$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 2: 100/100 with a 100 ante Flight A Entries: 209
Steve Tziris
One of the fun parts of these big events is seeing out local regular mix it up with some of the best players from outside Florida. The Sunshine State has its fair share of top talent and we have a lot of local players in early action.
A quick look through the field we found DeVaughn Smith, Marie Harrell, Bryce McVay, Steve Tziris, and Jesse Hadley to name a few. More will make their way to the Event Center where they hope to keep the Main Event ring right here in Tampa.
$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 1: 100/100 Flight A Entries: 159
Jeremy Becker
The Main Event field will be a mix of players from around the country and from within the state. There will also be players who buy directly into the game and those who win their seats.
Jeremy Becker went the long route and is freerolling his entry today. Our in-room tournaments feature a leaderboard, points are awarded based on performance and Becker was top of the heap for the period that included December and January. For taking the top spot, Becker won a seat into today’s WSOP Circuit Main Event.
Michael Tait is in today’s event in a different way. We have been running Main Event satellites for a while and Tait booked his seat via a $250 satellite a few days ago. If this entry doesn’t work, he has another satellite-won ticket in his pocket.
And the satellites aren’t done even though the Main Event is underway. We have two more today, one at 4 pm and another at 7 pm with five seats guaranteed in each.
4PM: Event 48 – $250 Main Event Satellite (Re-Entry)
5 WSOPC Main Event seats guaranteed
Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 20-minute levels
Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 7
Winner will be entered into the first available flight and chips will be in play when tournament starts
We are a week into the series and it is time to kick off the WSOP Circuit Main Event. The $1,700 headlining tournament features a huge $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and two starting flights.
If the previous events were any indication, we are about to see a couple big days of poker to close out the series.
Main Event players will sit down to 30,000 starting stacks and Day 1 levels last 40 minutes, increasing to 60 minutes on Day 2. Late registration is available until the start of Level 13 around 8:25 pm and players are limited to a single re-entry per flight.
Flight A will continue through the end of Level 15 and those with chips will bag them up for a return on Sunday for Day 2 at noon.
Cards fly at 11 am and the long-anticipated Main Event will be ready to rock.
$1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
Players begin with 30,000 in chips
Levels 1-15 last 40 minutes; Levels 16 last 60 minutes
Late registration available until start of Level 13
2020 WSOP Circuit – February Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida – Event 6 $400 Monster Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $200,000 Guaranteed Entries: 1,371 Prize Pool: $452,430 February 11-13, 2020
Kevin Ho
The Monster Stack event attracted a huge field of 1,371 players, and on Thursday night, the last player standing was recreational player Kevin Ho, who earned $70,567 and his first WSOP Circuit Ring.
The field was so large that there were more than 41 million worth of chips in play, and for the first time, Seminole Hard Rock Tampa used the slightly larger pink 500K chips. More importantly, the $200K guarantee was more than doubled, with the total prizepool worth $452,430.
“What’s funny is that I wanted to chop,” said Ho about the prizepool. “I didn’t know we couldn’t chop in the WSOP, so with six or seven players left, I said, ‘Hey, do you guys want to chop?’ I was just chasing the money. The money’s more important to me.”
Ho started Day 2 on a down note after losing a huge pot in the final hand of Day 1 that would have made him the chipleader, but instead left him with less than 20 big blinds.
“If I had won that hand,” said Ho, “I would have had 1.8 million going into Day 2. Instead I started today short, with 231,000. So I lost that big pot, but I came back and just built it up.”
Ho began the final table second in chips, just a single big blind behind Alon Eldar. But once he realized he couldn’t chop, Ho worked his way into a big chip lead, and with four players left he had nearly as many chips as the other three players combined.
“I think I got lucky,” said Ho about the final table. “A lot of the tough players got knocked out early. I was shocked. The ones I was scared of, they just lost with bad luck or whatnot.”
After the elimination of Abdelouahed Bouanani in third place, heads-up play began between Ho and Serge Dergham.
The first hand of heads-up play would also be the last.
