$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)

Registration closed for the $100,000 Guarantee Event 15 and the official numbers show 261 players registered to play the Freeze-out. They created a prize pool worth $253,170 and easily surpassed the Guarantee early in the day.

The last 27 players will earn themselves a payout with a min-cash picking up $2,279 while the winner will bank $70,883 along with the shiny Seminole Hard Rock Poker trophy.

1st: $70,883
2nd: $41,773
3rd: $24,051
4th: $19,494
5th: $15,190
6th: $12,659
7th: $10,127
8th: $7,595
9th: $5,063
10th – 12th: $3,291
13th – 15th: $2,785
16th – 18th: $2,532
19th – 27th: $2,279

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 9: 300/600 with a 100 Ante
Total Entries: 261

Players are back in their seats and registration has closed on the $100,000 Guarantee Freeze-out. The sweat is over and the final number shows 261 players in the game to push the prize pool over $250,000.

Numbers, prize pool, and payouts will be posted as soon as they are official.

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
End of Level 8: 250/500 with a 75 Ante
Total Entries: 257

Event 15 players are on their second break of the day and only one new entrant away from pushing the prize pool over $250,000. Registration will close when they return and we’ll see just how much money is on the line.

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 8: 250/500 with a 75 Ante
Total Entries: 250

Event 15 hit the first magic number of 250 players and they sit only six new players away from making the prize pool climb over $250,000. It will be a tight race to get there before registration closes in 30 minutes, but it’s a huge number either way.

We found former November Niner David “Chino” Rheem in the meeting room at a tough table. Not that there are many soft spots in a $1K. Rheem has earned more than $7.3 million in his career including four payouts over seven-digits, two WPT titles, and a seventh place finish in the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 7: 200/400 with a 50 Ante
Total Entries: 246

Players continue to push the prize pool higher in the $100,000 Guarantee freeze-out and they are going to tease a $250,000 prize pool before registration closes in less than an hour.

Several players already hit the rail including Joe McKeehen, Neil Blumenfield, and Darryll Fish. Event 15 is down to five tables in the ballroom with the rest residing in the meeting room. Busted players are being replaced by newcomers like Marcus Stein, Natasha Barbour, and Jessica Dawley, our most recent addition to the  Seminole Hard Rock Poker team.

She brings along a very nice list of accomplishments including a sixth place finish at the live-stream WPTDeepstacks final table during the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” in December.

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 5: 100/200 with a 25 Ante
Total Entries: 222

Event 15 was close to doubling the $100,000 Guarantee during the first break and it went over shortly after they returned. It’s a busy day in the ballroom and meeting room.

David Levi leads with more than 40,000 at the start of Level 5 but the field is stacked with tough players trying to run him down. His lead is good for now and he has over 200 big blinds to work.

Levi has amassed more than $3.6 million in career tournament earnings. An impressive number made even more so when you realize his biggest cash is $229,000. Levi has dozens of tournament wins including a Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open title from 2015.

Top stacks and notable names:

David Levi – 40,975 (205 bb)
Breen Bentley – 37,125 (186 bb)
Ryan Dunn – 33,025 (165 bb)
Ian O’Hara – 32,900 (165 bb)
Maurice Costigan – 31,800 (159 bb)
Tony March – 29,675 (148 bb)
Justin Liberto – 29,500 (148 bb)
Sam Panzica – 24,675 (123 bb)
Darryll Fish – 22,825 (114 bb)
Ray Ruszkowski – 22,075 (110 bb)
James Salmon – 21,625 (108 bb)
Brett Bader – 21,325 (107 bb)
Lexi Gavin – 18,275 (91 bb)
Ory Hen – 18,125 (91 bb)
Leo Wolpert – 17,325 (87 bb)
Brian Altman – 15,700 (79 bb)
Neil Blumenfield – 13,800 (69 bb)
Aaron Mermelstein – 13,625 (68 bb)
Asher Conniff – 13,550 (68 bb)
Eli Levy – 13,350 (67 bb)
John Holley – 12,800 (64 bb)
Stuart Paterson – 12,000 (60 bb)
Mike Beasley – 11,975 (60 bb)
Scott Efron – 11,850 (59 bb)
Adam Levy – 10,300 (52 bb)
Matt Stout – 10,000 (50 bb)
Kobi Ribak – 9,825 (49 bb)
Shannon Shorr – 9,600 (48 bb)
David Prociak – 8,525 (43 bb)
TK Miles – 6,800 (34 bb)
Joe McKeehen – 3,000 (15 bb)

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
End of Level 4: 100/200
Total Entries: 200

Freeze-out players are taking their first break of the day and Event 15 continues the steady climb to doubling the $100,000 Guarantee.

Seven more players and they get there.

We’ll take a walk among the empty tables looking for early big stacks, the notables are plenty.

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 4: 100/200
Total Entries: 170

Players continue to pile into the $100,000 Guarantee Freeze-out with the prize pool climbing over $160,000 before the first break.

Among those 170 players, we now have the reigning World Champ in the house. Joe McKeehen ran over the 2015 WSOP Main Event final table in November but that $7.7 million bracelet win wasn’t his first taste of success. He had already booked nearly $3 million in career tournament earnings before his big run in the biggest tournament in the world.

McKeehen had two WSOP Circuit rings and two dozens tournament wins before he entered the Main Event plus a runner-up finish in the 2014 WSOP Monster Stack event. The Main Event win only proved what most already knew, he has a pretty good grasp on the game.

Not only is McKeehen in his first action of the series, he joined a table with someone he has a little history against. Neil Blumenfield finished third at the WSOP Main Event final table and now he’s facing McKeehen across a table once again.

$1100 @shrpo and I have @dude904 at my table. Stakes a little lower. Stacks a little more even.

— Neil Blumenfield (@nrb1) April 13, 2016

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 3: 75/150
Total Entries: 130

Tournament staff put the $1,100 Freeze-out in the meeting to make sure there was enough room in the ballroom for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship satellites and the Jason Taylor Foundation/WPT Foundation Charity Event later this evening.

The best-laid plans.

Event 15 hit 130 entrants in Level 3 to push over the meeting room seating capacity and they are now running tables in the ballroom. They will be the first to break and we’ll have the entire field back in the meeting room.

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-out)
Level 2: 50/100
Total Entries: 104

Event 15 quickly surpassed its $100,000 Guarantee with 104 players in the game 30 minutes after it kicked off. We expect the number to level out eventually without the re-entry option but it’s growing at a steady pace early.

They are playing Event 15 in the meeting room across the hall and we found Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Matt Affleck playing for the first time this series. At one time he was leading everyone else in the chase for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year after he won the 2015 Coco Poker Open Championship in September. Since then, Affleck went deep in two Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open events including the WPTDeepstacks Main Event.