Before the Thanksgiving leftovers could be re-heated, the 2024 World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Rock ‘n’ Roll Open got underway at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. And despite the overlap with the holiday weekend, the first flight had no trouble attracting top players from Florida and nationwide.
Even though the tournament kicked off on Black Friday (no, not that Black Friday), there was no discount for the hundreds of players who made the trip to the South Florida property. However, plenty of players were able to get into the $3,500 buy-in event for cheap through satellites running on the other side of the tournament ballroom and through packages given away on ClubWPT.
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The Day 1a field quickly grew to hundreds of players as tournament tables filled up throughout the Hard Rock ballroom.
In the north section of the room, Seminole crusher Raminder Singh continued his South Florida dominance as he turned a set of kings after calling a flop check-raise versus an opponent who had flopped two pair. The turn had the opponent drawing dead as Singh improved to kings full of queens on the river.
The "Raminator," who was seated at a Murderer's Row table that included Alex Foxen and Francis Anderson, holds the record for the most number of Seminole Hard Rock trophies, and you can hear all about his poker success in his interview on the Life Outside Pokerpodcast.
At the table behind them, Foxen's Chip Leader Coaching partner in crime, Chance Kornuth, battled away in the early stages of his mission to win another WPT title. In May 2022, Kornuth took down the WPT Choctaw Main Event for $486,600 and his first WPT title as he defeated Steven "Cuz" Buckner (who PokerNewsprofiled at a previous WPT stop), who was also in the Day 1a field.
Also among the players seeking second WPT titles was David Dongwoo Ko, who lost most of his stack ahead of the second break and quickly bought back after being eliminated. The young Canadian won the WPT Montreal Main Event in May for $319,217, though he isn't the most recent WPT Montreal Main Event champion as Michael Wang won the October offering for $276,634.
Two "Team Lucky" representatives were in the field in the form of Shaun Deeb and Matt Glantz, though no sign yet of Josh Arieh and 2023 WSOP Main Event champion Daniel Weinman. Check out this PokerNewsprofile from earlier this summer to learn why Team Lucky is about more than poker.
Other notables in the Day 1a field include Kristen Foxen, Nadya Magnus, Adam Hendrix, Jesse Lonis, Loni Hui and WPT champions Bin Weng, Ryan Riess, Andrew Wilson, James Calderaro and Matthew Wantman.
Players are currently on a 90-minute dinner break with the clocks showing 536 entrants so far. PokerNewswill be on-site for the entirety of the RRPO Championship, so stay tuned for interviews, feature articles and more.
*Photos courtesy WPT
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