$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

Poker pro Matt Affleck might have the record for “most distance traveled” to play in the Championship. With Sofia Lövgren back in her native Sweden, Affleck’s trek from Seattle probably puts him at the top.

He’s a regular in all major Seminole Poker events, so much so he’s an ambassador now.

Affleck’s accomplishments include more than $1.5 million earned in his career with one third of that coming with one result. He came to everyone’s attention when he finished 15th out of 7,319 players in the 2010 WSOP Main Event.

That propelled him to great things and he’s trying to a Coco Poker Open Champions to his résumé.

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 3: 75/150/25 Ante

Ory Hen is another player back in the game today after falling short in previous flights. Besides winning this Championship, Hen is also trying to earn back-to-back Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year honors.

Hen had a great year when he earned Player of the Series honors for both the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” and Lucky Hearts Poker Open series. If he has a deep run in this event, he will go over $1 million in career earnings which includes a WSOP Circuit ring and Deep Stacks Series title for $121,000.

Hen earned more the $35,000 in prizes for his POY title which included an entry into this event. He’s above starting stack in the early levels but there’s a long way to go.

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 3: 75/150/25 Ante

We have another local leading the Championship with South Florida’s Mark Miller sitting up top. Unlike the first two flights, only two players doubled up their stack before the first break. Miller is joined by Qasem Jamhour with the two biggest stacks in the room with the field growing.

Flight 1C hit 150 entrants shortly after the break and they are coming at a steady pace at the moment.

Mark Miller – 73,875 (493 bb)
Qasem Jamhour – 54,275 (362 bb)
James Oliver – 49,250 (328 bb)
Edward Mandel – 48,850 (326 bb)
Quinn Bruno – 46,525 (310 bb)
Matt Affleck – 42,100 (281 bb)
Michael Laake – 39,675 (265 bb)
Ryan Van Sanford – 38,625 (258 bb)
Ory Hen – 34,700 (231 bb)
Raymond Ruszkowski – 34,500 (230 bb)
Abbey Daniels – 33,200 (221 bb)
Aaron Massey – 32,525 (217 bb)
Scott Zakheim – 31,200 (208 bb)
Jeffrey Trudeau – 31,000 (207 bb)
Andre Crooks – 27,950 (186 bb)
Allen Kessler – 27,025 (180 bb)
Ryan D’Angelo – 26,275 (175 bb)
Faraz Jaka – 25,775 (172 bb)
David Jackson – 25,125 (168 bb)
Kelly Minkin – 25,100 (167 bb)
Victor Figueroa – 24,950 (166 bb)
Chance Kornuth – 24,725 (165 bb)
Ralph Massey – 22,300 (149 bb)
John Depersio – 20,950 (140 bb)
John Holley – 20,925 (140 bb)
David Diaz – 20,675 (138 bb)
Darryll Fish – 17,674 (118 bb)
Steven Bennett – 17,625 (118 bb)
Luis Santoni – 15,025 (100 bb)

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 2: 75/150

Players are on their first break of the day and we’ve already surpassed yesterday’s numbers to make this the biggest flight of the Championship. There are 136 entrants showing on the board as they take a quick 10-minute breather with late registration open for more than five hours.

We’ll return with the first round of chips counts after the restart.

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 2: 75/150

Reunion isn’t the correct word, because Aaron and Ralph Massey are often seen in the same tournaments. The brothers have some huge results between the two, we highlighted Aaron yesterday and Ralph has some nice numbers himself.

Ralph has over $300,000 in career earnings with a WSOP Circuit ring. He came close to holding three with two Circuit runner-up finishes and three other final tables. For a short time today, he’ll have to deal with Aaron on his right.

The flight hit 105 players at the start of the second level and the two were seated at a late reg table. That won’t last long and they’ll soon be separated to avoid brother-on-brother chip violence.

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 1: 50/100

The last flight had already passed the 1A numbers before the start of action and the count is closing on 100 before the end of the first level. There’s still quite a ways to go before crossing the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool but they’ll put a scare in it.

A few regulars are back in the room after missing out in the first two flights. Seminole Hard Rock Poker ambassador Darryll Fish is one of them and trying to join the 60 already booked for tomorrow. The man they call “DFish” has success around the world, with $1.9 million his live tournament career,  so we expect him to grind this up today.

Below is a look at those who advanced from the first two flights.

