Event 7: Chip Counts through Flight A

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Day 2 Blinds: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 14 of 76

Flight A: 76 Entries, 14 Advanced
Flight B: Thursday @ 6pm
Flight C: Friday @ 11am
Flight D: Friday @ 6pm
Flight E: Saturday @11am
Flight F: Saturday @ 6pm
Day 2: Sunday @ Noon

Structure Sheet

Day 2 chip counts through Flight A:

RankFirst NameLast NameChip Count
1NicholasWilliams240,500
2AriProstak186,500
3IanPearson160,000
4WilliamOndrus148,500
5MostafaAsari Piralvan134,000
6StevieTrizis129,000
7JohnAlegria101,000
8MarounAkiki97,000
9JamesCarmadella97,000
10AllauddinKhan88,000
11JohnO'Neal54,500
12MeirBarack52,500
13StuartFerguson18,500
14ForrestJahn III12,500

Event 7 Flight B: Kelsall Pushes Field Number Higher

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: 50/100
Flight B Entries: 46

AJ Kelsall

The entry count for Flight B continues its steady climb higher to keep us on pace to walk over the $200,000 guaranteed prize pool later this week.

AJ Kelsall is among our evening grinders sitting next to another local favorite, Tony March. Kelsall has a nice history here; the WSOP Circuit winner conquered the 2014 Winter Poker Open Championship for $124,000.

Event 7 Flight A: Nick Williams Leads Late; Three More Hands

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 14 of 76

Nick Williams

Nick Williams recently picked up ace-queen of spades and played a huge pot versus the previous chip leader James Carmadella’s ace-king. The flop fell king high but with two spades. The duo got the money all, Williams second best but drawing live. He went on to spike his spade, improve to a flush and took a massive lead late in the day with over 200,000.

Shortly thereafter, staff announced players would log three more hands of play before and bagging and tagging. It appears Williams will sleep on the lead while being joined for Day 2 by the likes of Steve Trizis and John Alegria. The clock currently shows 14 players left from 76 starters and complete chip counts will be posted within the hour.

Event 7 Flight A: Steve Trizis Hanging Late

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 14 of 76

Tampa regular Steve Trizis is putting himself in position to make a run at the money in the $570. He’s chipped up nicely throughout Flight A and finds himself just a few minutes from bagging and tagging. Trizis, who sits on $180,000 in career earnings, is a medium-sized score away from crossing the $200,000 mark.

Complete chip counts for all advancing Flight A players will be posted shortly after play concludes.

Event 7 Flight A: Maroun Akiki Wants it More, Wins Eight-Way Pot

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 13: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 18 of 76

Maroun Akiki

The under the gun player started it out with a fold only to see the remaining eight players at the table limp into the pot. With the pot limped eight ways, the dealer burned and turned.

Flop: Jd7c5c

The small blind checked. So did the big blind. A pair of early position players checked and a handful in middle and late position did as well. It was on Anthony Astarita in the cutoff and he followed suit sending it to the button. The button bet 6,500. The small folded, but the big blind called. AJ “Doc” Santos called from early position and Maroun Akiki came along from his direct left. It folded back to Astarita who called. With that, the hand was sheared to a measly five players.

Turn: Jd7c5c9h

All five players checked.

River: Jd7c5c9hTs — Four to a straight on the board.

The big blind checked and so did Santos. It was on Akiki and he bet 11,000. Astarita folded, the button called and the big blind and Santos got out of the way. Akiki turned over 8s7h for a straight. The button mucked and Akiki was the last man standing in a pot that began with eight players.

Event 7 Flight B: Second Round Set to Run

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50

We’re heading into the second week of the 2016 Winter Poker Open and we’re running three days with six flights of the $200,000 Guarantee Event 7. One flight is wrapping up in the poker room and the second flight is set to go at 6pm.

The $570 buy-in Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em tournament will continue running starting flights into the weekend with Day 2 playing out on Sunday.

Tournament entrants will sit down to 20,000 starting stacks and play 30-minutes throughout the day. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 10:30pm and play will conclude at the end of Level 14. Survivors will put their chips in a bag and return for Day 2.

They’ll kick things off at the top of the hour and we’ll keep track of them as they progress through the evening.

  • $200,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
  • Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
  • Event 7 Structure Sheet

Event 7 Flight A: John Alegria Looking for Better

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 12: 800/1,600 with a 200 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 19 of 76

John Alegria

One player in the Event 7 field who’s already experienced a deep run in a Winter Poker Open event is John Alegria. Alegria played a long session in yesterday’s $250 Pot-Limit Omaha primary event before going home as the bubble boy. He was undeterred by the close call and subsequent heartbreak and now finds himself still in again with the field shrinking.

Alegria currently sits on just over 100,000 chips with the day’s final break just minutes away.

Event 7 Flight A: James Carmadella in Front with 20 Left

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 20 of 76

James Carmadella

James Carmadella claims a stack of over 200,000 and leads the field in Flight A of the $570 with just 20 players remaining. Carmadella is a Palm Harbor resident with a few small tournament results, but his play thus far has been anything but modest.

Those joining Carmadella at the final two tables include AJ “Doc” Santos, Anthony Astarita, Steve Trizis and John Alegria. Those who have gone bust, meanwhile, include Josias Santos, Tom Nguyen, Daniel Mijac and Marvin Karlins.

Event 7 Flight A: Anthony Astarita Scores Small Knockout

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 10: 500/1,000 with a 100 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 28 of 76

Anthony Astarita

WPTDeepStacks-Tampa Main Event champion Anthony Astarita limped from early position and a late position and the cutoff moved all in for 1,400. The short shoved prompted a raise from the button who made it 4,300 to go. It was back on Astarita. The champ made it 17,000 to go and the button eyed his stack. The button eventually let it go and Astarita had the opportunity to eliminate the cutoff.

Astarita: AhKc
Cutoff: Jd7d

The As revealed itself on the flop. The cutoff had some straight outs, but they never showed. Astarita’s pair of aces was best and he earned himself a medium-sized pot.