$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 4: 300/500 with a 500 ante Day 1A Entries: 152
Clyde Maliauka
The first break ended and players returned to their seats to continue their work towards a title. The field topped 150 while they were gone and we’re going to build something special.
Clyde Maliauka is on another run, he leads Flight A with 114,800 and only two others topped 100K. Art Peacock sits in second with 102,200 and Event 4 champ William Clay is right behind with 102,000.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 3: 200/400 with a 400 ante Day 1A Entries: 132
Amie Martini
We have a great turnout this afternoon for Flight A of the SPS Championship, with many locals and a few travelers mixed in there. We’ll find more visitors as the field grows into the weekend.
More friendly faces include Amie Martini (having a great series), Clyde Maliauka, Fred Paradis, Hyndi Khomutetsky, Ruth Ruffman, and Terri-Anne Crawford.
If you are looking for something different than the SPS Championship, we have a game for you at noon. Event 15 is $400 T.O.E. tournament that will rotate games between Limit 2-7 Triple Draw, Omaha 8, and Stud 8.
It’s a good mix.
Players start with 30K deep stacks and all levels last 30 minutes for the one-day trophy event. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 4:30 pm. The 30-minute dinner break is scheduled for 6:30 pm and then we found our T.O.E. champ.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 2: 200/300 with a 300 ante Day 1A Entries: 109
Eric Walling
The entry count quickly jumped over 100 in the first level and we have a steady march of players joining the field. A good start on a Wednesday morning.
A few familiar faces in early action include Eric Walling, David DiBernardi, Gil Levy, Steve Blackmon, Francis Anderson, Brian Arbaugh, Nick Kost, and Justin Harrell.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 1: 100/200 with a 200 ante Day 1A Entries: 73
The clock hit 11 am and tournament staff put cards in the air for the $1,000,000 guarantee SPS Championship. We have 73 entries at the start and many more expected throughout the weekend.
They will play the first three levels of the tournament before taking a break and registration remains open until 5:45 pm.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 1: 100/200 with a 200 ante
The wait is over and it’s time to launch the first-ever Tampa Signature Poker Series Championship. The first of three flights for the $1,700 buy-in tournament starts at 11 am in the Event Center with a $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
We expect a great group of players, both local and traveling from afar, to make this a fantastic headliner of the series.
Players start with 40,000 in their stacks and the first 19 levels last 40 minutes, increasing to 60 minutes in Level 20 and staying there till the end. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 10 at 5:45 pm.
Each flight will play through 13 levels and survivors will advance to Day 2 on Sunday at noon.
We are ready for a fun last weekend of the series.
$1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
Players begin with 40,000 in chips
Levels 1-19 last 40 minutes; Levels 20+ last 60 minutes
Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 10 (5:45pm)
2023 Tampa Signature Poker Series Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida Event 9 $200 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $100,000 Guaranteed Entries: 973 Prize Pool: $164,437 September 11-13, 2023
Jimmy Tomblin
Jimmy Tomblin was the clear chip leader throughout the final table tonight, and he played his advantage well to take home the top prize of $28,850 along with the SPS guitar pick trophy. The Fort Lauderdale resident took his career earnings up above $400,000 thanks to what was the most dominant final-table performance we’ve seen during this tournament series.
We caught up with Tomblin shortly after the win, and here were his thoughts about winning his first trophy here at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa. “It feels amazing, it feels great. I’m going to put the trophy right in my kitchen [laughs],” said Tomblin.
“I mean I was just picking spots, a lot of three-betting, so I got a lot of folds because the ICM was so crucial. There’s guys with 10 to 15 bigs, and two other guys had 30 bigs, and I had 80. So it was pretty easy cruising. I had one big hand with a guy over here, and after that … I four-bet jammed him on the turn, and he found a fold. It was a pretty sick spot, and that got me to like 7 million,” said Tomblin when he was asked about his dominant journey at the final table.
“I opened under the gun, I was pretty active obviously, and a player jammed for 2.4 [million]. There was a re-jam, and I almost folded, but I couldn’t fold with queens. and aces, and I make the queen on the flop. I was just thinking about the numbers, and of course I have to call,” was Tomblin’s insight when asked about the hand that saw him take out two players in third and fourth place before the start of heads-up play.
“It’s ran great, everybody from the floor, to the dealers, the friendly players, media, everyone has been great, everyone has been awesome. Here and Hollywood are the best two stops that I go to,” said Tomblin when he was asked about what he’s enjoyed for far during the SPS tournament series that has seen him make a couple other of deep runs as well. Tomblin will also be playing in the championship event, maybe tomorrow of Friday depending on how tired he is after tonight.
Final Table Results:
1st: Jimmy Tomblin – $28,850 + SPS Trophy 2nd: Ray Lambert – $17,830 3rd: Tommy Hwang – $13,160 4th: Travis Hall – $9,830 5th: Eric Buek – $7,430 6th: Josh Snodgrass – $5,680 7th: Moytk Scott – $4,400 8th: Jose Passatino – $3,450 9th: Andrew Brannon – $2,740
A back-and-forth final battle between John Binns and James Hagan came to a close after about two hours in Event 13, and here is a look at the final hand.
Hagan was all in with , and Binns had him covered holding on a final board reading .
Hagan was eliminated in second place, good for $5,920 in prize money, and Binns took home the top prize of $9,885 along with the SPS guitar pick trophy. His career earnings are now above $200,000 with tonight’s victory.
Binns declined to give an interview after the win, so this concludes the reporting for Event 13.
Final Results:
1st: John Binns – $9,885 + SPS Trophy 2nd: James Hagan – $5,920 3rd: Stephen Allen – $3,740 4th: Ryan Wuebbels – $2,410 5th: Lewis Gallo – $1,870 6th: Amie Martini – $1,480 7th: AJ Kelsall – $1,250 8th: Michael Morgan – $1,090 9th: Duff Charette – $990 10th: Terry Short – $900 11th: Randolph Crowther – $840 12th: Paul Edwards – $780
and aces, and I make the queen on the flop. I was just thinking about the numbers, and of course I have to call,” was Tomblin’s insight when asked about the hand that saw him take out two players in third and fourth place before the start of heads-up play.
, and Binns had him covered holding 
on a final board reading 
.