The 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO), one of the few major live poker tournaments not associated with a poker tour, is on to Day 3 Monday with just 43 players remaining. Topping the leader board by a significant margin is the only player above the 2 million chip plateau, Rick Alvarado, with 2.011 million chips.
Unfortunately for the Seminole Indian tribe of Florida, who is hosting the poker festival, the 43 remaining players is out of a total field of only 907, continuing a downward trend for the tournament. It debuted in 2013 with a bold $10 million guaranteed prize pool, wowing the poker community. Players flocked to the event, with a total of 2,384 registered during the three starting flights. That created a nearly $12 million prize pool and Blair Hinkle took home over $1.7 million for the first place purse.
Last year, the Seminoles went with the same tactic, guaranteeing that $10 million prize pool. This time, though, the SHRPO was competing for calendar space with the likes of the European Poker Tour’s Barcelona Stop, the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker, and even Oklahoma’s WinStar Casino’s $2.5 million guaranteed event. As such, attendance dropped by about 900 and the prize pool fell more than $2.5 million short of the guarantee. The casino made good on the guarantee, though, topping off the prize pool to $10 million.
This year, not taking any chances, the Seminoles slashed the guarantee by half while keeping the buy-in the same. But again, attendance fell, this time by about 600 players, and once again, there was an overlay, though not nearly as bad as last year’s. Of the $5,250 cost to play, $250 is the registration fee and $150 goes toward the staff toke pool, leaving $4,850 for the prize pool. The 907 entrants meant that the total prize pool added up to $4,398,950, creating a $601,050 overlay. Not as bad as $2.5 million, but still not good.
Again, though, the Seminoles did not back down from the guarantee, setting the prize pool at $5 million with a $1 million first prize. Everybody remaining has already cashed, as the prize structure went down to 150th place. Those entering play on Monday will be walking away with at least $22,500.
That is about one-tenth of chip leader Rick Alvarado’s lifetime live tournament total, so this tourney has already been a boon for him. He has had a good summer so far, cashing an impressive six times at the 2015 World Series of Poker. He made two final tables, one a seventh place finish in a $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Event and the other a ninth place finish in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em contest. Alvarado also finished 260th in last year’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.
The plan for today is for the field to be whittled to just nine players before calling it a night. Day 3 will kick off in about an hour, at noon ET.
2015 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Rick Alvarado – 2,011,000
2. Marc MacDonnell – 1,495,000
3. Brian Phillis – 1,385,000
4. Joseph Couden Ii – 1,369,000
5. Ari Engel – 1,142,000
6. Christoph Csik – 1,100,000
7. Paul Volpe – 997,000
8. Randall Pfeifer – 986,000
9. Daniel Colman – 966,000
10. Alberto Rodriguez – 949,000