Blinds 1k/2k/200 ante 35 players remaining, 74k avg (37 bb)
Nigel Murray
Nigel Murray (Miami Gardens) has a hard time explaining the hand, but the bottom line is that his 7-2 is best for a 100k+ pot which helped him into the chip lead.
“We both missed our flush,” says Murray who is now up to 155k, after making the call on a board of Q-9-2-K-6 for a winning pair of 2s.
Another big stack belongs to Dimitry Agrachov (Weston) who peaked at 145k, but is now down to 125k.
Blinds 600/1,200/200 ante 54 players remaining, 48k avg (40 bb)
Bradley Taking His Swing in Event 1
It’s been a few years since he’s been in the limelight, but people in this part of Florida may know Bobby Bradley’s name.
The Wellington native was a Major League Baseball first round pick (Pittsburgh, 1999), but arm injuries derailed his pitching career and he turned to his second love, golf. Bradley’s strength is off the tee and he’s turned that ability into a second career.
“I was at the Michael J. Fox outing, but it got rained out,” says Bradley, “so I drove 235 miles to get here.”
Bradley helps foundations raise money as an entertainer at charity events. He works with Charity Golf International and according to its website, Bradley’s has “generated over $1,000,000 in donations for various charities around the United States and Canada.”
“I’ve always played poker,” says Bradley, who was recently knocked out of Flight B, “this is great. I play when I can.”
Bradley is a 7-time RE/MAX World Long Drive Finalist with a longest competition drive measuring 440 yards. His breath taking drives are always a hit at charity events including at last year’s Ron Jaworski Celebrity Golf Challenge.
“It’s great to help raise money and be around good people,” says Bradley, who went toe-to-toe off the tee with Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco at Jaworski’s event which you can see here.
“I told him you’re not an athlete, you’re a quarterback,” laughs Bradley, “but neither am I, I was a pitcher.”
Bradley bolted after busting today, no word if he’ll return for another shot at the $300,000 GuaranteedPrize Pool.
Blinds 250/500/50 ante 90 players remaining, 29k avg (57 bb)
Gleason & Wolak
The first-ever Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player-of-the-Year (SHRP POY) race is underway with the Lucky Hearts Poker Open tournament series at Seminole Coconut Creek. And players are taking notice.
“That’s awesome,” says WSOP bracelet holder Marsha Wolak (Ft. Lauderdale). “It’s really an incentive to play all the places, including Tampa.”
The SHRP POY race incorporates all events held during designated Seminole Hard Rock Poker tournament series which includes Coconut Creek, Hard Rock Hollywood and Hard Rock Tampa.
The 2014 Player of the Year Winner will receive a prize package valued at more than $30,000 and includes entries into future Seminole Hard Rock Poker tournaments.
“That’s pretty cool,” says Tom Gleason (W. Palm Beach) while hearing about the new points system for the first time when Wolak raves about the format.
Gleason is above the chip average with his 42k stack, while Wolak, who won the 2011 WSOP Ladies Event for $192,000, has half the 25k starting stack.
Level 4, the last level to enter Flight B, is underway in the opening event of The Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open.
The poker cage is open until ~1:15 pm, but if you can’t make it to Coconut Creek this afternoon, there’s no worry as the next flight kicks off tonight at 7 pm.
The second of five flights is underway in the Stax Poker Lounge in this $300,000 Guaranteed prize pool in the opening event of the Lucky Hearts Poker Open.
Players start with 25k in chips and levels last 30 minutes each. Registration and re-entry is open for the first four levels with the cage closing at ~1:15 pm
18 players bagged and tagged last night’s opening flight, advancing to Saturday’s Day 2.
Today at the Lucky Hearts Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Coconut Creek we will have two additional flights of Event 1, our $300,000 Guaranteed No Limit Hold ‘Em tournament take place. The first flight of the day, Day 1B, will get underway at 11 a.m. with the second flight, Day 1C, starting later in the evening at 7 p.m. This is a deep stack tournament and players will start with 25,000 in chips. Levels are 30 minutes long and play will go for 14 levels.
In addition the Stax Poker Lounge will be running multiple satellites for a chance to get into the nationally televised WPT Championship Event. You can view a summary and schedule of all events at the following page:
We concluded play with 18 of the original 109 surviving and it is Michael Laake who is in the lead after this first flight with 292,600 in chips. The average chip stack so far is 144K. Players, if they choose, can play again and take the biggest stack forward onto Saturday’s Day 2. Or they can sit on the stack they have. There are four more flights, with the next one starting at 11 a.m. today.
Here’s the 18 players and how they stand in chips:
