Rappers Delight as Seminole $10 million Kicks Off

Rappers Delight as Seminole $10 million Kicks Off

Friday, 23 August 2013

A star-studded field (quite literally) sat down for the opening day of the highly anticipated Seminole Hard Rock Open. With a $5,300 buy-in and a $10,000,000 guarantee the tournament certainly piqued the interest of the game’s top pros when it was announced and yesterday many of them sat down for their shot at the impressive prizepool.

While a host of poker celebrities, such as Faraz Jaka, Erik Seidel and Isaac Haxton lined the tournament area, so too did a host of international stars. Hip hop stars Nelly and Irv Gotti were spotted in the crowds alongside Hollywood starlet Shannon Elizabeth.

Indeed, after a day of action both Gotti and Elizabeth were able to make it through unscathed, with the former finishing seventh on the daily chip counts with 238,700.

At the close of the session the 634 entrants had been whittled down to just 194 and leading the way with 326,600 chips was Aaron Schaaf. The American grinder has just over $170,000 in career earnings but could be on course to smash that total if he can negotiate a few more sessions in Seminole.

Schaaf won’t have things all his own way though. Indeed, with the likes of Noah Schwartz (164,800), Chris Moorman (122,400) and Carlos Mortensen (47,000) all still in contention, plus two more opening flights set to take place, the road ahead is certainly going to be paved with danger.

Day 1B will kick off later when even more players are expected to take to the felt.



Tags: Seminole Hard Rock Open, Chris Moorman, Noah Schwartz, Carlos Mortensen, Nelly, Shannon Elizabeth