$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 ante
Flight E Players Remaining: 54 of 161

Onder Ekinci already made his way through a re-entry field this week finishing 10th in the Winter Poker Open $150 on Wednesday for just over $770. With that deep run behind him, he’s back in action at a higher pricepoint and looking for another score.

Ekinci recently got some help growing his stack when his outdrew the of an all-in opponent preflop. Ekinci spiked the on the flop and took a medium-sized pot.

His stack now flirts with the 100,000 mark.

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 ante
Flight E Players Remaining: 59 of 161

The clock shows 59 players remaining from 161 starting and there’s a steady stream to the rail toward the end of Flight E. Players are set to log just three more levels before those still alive bag and tag set to return for Day 2 tomorrow at noon.

The big turnout drew many notables and two of those still in include a pair of Johns in Holley and Templeton.

John Holley is a five-time World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring winner while John Templeton is the defending champion in the Winter Poker Open Championship.

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 10: 500/1,000 with a 100 ante
Flight E Players Remaining: 70 of 161

It’s unclear how the action went down, but what is clear is that Seminole Hard Rock Poker team member Mike Laake hit a nice river to snag a pot and bust an opponent following three-way action.

Laake:
Opponent 1:
Opponent 2:

Board:

The money got in before the river and Laake hit one of his outs when the gave him a pair. Opponent 1 busted while Opponent 2 shipped a handful of chips Laake’s way.

The pot put Laake at about 80,000 chips.

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Flight E Players Remaining: 85 of 161

Registration is closed and the Flight E attendance figure is official. The fifth of six starting days in the Winter Poker Open $570 drew 161 entries helping smash the event’s $200,000 guarantee. In all, the field sits at 499 through five flights with an unofficial prize pool of $249,500.

Flight F rounds out play tonight at 6pm and is expected to push the prize pool over $300,000.

Here’s an up-to-date tournament breakdown:

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Entries: 161

Joe Boulais has put a hurt on the Flight E field over the first eight levels of play and it seemed the whole tournament stopped to take a look at his stack over break. Boulais somehow managed to turned his 20,000-chip holdings into 175,000 over the early portions of play.

“Is that real?” one player joked walking by the table admiring Boulais’ tower of gray 5,000 chips.

Indeed, it was real. Through yesterday’s Flight D, a total of 62 players have bagged. Boulais’ Flight E stack at the beginning of Level 9 would be good enough to crack the top 10 of those have advanced thus far and he still has six levels to play.

Joining Boulais at the top of the counts is Hollywood regular Charlemagne Benjamin. Despite impressive holdings of 115,000 chips, Benjamin’s stack is 75 big blinds shy of Boulais whose stack is good for 218 big blinds.

Tournament staff is still finalizing the Flight E attendance sum and we’ll provide the official numbers as soon as they’re available.

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 8: 300/600 with a 100 ante
Entries: 157

The second break of the day of the is just moments away and after it runs out registration in Flight E will be done. The tournament has already bested its $200,000 guarantee, but we’ll get an idea of exactly where it’s at heading to tonight’s final flight after staff finalizes today’s figure.

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 7: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Entries: 144

With four-way action the board laid . Ryan Dunn was third to act and plopped in a 4,200-chip bet. Dunn received a lone call and turned over for a busted straight turned into a bluff. The opponent held for trips and took the pot. The hand left Dunn with about half starting stack.

Regardless of any outcomes today, Dunn’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker resume is flush with accolades. In addition to numerous cashes, Dunn owns a victory and $140,000 score in last year’s Lucky Hearts Poker Open $2,650 in Hollywood.

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Entries: 131

Now at more than 130 entries, the first row of tables is completely full and a second row is now in the rotation. Late registration and re-entry are available until about 3:30pm.

Jumped in flight 1E @SHRTPoker 570#rocknroll

— john holley (@hohnjolley) December 10, 2016

Just jumped into this $570/200k Gtd @SHRTPoker pic.twitter.com/s5fiSHPkq2

— Kirsten Olieberg (@kirstenoli) December 10, 2016

Go get you some!! @SHRTPoker going to be a healthy prize up top for a $570 buy in. https://t.co/ZW72rk54PH

— Anthony Astarita (@AnthonyAstarit2) December 10, 2016

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 5: 150/300
Entries: 119

While Tampa locals like David Tuthill have been around throughout the series, the $570 pricepoint is attracting players from all over the state. Charlemagne Benjamin is a faithful grinder at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa and a loyal player of most Seminole Hard Rock Poker series. He made the trek across the state and is in action here in Flight E of the $200,000 guarantee.

The weekend flight isn’t disappointing as of yet. The clock currently shows 119 entries marking the largest of the start days to this point.

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200
Entries: 103

Prior to David Prociak’s hot play during the 2015/2016 season, it was Ory Hen who laid claim to the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year title. Hen owns two SHRP tournament wins to go along with more than $1.1 million in career earnings. He’s in search of another title and a notable score here in the $570.