Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Poker Room 1993-2013

(l-r) Vanderlei, Mollo & Bates

Team Associates have been thrilled with the Poker Room’s 20th anniversary celebration and employee appreciation day. And to commemorate the event they’ve all signed an electric guitar that will be proudly displayed for years to come.

From newly minted team members, to those who have been with the room since day one, today’s event is a way of showing how much Tampa’s poker success is because of the people.

“We wanted to show how much we appreciate what everyone does,” says Tom Bates, Director of Poker, “without a great team and certainly the best players in Florida, we couldn’t do it.”

Bates has only been at Seminole Hard Rock a few weeks, but understood the value of recognizing the 20th anniversary.  At the other end of the spectrum are four associates who’ve been with Seminole Hard Rock Tampa since 1993.

The fab four are Rudy Javier, Lue Gardner, Shirley Hajaistron and Teresa Lyman, who were the first to sign the solid body guitar.  Also on hand were casino VPs Jake Vanderlei and Paul Mollo, along with Ray Stefanelli, Director of Poker Marketing for Seminole Gaming.

Congratulations for a successful 20 years as everyone is looking forward to many, many more!

Good Signs for Bates & Poker Room

$125 + $20 + $20 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4:  Blinds 100/200

Another 200+ players for the third and final flight puts the total at more than 500 entries for this event.  The flight has already passed the total of each of the first two flights and registration is still open until 9:30 pm.

The Tampa Winter Poker Open tournament series is now 6 for 6 in guarantees as this $40,000 prize pool was passed during the second flight.

The total payouts will be available after the cage closes and the final prize pool is calculated.

$125 + $20 + $20 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Day 2 Resumes 2 pm Wed.

56 players remain with an average stack of 71k (36 bb).

Name-Chip Count

R Topping 167,100 (84 bb)
Daniel Tirrell 157,600
Robert Messina 151,100
Jesse Goulding 143,700
Marc Picarazzi 139,700
Stephen Diamantas 134,000
Amie Martini 127,200
Kelli Hastings 123,000
Julio Novo 120,000
Larry Thompson 119,300
Dusty West 116,800
Andrew Phillips 111,700
Adam Templeman 109,000
David Bell 106,900
Continue reading Event 6B: Full Chip Counts Through Two Flights →

$125 + $20 + $20 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: Blinds 50/100

With the $40,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool already in the bank, the third and final flight is all gravy in this event of the  Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open.

396 entries have created a prize pool of nearly $50,000 and with another 100+ entries in this flight, we’ll be looking at a prize pool of close to $70,000.

Players start with 10k in chips and levels are 30 minutes each.

Registration is open for four levels and through the first break which keeps the cage open until ~9:30 pm.

This is a two-day event where the winner also gets entry into the $1,650 Championship Event.

The chip leader after the first two flights is R. Topping (Orlando) who bagged 167k.

$125 + $20 + $20 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

R. Topping has the overall chip lead with 167k through 2 flights of the $40,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool. 

56 players remain from both flights (29 from flight 6A), with an average stack of 71k (36 bb). Play resumes 2 pm Wednesday with blinds at 1k/2k/300 ante.

2nd Flight Chip Counts

R. Topping 167,100 (84 bb)
Robert Messina 151,100
Stephen Diamantas 134,000
Amie Martini 127,200
Kelli Hastings 123,000
Andrew Phillips 111,700
Donnie Kidman III 105,500
Pat Hoben 102,100
John Marlow 101,000
Herbert Woodbery 94,000
Tony Dellegrino 89,000
Suzette Johnson 81,700
E. Soong 76,000
AVERAGE STACK 71,000 (36 BB)
Vicky Renfrow 69,400
Marsha Wolak 67,000
Kiran Ainala 62,800
Robert DelCueto Jr. 57,000
Cachen Imkhaoun 52,900
Mike Barclay 45,100
Rina Cross 41,100
Donald Lyerly 38,300
Mark Olesen 37,300
Willie Muhammad 36,300
Alfie Orta 35,200
DeAndre Poindexter 32,800
Ricky Carter 31,000
Ayed Shweihat 30,800
Michael Ray 25,500
Ralph Amadeo 20,000 (7 bb)

