Daniel Colman is in a great position to defend his Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open title after making the final nine as the hosts are once again forced to pay an expensive overlay.

Daniel Colman has once again underlined his ability to navigate his way through huge tournament fields by making the final table of the $5m Guaranteed Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO). Colman will start the final table third in chips; the experienced Randy Pfeifer starts as the chip leader with Paul Volpe also in contention.

The $5,250 buy-in event has fallen short of its guarantee for the second consecutive year, casting doubts over the future of the event. The 2014 $10m Guaranteed SHRPO was a disaster as organizers had to make up the difference of $2.5m – the largest overlay in tournament history.

This year the organizers cut the guarantee by 50%, replaced the re-entry format with a Freezeout, and only 907 turned up to compete in the event. The $4,398,950 prize pool forced organizers to plunge deep into their pockets for a second year with a $601,050 overlay.