Event 7 Flight A: Registration Closed in the Opener

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Flight A Players Remaining: 31 of 76

Registration is closed and it’s official.

Flight A of the Winter Poker Open $570 buy-in, $200,000 guarantee drew 76 players. They’ll join the starting fields from Flight B, C, D, E and F to complete the player pool.

Here’s a look at the tournament breakdown:

FlightEntriesAdvanced
A76TBD
BTonight @ 6pm
CTomorrow @ 11am
DTomorrow @ 6pm
ESaturday @ 11am
FSaturday @ 6pm
Totals76TBD

Event 7 Flight A: All Smiles for Doc Santos

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 7: 250/500 with a 75 ante
Entries: 71

AJ “Doc” Santos (left) and Tom Nguyen

AJ “Doc” Santos has been a notable absence from the Winter Poker Open thus far. That changed today as he late registered the $570 and picked up right where he left off.

Tablemate Tom Nguyen recently correctly called three streets of action with ace-high to snag an unlikely pot. With the table still reeling from the hand, Nguyen casually opened under the gun for a raise to 1,200. A late position player called as did Santos. Santos and Nguyen exchanged some laughs as the dealer laid an all-diamond flop full of low cards. It’s not clear exactly what Nguyen said to Santos, but Santos, who was in the big blind, open-folded before erupting in laughter.

With that, Santos is back and all is right at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa.

Event 7 Flight A: Some Restraint from Tom Nguyen

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Entries: 63

Tom Nguyen

The entry count is growing slowly but surely as Level 6 is freshly off and running. One player not doing his part to help swell the prize pool is Seminole Hard Rock Tampa regular Tom Nguyen.

Nguyen, who’s often good for lots of action and multiple entries, took his seat shortly after the first break. The table joked that he was late.

“It’s on purpose,” Nguyen laughed. “If I was early I would have bought in my third one already!”

Event 7 Flight A: Daniel Mijac Doubles in First Four Levels

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Entries: 61

Daniel Mijac

Cards are back in the air following the first break of the day with the clock reading 61 entries to this point. Out in front of the early stages of play is Daniel Mijac. Mijac has turned his 20,000 starting chips into 43,500 and has more than doubled his holdings early.

Registration and re-entry are available until about 3:30pm and the entry count is expect

Event 7 Flight A: Flying Duckman Hits Turbulence

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Entries: 59

Marvin “Flying Duckman” Karlins always makes for great action. He recently opened a pot to 1,700 and went back and forth with a lone opponent before the opponent got his last 16,650 in pre. Karlins called and flipped over pocket nines. The opponent held kings and Karlins never caught up. Per usual, Karlins surrendered the pot with class.

Karlins earned nearly $120,000 in a WPT event in northern Florida just about a year ago. He’s been on the tournament grind ever since and has produced some modest results. He’s still in search of that next big score, though. Perhaps it comes in the Winter Poker Open $570. He’s in good shape early sitting above starting stack with the first break right around the corner.

Tampa’s New Poker Space Coming Together

We’ll have more information on the new Seminole Hard Rock Tampa poker room for you later in the week. For now, though, here’s a sneak peak from Tommy Bates, Director of Poker at the Seminole Hard Rock.

Event 7 Flight A: Josias Santos Eyes Another

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Entries: 50

Josias Santos

Josias Santos is quietly becoming of the steadiest of tournament players at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa. His first cash at the property came in 2014, but he’s recorded numerous in the year’s since. Most recently, Santos finished fourth in this June’s WPTDeepStacks-Tampa $350 for almost $19,000. Of course, that was overshadowed in recent days by his victory in Event 3 of the Winter Poker Open. He defeated 184 entries in the $150 Turbo to earn $4,749 following a heads-up deal.

Santos is back in action in today’s $570 and looks to repeat the feat.

Event 7 Flight A: Table 31 Seat 2 for Tony March

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: 50/100
Entries: 39

Tony March

Tony March is a regular in the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa room and he’s becoming a regular at Table 31 Seat 2 as well.

Yesterday, March maneuvered through a tough, 508-entry field and graced the final table in the $150 Deep Stack. March got a bit lucky when he was back against the ropes only to see the board read a straight for a chopped pot, but his good fortune stopped there. He went on to exit eighth earning $1,690.

The $150 final table played out on Table 31 and the draw saw March sitting in Seat 2. Now, about 12 hours later, Table 31 is in the rotation for Flight A of the $570 and March drew — you guessed it — Table 31 Seat 2.

We’ll keep an eye on March’s progress in the event.

Event 7 Flight A: $570 Takes Over the Schedule

$570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50
Entries: 30

One of the premiere events on the Winter Poker Open schedule kicked off just moments ago with the first of six starting flights. Event 7, a $570 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed Deep Stack tournament is set to run daily between now and Sunday. Today’s Flight A is followed by Flight B, C, D, E and F. The massive field is slated to combine Sunday to play to a champion.

Cards went in the air for the opening flight just moments ago and the field is filling in quick. Players begin with 20,000 chips and are set to log 14, 30-minute levels. Registration and re-entry are available until 3:30pm.

Flight A details:

11AM: Event 7 Day 1A – $570 Deep Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)

  • $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

Good luck, players!