$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries:  135

Flight B players returned to action after the dinner break, at least most of them did. Our chip leader heading into the respite was Mina Tawfik and he left early to get a head start on dining.

Tawfik also told staff that they’d be late coming back and we’re still awaiting a return. In the meantime, Tawfik’s table was broken and his chips transferred next to Tampa reg Manny Minaya. He had 263,500 at the start of the dinner break but that will dip with blinds and antes subtracted during his absence.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1B Entries:  135

Flight B players were sent on their 40-minute dinner break at the end of Level 8 with 135 entries putting the prize pool over $85,000 so far.

They will return to play six more levels before bagging up their chips for a Day 2 return at noon.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1B Entries:  128

“He’s a lawyer,” Marvin Karlin laughed when he spoke of Don Linsky. “And he’s my friend.”

Karlin was awaiting a decision from Pass in a big hand with the board reading . Pass bet 10,000 and Karlin moved all in, Linsky would have to call for 34,500 total and put himself at risk.

“I’m folding my queen,” Linsky said as he flashed his hand before mucking.

The two laughed as Karlin flipped over for a six-high straight and both friends are still in the game.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1B Entries:  120

Players returned to their seats with the entry count only two shy from the entire Flight A field. We are building something big in the Poker Room.

Ryan Luker, 2017 WPTDeepStacks Tampa final table member, is the new chip leader with 157,800 with Tony March in second with 148,100. First break leader Alan Ramkha is still doing better than most with 127,800 good for third.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1B Entries:  114

Level 6 is coming to an end which means it’s almost time to send the players on their second break. Flight B is already ahead of yesterday’s pace and they will get very close to a $100,000 prize pool before the end of the day.

We will take another look at the big stacks while they were gone and see if anyone caught Alan Ramkha over the last two hours.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1B Entries:  111

Anthony Astarita opened the action from the cutoff before the big blind player shipped all in for his last 2,900 and Astarita called.

Big Blind:
Astarita:

Astarita was ahead with his suited ace but the big blind player took the lead on the flop. The board finished turn and river and our 2016 WPTDeepStacks Tampa Champ lost a little bit but still over starting stack.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1B Entries:  101

Flight B hit the 100-entry mark in Level 5 as more players wake themselves on a Friday afternoon and make their way to the poker room.

Familiar faces include Marvin Karlins, Mark Wiser, Wally Maddah, Tony March, and Jeremy Becker among other locals trying to hit a big score.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1B Entries:  87

Cards are back in the air for Flight B and another bunch of players joined up while they were on break. We are two entries shy of 200 and shouting distance from a $100,000 prize pool.

We found only a single stack in the room over 100K and it belonged to Alan Ramkha. He is up to 105,000 and the early front-runner with a long way to go.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Day 1B Entries:  76

Three levels are in the books and the entry count jumped another 20 and change over the last half hour. We now have 76 and can start predicting a triple-digit prize pool.

Jim Farnsworth is having a better time with his second entry. We caught him right before the break and he’s up to 51,000 the second go ’round.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Day 1B Entries:  55

“Hey, come get a picture of the biggest stack in the room,” Jim Farnsworth said to the guy with a camera.

He was sitting with a single 500 denom chip so definitely not the biggest in the room but he was going with it.

Farnsworth put that in the middle, Adam Farjam called, and Jerome Hall raised to 3,000. Farjam was not particularly happy with the raise but called and they checked it down until the board read .

Farjam checked one last time, Hall bet 4,000 and Farjam unhappily called. His mood changed when he saw his paired ten with was best against Hall’s airball to take the bigger side pot. Farnsworth showed for a pair of fives, not good enough to keep this entry alive but he was soon back in the game.