That created a prize pool of $11.92 million, which put the guarantee far in the rear view mirror.
Day 2 is now in the books and leading the remaining 100 players is Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, who will carry 2.722 million chips in to Day 3. Nobody is even close to him, as he is not just the only player with over two million chips, but he also more than a million ahead of his closest opponent. The field is well into the money now, as paydays started with the final 338 players. The winner of the whole shebang will receive a check for $1,745,245, while everyone at the final table will win at least $174,525.
As one might guess with a field so large, a number of “name” players are still gunning for the title. Amongst the 100 players remaining are David “Doc” Sands, Victor Ramdin, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Allen Bari, Adam Levy, Jared Hamby, Joe Serock, Will “The Thrill” Failla, and Matt Glantz.
Chino Rheem, despite his plummeting reputation over the last couple years, was the hero of the day, as he eliminated the bubble boy, Jacob Naquin, when his pocket Nines out-flipped Naquin’s Ace-King. Though he obviously made the money, Rheem was not able to make it much further. He made a massive all-in overbet on a board of A♦-7♠-6♠-9♠-K♣ and Danny Hannawa looked him up with two red Eights, a hand which was good enough to win. Rheem was still alive with 410,000 chips, but he helped Sands double-up to lose even more of his stack and was out of the tournament shortly thereafter.
Day 3 has already gotten underway at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, as play began at noon ET. The competitors will play five more 90-minute levels before calling it a night at a reasonable hour this evening.
2013 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Justin Bonomo – 2,722,000
2. Derrick Cutler – 1,669,000
3. Ravi Raghavan – 1,652,000
4. Neri Sanchez – 1,449,000
5. Derrick Simon – 1,300,000
6. Matt Giannetti – 1,264,000
7. Darlene Lee – 1,235,000
8. Bryan Morton – 1,222,000
9. William Sharkey – 1,193,000
10. Amir Lehavot – 1,171,000