The World Poker Tour’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, FL, didn’t fail to meet expectations with their final Day One on Saturday. After another lengthy day of play, Paul Balzano emerged as the chip leader but was unable to knock Day 1A chip leader Barry Hutter from his perch as the overall leader of the tournament. As Balzano earned the accolades for his Day 1C performance, the WPT also had to be pleased in breaking one of their long-standing records.
As the final day of this multi-entry/multi-rebuy tournament, players were facing the stark reality that this was the final chance to make Day 2 of the tournament. Several players were in for more than just one buy-in, including Erik Cajelais, Ravee Sundar and Zo Karim, while the qualifiers from the WPT’s partnership with DraftKings took their places at the tables. As the cards hit the air on Saturday, only 234 entries were on the board (bringing the overall total to 1140) but that number was bound to grow larger.
By the time Level 3 of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown began, the tournament had set a new record for the WPT. In 2011, 1313 entries were received in the Borgata Poker Open, setting the record for the largest ever (by entries) tournament in the history of the circuit. When the tournament clock showed 1329 entries at the start of Level 3, the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown eclipsed the 2011 record and looked to push it further out with three full levels of rebuys or late registration left in Day 1C.
Perhaps the impetus of being in the final day inspired some of the players who had previously taken shots over the first two Day Ones. Both Cajelais and Karim came out of the gates quickly, but the outlook wouldn’t be as good for two other men. Both Michael Mizrachi and Joe McKeehen would be eliminated just short of the dinner break and, without adequate time to build up a workable stack before the late registration/reentry time ended, decided to walk away from the tournament. But some of the biggest waves in the day’s play were performed by a blast from the WPT’s past.
Paul “X-22” Magriel, who was one of the early stars of the WPT broadcasts when they began in the early 2000s, would work his stack up quite well through the play of the day. His opponents on the felt were quite aware of who he was, occasionally tossing in a “quack quack” to go along with their bets (Magriel had a penchant for playing “ducks” – pocket deuces – as well as a backgammon simulation that he performed that showed “X-22” was the winner of a 64-player backgammon tournament). Even though he wasn’t a mystery man, Magriel was able to withstand the assault of his opposition on his way to building a 170,200 chip stack.
After the dinner break, the final numbers were in for the tournament. 570 entries turned out on Day 1C for the fun and games, bringing the total numbers for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown to 1476 entries (also besting the $5 million guaranteed prize pool put up by the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino). Even with the numbers confirmed by the WPT, however, an exact prize pool or payout structure has yet to be announced.
With the close of the late registration/reentry period, some players would head for the exits of the Hard Rock with their elimination on Saturday night. Aaron Massey, Ryan D’Angelo, Loni Harwood, Amanda Musumeci, Ryan Riess and former WPT champion James Calderaro (who usually does very well in Florida WPT events) and Mizrachi were among those to leave with nothing to show for their effort. Balzano, flying under the radar for the entirety of the day, was able to best Alexander Greenblatt for the Day 1C chip lead honors as they ready themselves for the combination of the field for Day 2:
1. Paul Balzano, 261,800
2. Alexander Greenblatt, 247,000
3. Alejandro Duque, 216,300
4. Michael Nugent, 206,600
5. Patrick Eskandar, 204,400
6. Keven Stammen, 203,800
7. Lazaro Hernandez, 203,100
8. Greg White, 189,500
9. David Bell, 185,100
10. Emrah Cakmak, 182,600
Combined with the other two Day One fields, this is what the overall leaderboard looks like:
1. Barry Hutter, 305,700 (Day 1A)
2. Paul Balzano, 261,800 (Day 1C)
3. Alexander Greenblatt, 247,000 (Day 1C)
4. Ryan Rivers, 226,900 (Day 1B)
5. Brian Green, 226,000 (Day 1B)
6. Alejandro Duque, 216,300 (Day 1C)
7. Danny Shiff, 213,300 (Day 1A)
8. Brian Hastings, 213,200 (Day 1B)
9. Eliyahu Levy, 210,100 (Day 1A)
10. Michael Wang, 207,900 (Day 1A)
The 554 players remaining from the 1476 entries will be battling it out in the Seminole Hard Rock tournament arena beginning at noon on Sunday. It is expected that the money bubble will be popped during Sunday’s run of play as the WPT looks to crown in next-to-last champion on their Season XIII schedule.