The World Poker Tour’s Seminole Hard Rock Showdown in Hollywood, FL, has completed its second day of play, with Clyde Hinton holding a slim lead over veteran poker pro Tommy Vedes.
With late registration open until the start of action on Thursday, the 209 players who survived from the original 281 player field still did not know what exactly they were playing for. After a few stragglers came in prior to the cards hitting the air, the final count was 290 players, a sizeable drop from the 443 that attended the tournament in 2011. Still, the top prize for the eventual champion will be significant; the winner of the second WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown will walk off with a $779,520 bankroll boost, including a seat to next month’s WPT World Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
At the start of play on Thursday, David Nicholson held the lead over former World Series of Poker November Niner John Dolan, with David “Chino” Rheem, Jonathan Little and defending WPT Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger all sitting in the Top Ten. Through the day’s action, Nicholson would fall victim to the “Day One” curse, but Dolan would be able to work his way through the field to remain in the Top Five by the end of the day’s play.
Deeper in the field, several players were able to make some moves during the early going. Lee Markholt locked up in a hand with Alex Outhred and Kyle Julius which pushed Markholt up to 65K in chips. Outhred also would give up some chips to current WPT Player of the Year leader Will Failla, while Shannon Shorr announced his arrival by moving up to over 60K in chips.
The news wasn’t as good for some other notable names in the field. Todd Terry, Matt Brady and defending champion Taylor von Kriegenbergh all would hit the rail within a couple hours of the open of play. After making a stunning run up the leaderboard on Day One, Rheem would also surprisingly find his way to the exit of the Hard Rock. Julius, meanwhile, would eventually succumb at the hands of Outhred.
As the players worked through the middle of their Day Two action, several other players would fall victim to the whims of the cards. Allen Kessler, Jason Mercier, Christian Harder, Failla and Frankenberger would be some of those unfortunate souls who would find the end of their run, but others vaulted into prime spots for contending for this WPT championship. Kyle Bowker, William Brown, Hinton and Dolan all were hovering around the 200,000 chip mark as the tournament moved into the final level of action.
As that final level played out, Vedes would announce his presence on the scene. After a raise in front of him, Vedes would push out a three bet, only to see Byron Kaverman make it four bets to go. The original raiser got out of the way, but Vedes came along to see a Jack high flop with two clubs. After a check from Vedes, Kaverman made a small 14K chip bet and Vedes called to see a third club, the King, come up. Once again Vedes checked but, once Kaverman pushed out 45,000 in chips, Vedes moved all in. Kaverman called, turning up pocket Jacks for a flopped set, but Vedes had him on the turn with his pocket Kings for a turned set. After a blank on the river, Vedes rocketed up the leaderboard. Kaverman, knocked down to only 10K in chips, was eliminated soon afterwards.
That one hand was responsible for pushing Vedes into contention, with the Top Ten looking like this:
1. Clyde Hinton, 262,900
2. Tommy Vedes, 235,300
3. William Brown, 227,800
4. John Dolan, 224,300
5. Michael Lind, 219,600
6. Kyle Bowker, 213,400
7. Fred Goldberg, 183,800
8. Ebony Kenney, 170,000
9. Ryan Fair, 166,600
10. Eli Berg, 160,000
With the chips bagged, 102 players will return to action on Friday, looking to work the field down closer to the final 27 players who will cash in the tournament. The action is streaming live on the WPT website (worldpokertour.com) through the final table, which is set for Monday afternoon.
