It was going to be difficult for the players amassed in Florida for Day 1B of the World Poker Tour’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood to meet the numbers of the previous day. Although the Day 1B runners wouldn’t crack the 502 entries that Day 1A generated, they still put their mark on the tournament and still leave the opportunity for the event to be the largest ever by entries.
There was a similar throng to Day 1A in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino’s tournament rooms for Day 1B when the cards went in the air on Friday. By the start of Level 2 only an hour into the day, 258 entries had been received, bringing the total field size to 760 entries with much of the late registration/rebuy period on Day 1B and the entirety of Day 1C left to come. There were plenty of players taking at least their second shots at the tournament as such players as WPT Rolling Thunder champion Ravee Mathi Sundar, Aaron Massey, Jared Jaffee and Joe Kuether spent another $3500 bullet in pursuit of this WPT crown.
Even as Level 2 played out, other late arrivals and reentries into the tournament flooded through the door. Former World Champions Jamie Gold and Ryan Riess (reentry) stepped up to take part in the dance alongside Erik Cajelais, Christina Lindley and former WPT champions Chris Moorman, Tuan Le (another bullet as well) and Jordan Cristos. The numbers would begin to slow some as, by the start of Level 4, only another 67 entries would be received (325 for the day, 827 overall).
The play on the felt reflected the drop in entries on the tournament leaderboard. After a frantic Day 1A that saw overall chip leader Barry Hutter amass a 305K chip stack, the players on Friday were a little more deliberate with their play, perhaps sensing that Friday would have to be a day to establish a stack to go to Day 2 before coming back on Saturday with a more freewheeling style. As the players returned from the dinner break (and the end of late registration/reentry), a total of 402 entries had been received to bring the total field size to 906 entries overall.
One of the more surprising stories of the day was Jaffee. After busting out late on Thursday night, Jaffee came back on Friday to take another shot at getting his second WPT championship. The issue was that Jaffee was incredibly ill, so much so that fellow pro David Tuthill had to take Jaffee to an Urgent Care facility near the Hard Rock while on dinner break. Obviously the illness wasn’t slowing Jaffee down (or, as Tuthill put it on Twitter, “How bad are all of you” at the Hard Rock for being beaten by a sickened Jaffee) as he held the chip lead coming out of dinner and would make it to the end of the day with a decent 191,000 chip stack.
With the reentry/late registration period ended, the players started departing the Hard Rock tournament arena with only one more chance at winning this title on their horizon. Defending WPT World Champion Keven Stammen, Zo Karim, Vanessa Selbst, Jake Schwartz and Massey all couldn’t find the magic on Saturday. By the time the Day 1B festivities had come to a close, Ryan Rivers had maneuvered his way through the field without drawing any attention to hold the Day 1B chip lead:
1. Ryan Rivers, 226,900
2. Brian Green, 226,000
3. Brian Hastings, 213,200
4. Kevin Eyster, 199,600
5. Brett Trevillian, 196,300
6. David Powers, 193,900
7. Jared Jaffee, 191,000
8. Chris Moorman, 189,300
9. Shannon Shorr, 173,000
10. Daiane Mendes, 164,800
Others with a solid stack to head to Day 2 include former World Champion Jonathan Duhamel (161,900), Andy Hwang (158,400), Jonathan Dimmig (144,800), Harrison Gimbel (142,000) and Cornel Cimpan (153,500).
The final Day 1 of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown kicks off at noon Saturday. Holding to what normally happens during a multi-Day One tournament, the entries should flood the cage at the Hard Rock as players look to take advantage of their last shot at WPT glory. The number of entries on Saturday would have to top 411 to best the all-time record on the WPT (currently held by the 2011 Borgata Poker Open at 1313 entries), something that should easily be achieved.