Jason Koon won last year’s SHRPO Championship as part of The Big 4. (Card Player photo)

Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL is one of the premier poker destinations in the United States and its largest series of the year is currently underway. The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) is firmly established as can’t-miss for any player, whether recreational or professional.

In 2015, The Big 4 premiered at SHRPO to great fanfare and is back for the third straight year this series. The Big 4 is four tournaments of different buy ins and structures that will have their respective final table live streamed over Twitch simultaneously on Tuesday, August 15. The tournaments are as follows in order of buy in size:

  • $1,100 entry, $500,000 guaranteed
  • $2,650 entry, $1,000,000 guaranteed
  • $5,250 entry, $3,000,000 guaranteed (SHRPO Championship)
  • $25,500 entry, $2,000,000 guaranteed (SHRPO High Roller)

The buy-ins are the same from the previous two years but feature a few structure adjustments, with the SHRPO Championship seeing the biggest facelift.

The $1,100 event starts on Wednesday, August 9 and will reach the final table in one day. All levels on Day 1 are 30 minutes with players starting with 15,000 chips. All final table levels are 90 minutes, with the exception of heads up play, where the levels are reduced to 60 minutes.

The former SHRPO Championship that was once a freezeout, is now re-entry for this year. The $5,250 buy in that has had guarantees of $5,000,000 and $10,000,000 in previous years is now $3,000,000. The main event of the SHRPO series has a starting flight on Friday, August 11 and Saturday, August 12. The SHRPO Championship is a four-day event and Day 3 will be played until the nine-handed final table is reached.

At the price point of $2,650, the $1,000,000 guaranteed event is the only freezeout on the 2017 schedule. The three-day event starts on Sunday, August 13 and will play out over consecutive days to the Big 4 final table.

Finally, the $25,500 High Roller is the second-highest buy in of SHRPO, behind the two-day $50,000 Super High Roller on August 8-9. The High Roller is also two days with Day 1 starting on August 14.

The SHRPO Championship has crowned high profile winners in recent years with Dan Colman and Jason Koon taking down the title in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

Seminole Hard Rock is on every list of great tournament series and the 2017 edition of SHRPO should put together another elite grouping of final tables that will play out at once for the whole world to see.