Level 10: Blinds 500/1,000/100 ante

After calling a raise utg, Jack Rovello (Westchester, NY) checked in the dark before the dealer spread the flop of .  The blueberry farmer, Edwin Torres, was on the button and shoved for 27,300.

Jack went into the tank, talking to himself since Edwin sat silent and motionless, saying “I fell like you have pocket Tens.  I got a Queen with a good kicker”.

After a couple of minutes, Jack made the call.  Edwin sheepishly rolled over for nut-no-pair.  Jack clapped his hands and showed for top pair.

The last two fell and made no difference.  Edwin was busted.  “Good call! Ballsy call!” Jack said, as he collected the pot.  He’s up to about 115k.

Jack is from New York, but is down here in Tampa visiting a friend.  He was a child actor, appearing in the film “The Hours” with Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman at the age of eight.  He credits his good friend Maja Lorehovic with inspiring him to be an actor.

Level 9:  Blinds 400/800/100 ante

A couple of players have reported their departures via Twitter.

Busto Raise 1200 at 250/500 50 With KK 3 callers BB shoves 16,750 I call he has Qh10h Flop 10 Turn 10 #showers

— Carlos Loving (@Flopithot) March 8, 2014

PokerLifeGear couldn’t tell the story in 140 characters, so used TwitLonger:

78 vs a10 cc flop 5 c7c qs bet raise call turn 9 c bet raise call river blank ck Ai tank just didn’t want to belive ai with nut flush so out before break 38k bad call but bad turn card 4 sure not good enough to fold ai river over bet with to nuts but learned a lesson slow down with flush draw. #next

— PokerLifeGear (@pokerlifestkr) March 8, 2014

Keep those Tweets coming and remember to include @SHRTPoker so we can find you!

Marc Lowe (left) mugging for the camera with Jeff Metajan (Tampa)

End of level 8 and players are taking 15 away from the felt.

Marc Lowe (Tampa, FL) apparently can’t get enough of this event.  He has entered a total of SIX times, twice in each of the three starting flights.

“I won this event last June” says Marc, trying to justify turning this $560 NLH event into a $3,360 NLH event.  Apparently those events were not reported anywhere, as I have been unable to find a record of his win.

He’s up to about 52k and sitting comfortably above the average of 34k with 50 players remaining in this flight.

Level 8:  Blinds 300/600/75 ante

On a flop of , both Greg McNealy and another player got all their chips in the middle against Vitor Coelho.  Vitor held and had flopped a straight.  Greg held for the gutshot straight-flush draw, and the third player held AT for top/top.

None of Greg’s outs came and the retired firefighter was sent to the rail, along with the third player.

Vitor has chipped up to ~150k, good for the chip lead.

Ralph Dyer (left) agonizing over Greg Nealy’s all-in bet

Level 7:  Blinds 250/500/50 ante

Action was three-way at the river and the board read .   Ralph Dyer bet ~7,700 and Greg McNealy (Valrico, FL) jammed.

The third player in seat 1 folded and Ralph went into the tank.  After a few moments, he called.  Greg showed for the nut flush to take the pot.  He doubled up to about 30k.

Greg is a retired firefighter who plays regularly here at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa.

Level 6: 200/400/50 ante

I arrived at the table just as Vitor Coelho declared “all in” and moved his chips across the line.  Before the dealer could count the bet, his opponent called.

The flop was and Vitor was ahead with for two pair.  His opponent tabled for top pair with flush draw.

Vitor managed to fade all 12 outs and doubled up.

Level 5:  Blinds 150/300/25

Registration has closed for this event and the final (unofficial) count for Flight 3 is 113 entries.  That brings the total for all three starting flights to 249 entries for a total prize pool of $124,500, beating the $100,000 guarantee.

When the numbers have been crunched and the payouts are available, they will be posted in the blog.

About 80 players remain in today’s flight, making the average stack roughly 21k.

End of level 4 (blinds 100/200/25 ante) and players are enjoying their first break of the day.

This is the last chance for players to enter (or re-enter) this event as registration will close at the end of the break with the start of level 5 (blinds 150/300/25 ante).

Level 4:  100/200/25 ante

Although he didn’t made the televised final table, Edwin Torres (Bartow, FL) still got some TV time on this past week’s episode of the World Poker Tour.

During the 2013 WPT Borgata Poker Open $3,500 Championship event, the blueberry farmer made a deep run, eventually finishing 30th for $14,777.  He’s wearing his ‘Lucky’ hat, which he wore during the Borgata event and which earned him the nickname, Lucky.

Level 3:  Blinds 100/200

Local pro Vitor Coelho is back today to try, try, again.  He played flight 1 yesterday, but busted out before the bag & tag.  Despite being from Tampa and having over $678,000 in lifetime tournament earnings, he has no wins on his resume here.

He came close back in December during the WPT Regional Winter series, finishing 2nd in the $165 NLH event for $8,900.  He has two wins at the Isle in Pampano Beach and one at Borgata in Atlantic City and two of those wins were six figure scores.

His largest cash on record was the one that got his face on television — the 2011 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic $10,000 Championship Event.  He made the six-handed TV Final Table and ended up finishing in 5th place for $159,224.