The second flight of the $560 No Limit Hold’em event is just about to get cards in the air. There are currently 24 players registered, but players have two hours to late register for this $100,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The event is scheduled to play 14 levels with each level 30 minutes in length. Blinds will start at 50/100 and all players are starting with 15,000 in chips. 76 players showed up for the first flight which started at 11 am and there is a third flight set to play on Saturday morning at 11 am.

John Pappas Leads Event 1, Flight 1, with 177,000 Chips

At the end of level 14, fourteen players remained.  Average stack is 81,400.  They’ve colored up the black 100 chips and bagged up the rest. They will return at 10am Sunday for Day 2.

Here are the chip counts for the survivors:

Rank – Player – Chips

1. John Pappas – 177,000
2. Ron Puleo – 169,500
3. Tom Aprea – 140,000
4. Earl Pickens – 97,500
5. Adam Templeman – 93,500
6. David Ormsbee – 84,000
7. Paul Neeson – 61,500
8. Natasha (Barbour) Raimon – 52,000
9. Diane Rossi – 51,500
10. Sterling Savill – 51,000
11. Tom Nguyen – 47,500
12. Emilio Fallone – 38,500
13. Vo Mach – 37,500
14. Larry Weeks – 35,000

Level 13: Blinds 1k/2k/300 ante

Tom Aprea (E Marion, NY & Tampa, FL) limped utg and action folded around to the small blind, (left) who shoved for 18,200.  Then the big blind (center) shoved for about 35k.

Tom (above right, considering his action) called and they rolled the cards over:

Small Blind

Big Blind

Tom

Board

Tom’s Queens held up and he took the pot, busting both opponents in the process.  He chipped up to about 140k.

16 players remain.  Average stack is 71,250.

Level 12:  Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante

Sterling Savill (above) shoved for ~25k under-the-gun and action folded around to the big blind, who called.

Sterling

Big Blind

Board

Sterling flopped a set and rivered a flush to take the pot, doubling up to about 55k.

Down to 20 players, making the average stack 57k.

Level 11:  Blinds 600/1,200/200 ante

Larry Weeks (above) got all-in with pocket Aces for ~48k against Helen Colter’s KQ.   The Aces held up and Larry chipped up to ~100k.

Helen was left short-stacked and busted out soon after.

Larry shipped a 22k double-up to the player on his right whose pocket Queens held up against Larry’s pocket Jacks, so Larry’s stack dropped to about 75k.

Larry, who is from Eagle Lake, FL, is not a regular here at the Hard Rock.  He won his buy-in for this event in a poker league, so he’s free-rolling.

Level 10:  Blinds 500/1,000/100 ante

I walked up just in time to see a big hand develop between a couple of big stacks.  The player in seat 1 opened for 4k and was called by Ron Puleo (above) in seat 3.  Helen Colter (seat 4) tossed in a pile of 5k chips, making it 30k to go.

Seat 1 folded and Ron called.  The flop came and Ron checked.  Helen took a stack of orange 1k chips across the line and it turned out to be a bet of 19k.  Ron jammed and their remaining stacks were very close.  Helen opted to fold, saying she had two pair, but showing no cards.

Ron rolled over for trip Queens as he collected the pot.  He chipped up to ~155k and leads the flight.

After folding her next hand to a raise from Ron, Helen said “I need a smoke…I’m tired of you” as he rose from the table to take an unscheduled break.  Her 50k stack still puts her above the average of 42k with 27 players remaining.

The Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Spring Poker Open Series culminates next week with the $300,000 Guaranteed Championship Event, which is a WPT Regional tournament.  In addition to the prize money, the winner will take home both the crystal WPT Regional Championship trophy and the signature Hard Rock Casino Tournament Champion guitar.

The Main Event begins Friday, March 14th at 11am with the first of three starting flights.  Flight 2 is at 7pm and Flight 3 is at 11am Saturday.  Day 2 is Sunday, March 16th and someone will walk away with these two beautiful mementos.

Level 8:  Blinds 300/600/75 ante

With only 40 players left in the field, the average stack has grown to 28,500.

Helen Colter (Clearwater, FL) has grown her stack to about 60k and may be leading the field.  Former chip leader Jim Seaver has fallen on hard times, but is still in the tournament with about 35k.

What’s not to love at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa?  The place is covered with Rock & Roll memorabilia and if you don’t love the classic rock music coming from the speakers in the Poker Room, then you just don’t know music.  From Bruce Springsteen  to Pink Floyd, from Pat Benatar to Lynyrd Skynyrd, the hits just keep pouring over the poker players.

If you’re concentrating too hard on what’s going on down on the felt that you don’t even notice the gold records up on the walls, you need to take a deep breath and look around.