$1,700 TPC Championship
Prize Pool: $450,000  |  Structure  |  Payouts
Level 14:  3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining:  39 of 300

Flight A: 53 Entries; 7 Advanced
Flight B: 86 Entries; 11 Advanced
Flight C: 161 Entries; 21 Advanced
Day 2: Sunday at 11 am

$1,700 TPC Championship
Prize Pool: $450,000  |  Structure  |  Payouts
Level 14:  3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining:  39 of 300

Flight A: 53 Entries; 7 Advanced
Flight B: 86 Entries; 11 Advanced
Flight C: 161 Entries; 21 Advanced
Day 2: Sunday at 11 am

2026 Tampa Poker Classic
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 8
$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  300
Prize Pool:  $450,000
March 12 – 15, 2026

Registration closed for the 2026 Tampa Poker Classic Championship, with 300 entries across three starting flights, beating the $250,000 guarantee and creating a prize pool of $450,000.

The last 39 spots will be paid with $3,220 for a min-cash and $100,900 plus the TPC Trophy for the champion.

Thanks for coming out!

1st: $100,900 + TPC Trophy
2nd: $62,360
3rd: $44,700
4th: $32,620
5th: $24,250
6th: $18,360
7th: $14,170
8th: $11,150
9th: $8,950
10th-12th: $7,330
13th-15th: $6,120
16th-18th: $5,230
19th-21st: $4,560
22nd-24th: $4,060
25th-27th: $3,700
28th-30th: $3,450
31st-33rd: $3,290
34th-39th: $3,220

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 17:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Day 1C Players Remaining:  21 of 161

The last flight always takes longer to get into the money; they have no backup plan or way to re-enter if they bust. So they cruised halfway through Level 17 before making the money with 21 remaining.

Thien Nguyen put more than one million in his bag for the overall chip lead. We will post the complete chip count list and table draw as soon as it is available.

Flight C counts:

Thien Nguyen – 1,052,000 (105 bb)
William Criego – 713,000 (71 bb)
Mike Hernandez – 532,000 (53 bb)
Nathaniel Palombo – 485,000 (49 bb)
Lu Yu – 440,000 (44 bb)
Rafael Reis – 435,000 (44 bb)
Roberto Melo – 381,000 (38 bb)
Frank Menendez – 366,000 (37 bb)
Diego Uez – 340,000 (34 bb)
Carl Carlisle – 279,000 (28 bb)
Mike Ahmad – 233,000 (23 bb)
Dion Jagroo – 199,000 (20 bb)
Jeffrey Trudeau Jr – 194,000 (19 bb)
Joshua Morgan – 159,000 (16 bb)
Jeffrey Hong – 145,000 (15 bb)
Daniel Kasper – 126,000 (13 bb)
Jordan Lowery – 116,000 (12 bb)
William Davis – 108,000 (11 bb)
John Two-Bears – 108,000 (11 bb)
Kevin Blewitt – 59,000 (6 bb)
Kelley Slay – 41,000 (4 bb)

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 13: 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 ante
Day 1C Players Remaining:  40 of 161

After being the stone-cold bubble last night, Ken O’Donnell is having a better time of it this evening. He leads the field late with 469,000 followed by Carl Carlisle as the only other player over 400K.

We have 40 players remaining, so still a bit of work to get into the money with 21 of them advancing.

Ken O’Donnell – 469,000 (117 bb)
Carl Carlisle – 404,000 (101 bb)
Thien Nguyen – 358,000 (90 bb)
Jeff Trudeau Jr – 327,000 (82 bb)
Dion Jagroo – 311,000 (78 bb)
Roberto Melo – 303,000 (76 bb)
Mike Hernandez – 303,000 (76 bb)

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 12: 1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 ante
Day 1C Players Remaining:  45 of 161

Flight C is down to the last five tables with 45 minutes remaining and another break coming up. They usually finish up before seeing another after Level 15 but they are playing a little more caution this evening with no further flights to join.

We will take a walk among the tables and check for late action deep stacks.

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 800/1,600 with a 1,600 ante
Day 1C Players Remaining:  67 of 161

Registration closed for the final flight of the 2026 TPC Championship with 161 entries, putting the combined total at exactly 300 for the tournament and the prize pool hit $450,000. We will post complete payout information as soon as chips go into bags this evening.

Flight C will continue until 21 players remain and survivors return tomorrow at 11 am for Day 2. Players must bag chips to cash in the tournament.

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 800/1,600 with a 1,600 ante
Day 1C Entries: 153

If you want to jump into the 2026 TPC Championship, it’s time to make your move. We are into Level 9 and registration will close at 5:45 pm after the next break.

The prize pool is up to $438,000 and we will pick up a few more before we close the books on the big game.

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1C Entries: 131

Players returned from their seat break with 131 entries in Flight C to put the prize pool over $400,000 with a couple of hours to run it up.

Some friends in the field include Jamie “Beard” Smith, husband/wife Kelley and Kelly Slay (not a typo), Dion Jagroo, Karl Manouchakian, John Two-Bears, Wagner Wysotchanski, John Dolan, TK Miles, A.J. Kelsall, Nick Scholz, Josias Santos, Gabe Fuller, Drew Dodge, Diego Uez, Alex Ivan, Mark Wiser, and Juan Catala.

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1C Entries: 117

We received some sad news this afternoon: Tom McDonald, a long-time regular in the room, passed away overnight, leaving a hole in the Tampa poker community. We lost one of the nicest guys in the game.

Tom’s three biggest tournament cashes came from previous runs in this series, and his top two were in this tournament. He finished third in the 2022 TPC Championship and runner-up in the 2024 version.

In both of those Championship events, Paul Snead took the top spot, and that was something Tom joked about often.

“Have you seen Paul Snead?” he would laugh before entering a tournament. “I can’t beat him.”

Tom also had a fun deep run during the WSOP Super Seniors Event in 2022, which led to lots of laughs and memories he loved sharing.

Rest in peace to a truly kind gentleman and friend to so many in the Poker Room. Our condolences to his friends and family. He will be missed.