All posts by Jeff Shurilla

Championship: Fiorenza with a Frenzy

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em

Level 4: Blinds 100/200/25 ante
Entries: 149

Vincent Fiorenza
Vincent Fiorenza

An innocuous flop of 9d8c2h leads to a bloated pot and a huge windfall for Vincent Fiorenza (Ovieda, FL).

After putting in 2,500 each, four players head to the turn.

Mike Lee (Brooksville, FL) leads for 7k on the 3h and gets calls from Tom Nguyen (Tampa, FL), Aria Siplia (Tampa, FL) and Fiorenza.

Lee checks the 7h on the river, Nguyen bets 10k and gets calls from Siplia and Fiorenza

“Let’s see ’em,” says the dealer after Lee folds.

Nguyen: 8h6h (flush)
Siplia: JxTx (straight)
Fiorenza: Th2h (winning flush)

Fiorenza wins the 75k pot to be among the chip leaders.

A few hands later, Fiorenza wipes out Hill, who says he had two pairs on the prior hand. Fiorenza flops a full house with 99 against Hill who hits top pair, top kicker on the turn with AdQdto lose his last 15k.

Fiorenza looks to continue his run good after taking home $56,501 as part of the 4-way chop in Event 7.

Players are heading to break with Fiorenza the chip leader at 117k.

Champ: Cunix Looking to Win Poker’s “Best Kept Secret”

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em

Level 4: Blinds 100/200/25 ante
148 Entries

Sean Cunix
Sean Cunix

“It’s poker’s best kept secret,” says Sean Cunix (Columbus, OH) of the $1 Million Guaranteed Championship at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Summer Poker Open. “This summer I’m only playing the (WSOP) Main Event and this.”

Cunix has nearly $1.4 million in career recorded tournament earnings and sees “great value,” here in Tampa because poker’s epicenter is currently in Vegas.

“I’m still stunned,” adds Cunix, “it takes a lot of balls to go against the World Series. But knowing the people here I have confidence they’ll make the guarantee.”

Cunix, who also has business ventures in Florida, has seen recent success playing Seminole Hard Rock Poker. He earned a win in one event during the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown, Hollywood, in addition to his 28th place finish ($21,000) in the Championship event.

And he’s not lacking confidence.

“It’s my tournament to lose,” says Cunix. In addition to feeling good about his game, he’s glad to have his 13-year-old son Sam along on the trip.

“I can’t let him down,” he, says. “I know I’m going to to well. It’s Father’s Day weekend.”

Championship: 1st Break Chip Leaders

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em

Level 3: Blinds 100/200
148 Entries

Big Stacks

Anthony March 67k
Kevin Blewitt 67k
Bryan Mikolajczky 66k
Jeff “Flicka” Coutroulis 65k
Jordan Scott 61k
Nigel Murray 61k
Freddie Kirkland 57k
Amelio Amato 54k
Ray Prieto 53k
Tim White 53k
Barry Wiedemann52k
Ritesh Patel 50k
J Dobson 50k
Mohamad Zalikha 48k
Erik Christensen 47k
Donald Jackson 47k

Championship: 5+5+5+5 = 60k

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em

Level 2: Blinds 75/150
147 Entries

Kevin's Opponent Blewitt with JJ
Kevin’s Opponent Blewitt with JJ

The first big pot of the tournament comes on a board of J-5-5-3-3.

Kevin Blewitt (Tampa, FL) leads for 2k, O. Song makes it 6k, Blewitt moves all in for slightly more than the 30k starting stack and Song calls.

Blewitt shows pocket 5s for winning quads against Song’s flopped full house with JJ.

The hand gives Blewitt a double stack and is up over 60k, while Song hits the rail.

On a side note, props to Joe Parrish (Riverview, FL) who’s keeping us posted via Twitter. We’re using #SummerPokerOpen for chip counts and big hands.

 

Championship: Level Up

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em

Level 2: Blinds 75/150
Entries: 146

Players continue to file in as the deep structure (30k stacks, 60 min levels) allows players to grab some extra Zzzz.

Seminole Hard Rock poker regular Mike Laake (Punta Gorda, FL) is here with Level 2 underway.

Laake has $367,000 in recorded live tournament earnings and his last 10 cashes, including in this series, have come at either Seminole Hard Rock Tampa, Hollywood or Coconut Creek.

 

Championship: Early Bird Tweets

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em

Level 1: Blinds 50/100
Entries: 142

 

 

Championship: Friendly Faces

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em

Level 1: Blinds 50/100
Entries: 137

There are lots of familiar faces in the crowd, just some who have taken their seats during the first level:

Derek Bowers
Erik Christensen
Sean Cunix
Steve Korftonta
Amie Martini
I’an O’Hara
Evan Panesis
Ray Prieto
Ben Thompson

Championship: $1 Million Guaranteed Underway!

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em
$1 Million Guaranteed

Level 1: Blinds 50/100
Entries: 133

Palm Trees & Poker
Palm Trees & Poker

The Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Summer Poker Open Championship is underway and players are buzzing with excitement.

This is the crown jewel of the 21 day, 17 trophy event series. The tournament area overlooks the Rockin’ Pool and the natural sunlight adds some extra energy.

Players start with 30k (300 bb) in tournament chips and Day 1 levels last 60 minutes each.

It’s a re-entry tournament with three starting days. Late registration and re-entry is open until the start of Level 7 (~7:30 pm).

Day 1 play concludes after 10 levels of play (~12:00 am).

The $1 Million Guaranteed Championship is underway!