The $3,500 buy-in, $5 million guaranteed World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Championship will take place starting Thursday, April 16, 2015.
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., announced that the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, now in its fifth year, will return April 6-22, 2015. Held in the resort ballrooms, the 17-day series will feature the $3,500 buy-in, $5 million guaranteed WPT Seminole Hard Rock Championship with three starting flights beginning Thursday, April 16 at 12 p.m. local time.
Last year's Championship was the largest WPT playing field in history with 1,795 entries. Players may play any or all starting flights and choose their best stack. Reentry will be allowed for six levels, and the televised final table will be take place on Wednesday, April 22 in Hard Rock Live located in Seminole Paradise, with live coverage available on www.SHRPO.com.
The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown will open with a $250 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed no-limit hold'em tournament with six starting flights starting at 11 a.m., 3 p.m., and 7 p.m. on April 6 and April 7. The poker action will continue with a $570 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed deep-stack no-limit hold'em event with six starting flights April 9-12.
The WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship final table will be aired on Fox Sports. Broadcast schedule will be released at a later date. On-site registration for all Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown events is available 24/7 at the poker room. To participate, players must obtain a free "Wild Card" at the player's club or in the resort’s poker room located in Seminole Paradise. Visit www.SHRPO.com.
Enter to win a seat in to the $5 million WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship by visiting www.SHRPO.com/winaseat. Satellite events for the Championship will be held at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood starting February 22, 2015. To review the entire series and satellite schedule, please visit www.SHRPO.com; follow the event on Twitter at @SHRPO, hashtag #SHRPO.
RunGood Ambassador Jamie Kerstter has opted to late register the Day 1b flight. We'll obviously be keeping a close eye on her, but for those unfamiliar with the accomplished pro, we thought we'd fill you in.
Kerstetter started playing poker in 2002 while attending college at Rutgers and began taking the game more seriously while earning her law degree at the University of Michigan Law School. She left her legal career behind to pursue an online poker career that was grinded to a halt by Black Friday. She moved to Mexico and played high stakes tournaments as "AndTheLawWon." She returned to the US occasionally for live tournaments, placing 12th in the 2012 Borgata WPT Main Event for over $44,000, followed by a 22nd place finish in the following Borgata WPT.
She makes training videos for Tournament Poker Edge, and enjoys coaching players one-on-one in her spare time. She was featured in Bluff Magazine's article, "Leading Ladies: 10 to Watch," and actively promotes women in poker as a member of the "Grindettes." She is ecstatic to be living in New Jersey again, one of three states where online poker is now legal, and is proud to be a Team Pro for partypoker, one of the leading US sites.
With 1,850 in the pot and a flop of , the player in the small blind checked, and Saied Moradi, who won the RunGood Poker Series Downstream Casino back in February, did the same from the big. The lady in the hijack then bet 1,300, the small blind called, and Moradi sprung to life with a check-raise to 4,300. The hijack called, the small blind got out of the way, and it was heads-up action to the turn.
Moradi gathered all his big denomination chips and dropped them in the pot for a bet of 14,000, which essentially committed him. The hijack gave it some thought, but ultimately decided to concede the hand.
Shari Elder of Omaha's Elder Jewelers is quietly grinding over at Table 33. A couple days ago, Elder finished runner-up to Mark Fink (who survived Day 1a) in the $200 pot-limit Omaha event here in Council Bluffs. Thanks to a four-way chop, Edler took home $3,113 for that performance. Obviously she's looking to add more to that haul, but she's gotten off to a slow start here on Day 1b.
In a recent hand, the player in the hijack opened for 800 and his neighbor in the cutoff called. Elder came along from the button, Nick Trimble called from the small blind, and after the player in the big put in the chips, five players took a flop of .
Four checks saw Elder bet a paltry 400, Trimble called, and the cutoff did the same after the two players in between folded. After the dealer burned and turned the , Trimble checked and the cutoff fired out 3,700. That did the trick as both Elder and Trimble released their hands.
Joe Hebda, who is in today's field, grew up playing football, basketball, and baseball, and it's safe to say his competitive nature started at a young age.
"I never liked losing," he says. "I started playing poker in high school, right around the time of the Moneymaker effect. I graduated from Andrean high school and then Indiana University with a degree in general studies. The one constant through it all was poker."
Upon graduating, Hebda worked unloading trucks for a grocery store whilst grinding poker online. Eventually he decided to go pro, and over the next six years he amassed over $1 million in online earnings (he won $25K in the Bodog $100K guarantee, runner-up for $47K in the MiniFTOPS $20 Rush Rebuy, and runner-up for $32K in the Bodog Main), not to mention the $317,769 he's amassed in the live realm.
Speaking of his live scores, his biggest to date us $81,774 for a sixth-place finish in the 2011 World Series of Poker Circuit Hammond. He also won $31,793 for finishing fifth in the 2013 Heartland Poker Tour Indiana; $29,400 for 381st in the 2014 WSOP Main Event; and $23,550 for winning a $365 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed event at the 2014 WSOP Circuit Harrahs Tunica, which also awarded him a coveted gold ring.
Grand Island, Nebraska's Phil Mader is no stranger to poker. He may be a farmer by trade, but he's built a successful side gig in poker as well having amassed $461,277 in tournament winnings. His biggest? That'd be $185,694 for his 43rd-place finish in the 2013 World Series of Poker.
In a recent hand, an under-the-gun player limped and Mader raised to 475 from the cutoff. The player in the big blind called, as did the limper, and three players saw a flop of . The big blind bet 600, the under-the-gun player folded, and Mader called to see the turn. The big blind bet again, this time 850, and it did the trick as Mader opted to release his hand.
, the player in the small blind checked, and Saied Moradi, who won the RunGood Poker Series Downstream Casino back in February, did the same from the big. The lady in the hijack then bet 1,300, the small blind called, and Moradi sprung to life with a check-raise to 4,300. The hijack called, the small blind got out of the way, and it was heads-up action to the 
turn.
.
, Trimble checked and the cutoff fired out 3,700. That did the trick as both Elder and Trimble released their hands.
. The big blind bet 600, the under-the-gun player folded, and Mader called to see the 
turn. The big blind bet again, this time 850, and it did the trick as Mader opted to release his hand.