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 1: 50/100

There were a few ways to get into the Championship on the cheap, less than the $2,500 buy-in. Some players came via $285 Qualifiers and others went the $75 Step Satellite route to get here.

Eddie Uehara has them all topped.

Seminole Casino Coconut Creek held an online drawing with the winner getting a seat into the big $1,000,000 Guaranteed tournament. No cash needed, just the ability to enter your name and click a button.

Eddie Uehara was that person.

Casino staff pulled his name from the virtual bucket and he’s with us today grinding in 1C. We’ll keep an eye on his progress and hope he goes deep.

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
Level 1: 50/100

It’s time for the last flight of the 2015 Coco Poker Open Championship and it’s already set up to be the biggest of the three. Most satellite winners picked this flight and will join with a lot of big names who failed to make it through 1A or 1B.

The two opening flights drew 203 entrants with exactly 60 players moving on to Day 2 tomorrow afternoon. Danny Notice is the overall chip leader with 229,500 followed by recent WPT winner Aaron Mermelstein. Making the current top ten just a little tougher, it also includes Jason Mercier, Tristan Wade, and Corey Burbick.

We expect a crowded Pavilion this afternoon with registration shutting down around 7:20 after the dinner break.

Main Event Schedule

12PM: Championship Day 1C – $2,500 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 25,000 in tournament chips and 60-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 7
• Day 1 will end after Level 10
• Championship Structure Sheet

7PM: Event 11 – $240 No Limit Hold’em “Survivor” (Re-Entry)

• $20,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• 1 in 10 paid. Final 10 players guaranteed $2,000 each
• Players begin with 10,000 in tournament chips and 30-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until end of Level 6
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 11 Structure Sheet

Secondary and Satellite Schedule

10AM: $285 Turbo Qualifier Into Championship Event (1-in-10)

• 3 seats guaranteed into $1,000,000 Guarantee Championship Event
• Players begin with 7,500 in tournament chips and 15-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until end of Level 8
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• $285 Championship Event Qualifier Structure Sheet

2PM: $80 No Limit Hold’em “Deep Stack” Turbo (Re-Entry)

• $3,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 16,000 in tournament chips and 15-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until end of Level 12
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• $80 NLH “Deep Stack” Turbo Structure Sheet

5PM: $125 “Bounty or Bust” No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• $3,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• $100 goes to bounty on each player
• Players begin with 10,000 in tournament chips and 20-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until end of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• $125 “Bounty of Bust” Structure Sheet

$2,500 Coco Poker Open Championship
End of Level 10: 500/1,000/100 Ante

The clock has run out on Day 1B, and 36 of the original 124 players have bagged up for the night.

Danny Notice did the most work today, bagging up 229,500 at night’s end. That gives him the overall chip lead, with both he and Aaron Mermelstein (202,500) pipping ahead of Day 1A’s leader Javier Zarco (202,400).

Mermelstein is on some kind of heater right now, having earned two WPT titles and more than $1.1 million in cash so far in 2015.

Here’s the full list of those who advanced through Day 1B:

Danny Notice – 229,500
Aaron Mermelstein – 202,500
Corey Burbuck – 191,400
Jason Mercier – 186,400
Tristan Wade – 182,400
Hunter Cichy – 134,300
Neil Blumenfield – 131,700
David Barbieri – 124,900
Scott Efron – 121,100
Richard Leger – 120,800
Cord Garcia – 120,000
Chris Bolek – 102,500
Zack Goodman – 98,200
John Dolan – 91,400
Stewart Newman – 80,100
Mohammed Jaafar – 79,900
Mark Johnson – 76,400
Nathan Bjerno – 72,800
Ronit Chamani – 68,500
Joelle Guarino – 58,500
Oleg Lisitsuu – 58,000
Millard Hale – 56,700
Sam Ho – 52,600
Erik Christensen – 52,300
Noah Schwartz – 48,600
Matthew Matlock – 45,000
Harrison Gimbel – 43,700
Peter Walsworth – 42,900
Marshall White – 41,200
Marcus Stein – 34,800
Marc Schiller – 34,400
Gregory Marcus – 31,100
Josh Kay – 26,300
Steven Buckner – 26,200
Richard Zipes – 23,800
Mike Landress – 13,000

The survivors have Saturday off to relax before Sunday’s Day 2, if they so choose. Since this is a best-stack-forward event, though, they may also enter either the final starting flight in an attempt to amass a bigger stack.

Day 1C is expected to be a big one, and it begins Saturday at 12:00 PM.