The first of two starting flights for the World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship wrapped up after ten levels of action with 945 entrants taking the felt on Friday. Eider Da Cruz ended the day at the top of the counts as the only player to cross the 500,000-chip mark with 298 players advancing to Day 2.
“I started the day pretty good and kept stack throughout most of the day,” Cruz said. “The last three levels saw me chip up pretty good.”
“I was at the same table all day and am the only left from the start,” he said. “Lots of players came and went but I stayed. I’m going to take the day off tomorrow and sweat my friends – nothing special.”
Kevin Chan, Kat Klassen and Ryan Hoenig looked to finish in the top ten counts.
D.J. Alexander, Kevin Eyster, Calvin Anderson, Faraz Jaka and Cherish Andrews all bagged up at the end of the night. Former WPT champs Brian Altman, Erick Lindgren, Chad Eveslage, Bin Weng, Darryll Fish and Dan Sepiol all took a seat in today’s action and return on Sunday.
Eric Baldwin advanced to Day 2 and the Las Vegas pro is still looking for his first WPT win after 18 career cashes. The collegiate right fielder is looking forward to the Athletics relocating to the Strip.
WPT regular Frank Stepuchin flew in directly from Scotland and was dressed to the nines. He’s pictured cracking up WPT’s Matt Savage assuring him that he brought towel “because he’s wearing a kilt like a man’s supposed to.”
Two of the ClubWPT qualifiers made their World Poker Tour debuts on Friday – Mitch Knuckles and Rick Bartels. Unfortunately, they didn’t advance to Day 2 but they were both able to turn a poker trip into a win for their families.
Josh Arieh, Brad Owen, Erick Seidel, Josh Arieh and Aaron Massey played and busted in the day’s action. We expect to see the pros back at the table for Saturday’s Day 2 action.
Action kicked off promptly at 11 am with around 200 eager players sipping coffee. Registration remained open until the start of Level 9 – which already locked up the $3 million guarantee on the event.
Day 1B plays a mirrored schedule on Saturday and then each subsequent day of action gets cards in the air at noon.
Top Five Chip Counts
- Eider Da Cruz - 505,000
- John Kirpan - 504,500
- Myles German - 466,000
- Jose Nadal - 456,500
- Gary Gelman - 415,00
All photos courtesy of WPT - Joe Giron
