Record Setting Day 1B of the 2021-2022 Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open Comes to a Close with Mike Shanahan Bagging the Chip Lead

A record-setting Day 1B of the 2021 – 2022 Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open has come to a close, with 273 players remaining out of the 921 entrants that started the day. When combined with the 645 entrants from Day 1A, the 1,566 total entrants for the tournament set the record for most entries for the Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Main Event and doubled the $2 million guaranteed prize pool to just north of $5 million.

After collecting a massive pot late in the day, Mike Shanahan leads the way with 499,000 chips when he rivered a broadway straight, leaving his opponent with crumbs. With just 80,000 in the pot, Shanahan bet 140,000 on the river and after a tank of nearly five minutes got paid from the player holding ace-king. Shanahan, however, sits just behind Day 1A chip leader Ankit Ahuja, who bagged 531,000 chips and will look to continue to grow his stack as the fields combine.

Sitting just behind Shanahan in the Day 1B chip counts are Neil Zoneashvili (428,000), and rounding out the top three is Darrin Wright (416,500). Other notables to find a bag include WPT Champion Club members Jared Jaffee, Alex Foxen, Andy Frankenburger, and Erik Seidel. Three ClubWPT Qualifiers started their journey to WPT glory on Day 1B, but only two remain as Steven Sullivan (123,000) and Joel Chu (66,000) both found bags to keep the dream alive.

Players that were unable to find a bag included Solve for Why Founder Matt Berkey, 2021 World Champion Koray Aldemir, WPT Champion Club member Michael Mizrachi and WPT Deepstack Champion Michael Graffeo.

The remaining 273 players will combine with the 182 players that survived Day 1A when play resumes Sunday, November 28th at 12:00 p.m. EST inside the Seminole Hard Rock Grand Ballroom.

A full list of chip counts, as well as the seating assignments for Day 2, will be available later in the evening.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com