Welcome to Day 1b of the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock May Deep Stack
For the next two weeks, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood will play host to the Seminole Hard Rock May Deep Stack Poker Series. The series is comprised of three different tournaments at varying price points, all of which will be live reported here on PokerNews.
It continues today with the second of three starting flights in the $350 buy-in Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $150,000 GTD, which will run through Monday, May 20. Players will start with 30,000 in chips and play 40-minute levels through Level 14. Levels 15-26 will last 60 minutes each with Levels 27+ will switch to 90 minutes. Heads-up play will revert to 40-minute levels.
The plan for the Day 1 flights is to play through Level 14. Late registration and unlimited re-entries will be allowed until the start of Day 2. Players may not bag and play a subsequent flight. Players may forfeit their stack to Re-Enter or participate in subsequent starting day. The winner of the tournament will also receive an added $1,650 Main Event seat.
On Thursday's Day 1a flight, 225 entrants took to the felt, but only 34 made it through the night with Aaron Klausman and his stack of 480,000 leading the way. Not far behind was Erik Christensen, who bagged 446,000, and 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Player of the Year Ory Hen with 429,000. Others to amass decent stacks were Richard Saunders (369,000), Joe Teixeira (320,000), Bernadette Coustillas (254,000), and Henry Billete (219,000).
As for the history of this event, Dion Jagroo topped a 1,045-entry field to win the 2018 Deep Stack for $66,000. The year before that, Ben Lindemulder won it outright for $67,232 after navigating a field of 1,029 runners. Back in 2016, it was Steve McKoy coming out on top of a 1,075-entry field to win the title and accompanying $49,755 first-place prize.
Here's a look at the structure for today.
| Level | Length (minutes) | Small Blind | Big Blind | Big Blind Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 100 | 100 | 0 |
| 2 | 40 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 3 | 40 | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 4 | 40 | 200 | 300 | 300 |
| 5 | 40 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| 6 | 40 | 300 | 500 | 500 |
| 7 | 40 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 8 | 40 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| 9 | 40 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 10 | 40 | 500 | 1,500 | 1,500 |
| 11 | 40 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 1,500 |
| 12 | 40 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| 13 | 40 | 1,500 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 14 | 40 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 |