$125 + $20 + $20 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 13 (8 min remaining): Blinds 1k/2k/300 ante
29 players remaining, 71k avg (35.5 bb)

R. Topping, Chip Leader

R. Topping (Orlando, FL) gets the last knockout of the day for the chip lead as play is stopped with 29 players remaining.  Topping’s AJ eliminates a short stack’s KJ for an extra 20k to finish with 167k.

“I had a great last five hands,” says the COO, who jumped up from 90k after a big hand while holding 5-2. “He didn’t raise me enough to get me off my small blind,” says Topping who flopped two pairs and turned a full house.

Topping got an extra 20k with a value bet on the river to take a 100k pot after his opponent mucked. “I’m really happy with it,” says Topping about his play and is thrilled to be moving on to Day 2.

In Event 1, Topping says he busted with three hands left of Day 1 when his opponent went runner-runner flush, so today is retribution.

“I played well,” says Topping of today’s event, “only lost one flip.”

Players return 2 pm Wednesday for Day 2.

$125 + $20 + $20 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 13: Blinds 1k/2k/300 ante
33 players remaining, 62k avg (31 bb)

While we’ve captured a lot of the women in today’s field, here’s a look at a pair of Queens who are still playing:

Vicky Renfrow (Palm Coast)

Rina Cross (Wesley Chapel)

The field will bag and tag when 8 minutes remain in the level (6:15 pm) or 29 players, whichever comes first.

$125 + $20 + $20 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 12: Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante
36 players remaining, 57k avg (36 bb)

(ladies l-r) Hastings, Martini, Wolak & Johnson

With the field down to 36 players, its surprising that 7 women remain. Not because they aren’t good players, but because of shear numbers.

There are no hard statistics on percentage of women that make up open tournament fields across the country, but the generally accepted number is somewhere around 5% (The WSOP recently reported that in it’s World Series schedule women make up 2-4% of the fields)

The fact that nearly 20% of today’s remaining players are women is impressive in one of two ways. There was either an unusually high number of women in today’s field, or most of the women who entered are still playing.  Either one is great for the game.

Four of the women, Kelli Hastings (Orlando), Amie Martini (Tampa), Marsha Wolak (Ft. Lauderdale) and Suzette Johnson (Trinity) are all on the same table, while Vicky Renfrow (Palm Coast), Rina Cross (Wesley Chapel) and Pat Gigante (Port Charlotte) are split up on the other three tables.

Most of the women have healthy stacks, accept Gigante who is nursing a short stack.

****5:15 pm Update****

Gigante, one of the early chip leaders, busted.

$125 + $20 + $20 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 11: Blinds 600/1,200/200 ante
46 players remaining, 45k avg (38 bb)

Messina (2nd from right) Knocks Out the Two Men
as Kelli Hastings & Amie Martini (right)Watch

A four way all in features four pocket pairs and a chopped pot.

Robert Messina (Tampa) is at risk for 12k and has the other short stack covered as they wait for the side pot action to reveal their fate.

After a flop of 3-2-2, Suzette Johnson (Trinity) moves all in and the other remaining player calls.

Messino: AA
Johnson: AA
Short Stack: QQ
Player 4: TT

After dodging the turn and river, the Aces hold for Messino and Johnson who knockout the other two players and then chop the main pot.

Messino was down to 2,500 earlier in the day, but is now north of 30k.

$125 + $20 + $20 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 10: Blinds 500/1k/100 ante
58 players remaining, 36k avg (36 bb)

Kidman & Gigante

In addition to Amie Martini’s (Tampa) chip lead, two other players are big stacks and side-by-side.

Donnie Kidman (Tampa via Richmond, MI) and Pat Gigante (Port Charlotte, FL) are in the 70k-80k range, just shy of Martini’s 81k.