The second and final opening flight of the $5,300 Main Event at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open is over and Peter Fellows has bagged the top stack of 792 entries on Day 1b.
The total turnout was 1,447 entries, from which 513 players remain to battle for a prize pool of $4,630,400. They will return on Sunday at 12 p.m. local time for Day 2.
Fellows sits atop a leaderboard that includes Kenny Han in second, Guy Naimi in third, and Michael Stashin in fourth. Federico Molina rounded out the top five with just one chip less than Stashin.
RRPO Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | City | State/Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Fellows | Miramar | FL | 528,000 |
| 2 | Kenny Han | Flushing | NY | 446,000 |
| 3 | Guy Naimi | Miami | FL | 421,000 |
| 4 | Michael Stashin | Massapequa | NY | 394,500 |
| 5 | Federico Molina | Fort Lauderdale | FL | 394,000 |
| 6 | Armand Matti | Romania | 390,500 | |
| 7 | Carl Carodenuto | Apt | MN | 382,500 |
| 8 | Brian Luo | Madison | WI | 376,000 |
| 9 | Maksim Lebedev | Ruzaevka | Russia | 368,000 |
| 10 | Michael Jagroo | Winter Garden | FL | 364,000 |
Strong Showings for Foxen, Yilmaz
Fellows held control of the chip lead when the tournament took its final break of the evening and he picked up a few more chips in the last level when he turned over ace-king to beat Steve Olivier’s tens with a pair of aces.
Elsewhere on the list of Day 1b leaderboard climbers was Alex Foxen, a two-time winner on the WPT. He won the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in 2019 for his second win after a victory at the WPT LAPC Rock Star Energy High Roller in 2018. Foxed has just over $3.5 million in WPT earnings on 21 cashes dating back to his first at the WPT National Canadian Spring Championship in 2014.
Season 17 Player of the Year Erkut Yilmaz also found his way near the top of the counts throughout Day 1b. Yilmaz has over $1.1 million in WPT earnings on 10 cashes including two victories in 2018.
Other Champions Club members who took their shot at another slot on the Mike Sexton Cup included Chance Kornuth, Dietrich Fast, Balakrishna Patur, Noah Schwartz, Matthew Wantman, Ryan Riess, Aaron Mermelstein, and former Players of the Year Brian Altman and Joe Serock.
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Hands of the Day
Daniel Rezaei and Champions Club member Harrison Gimbel are mainstays in the latter stages of major tournaments, but they both had their Day 1b run cut short by Nicholas Mahabee on consecutive hands in the last level of the evening.
With blinds at 1,000/2,000/2,000, Rezaei bet 6,500 into a 25,000 pot on a flop of K♠4♠K♥. Mahabee raised to 31,000 and called when Rezaei moved in for 54,000.
Rezaei had pocket queens, but Mahabee had king-jack off suit to take the lead with three kings. The board ran out with an eight and a five to send Rezaei to the rail at the end of the night.
On the next hand, Mahabee raised to 4,500 from under the gun and Gimble moved all in for 51,000 from middle position. Mahabee called and turned over ace-queen to attempt the knockout of Gimbel’s pocket jacks. The board ran out with an ace on the turn and Mahabee picked up another elimination with a pair of aces. The knockouts left Mahabee with over 200K in chips with just a few minutes left before the end of the night.
Of the 513 remaining players, 181 runners will be paid a min-cash of at least $5,700. The top prize is $752,500 from a total prize pool of $4,630,400.
Top Ten Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $752,500 |
| 2 | $494,800 |
| 3 | $366,500 |
| 4 | $274,000 |
| 5 | $206,900 |
| 6 | $157,800 |
| 7 | $121,500 |
| 8 | $94,500 |
| 9-10 | $74,300 |
Day 2 will kick off at 12 p.m. on Sunday and players will play 10 more levels before they bag up for Day 3. Those survivors will play down to 16 players for a Day 4 that will set up the final table of six. The Action Clock will enter play after the dinner break on Sunday and players will be under a time limit for the remainder of the tournament.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for coverage of the Seminole Hard Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida.
*WPT images courtesy of SHRP/Joe Giron.
Live Reporting Executive
Las Vegas-based PokerNews Live Reporting Executive, originally from Chicago, IL