2020 WSOP Circuit – February Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida – Event 8 $2,200 High Roller (Re-Entry) $100,000 Guaranteed Entries: 173 Prize Pool: $346,000 February 12-13, 2020
Romeo Mendoza
When heads-up play began in Event 8 ($2,200 High Roller) between Romeo Mendoza and A.J. Kelsall, Mendoza was outchipped by more than 3.5-to-1. But an ace on the river reversed Kelsall’s momentum, and Mendoza held onto the lead after that and closed out the victory for his first WSOP Circuit ring.
“It means a lot,” said Mendoza, “especially because I won it here in my hometown. I’ve been playing at this casino since it opened.”
When the 10-handed final table began, Kelsall had a sizable lead with 132 big blinds, and it looked like he might coast to his first February 13th victory. (More on that later.) When there were four players left, Kelsall had almost as many chips as the other three players combined, and he had that 3.5-to-1 lead over Mendoza when heads-up play began.
Kelsall check-shoved the turn on a board of , and Mendoza tanked for a long time before he called with for an overpair. But Kelsall turned over for two pair, and Kelsall was one card away from his first February 13th victory. (Don’t worry, that’ll make sense soon.)
But the river card was the , giving Mendoza a set to win the pot and double into a 3-to-2 chip lead. Mendoza was in control after that, eventually winning when his beat Kelsall’s after the board double-paired with aces and jacks.
“I’ve been playing with A.J. for over 15 years,” said Mendoza. “We’re both hometown guys. We play high-stakes cash games all the time together, so it’s really cool that it was me and him.” But even though they are friends, they were playing for a WSOP Circuit ring, and both of them wanted it. “I felt that if me and A.J. got heads-up, I would win. I kind of know how he plays.”
As for Kelsall, this is the third time in the past four years that he made a final table on February 13th. The last two times (2017 and 2018) he lost to two-time WSOP bracelet winner Loni Harwood, something they’ve joked about ever since.
With Harwood absent from this final table and Kelsall holding a commanding chip lead, all signs pointed to this being Kelsall’s year to finally win on February 13th. Until that ace of hearts fell on the river.
Final Table Results:
1st: Romeo Mendoza – $88,717 + WSOP Circuit ring 2nd: A.J. Kelsall – $54,831 3rd: Eric Salazar – $38,190 4th: Steven Veneziano – $27,206 5th: James Calderaro – $19,834 6th: Miguel Hernandez – $14,805 7th: William Medina Diaz – $11,322 8th: Hamid Izadi – $8,876 9th: Ben Diebold – $7,138 10th: Arkadiy Tsinis – $5,891
$2,200 High Roller (Re-Entry) $100,000 Guarantee | Structure | Payouts Level 27: 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante Players Remaining: 1 of 173
Event 8 Champion Romeo Mendoza
After Mendoza caught an ace on the river to double thru Kelsall, he carried that momentum over the next 20 minutes or so into the chip lead.
Finally, A.J. Kelsall raised to 125,000, Romeo Mendoza reraised to 425,000, and Kelsall thought for a while before he moved all in for 1,445,000.
Mendoza thought for a bit before he called with , and Kelsall turned over . Kelsall needed his hand to hold to stay alive.
The board came , and the board double-paired to counterfeit Kelsall’s pocket tens, giving Mendoza the victory with the two pair on the board and his king kicker.
Kelsall finished as the runner-up, earning $54,831, while Mendoza won the title, the WSOP Circuit Ring, and $88,717.
Stay tuned for a recap for this event.
Runner-Up A.J. Kelsall
1st: Romeo Mendoza – $88,717 + WSOP Circuit ring 2nd: A.J. Kelsall – $54,831 3rd: Eric Salazar – $38,190 4th: Steven Veneziano – $27,206 5th: James Calderaro – $19,834 6th: Miguel Hernandez – $14,805 7th: William Medina Diaz – $11,322 8th: Hamid Izadi – $8,876 9th: Ben Diebold – $7,138 10th: Arkadiy Tsinis – $5,891
.
(ace high), and Ho called with 
for two pair to end the tournament by winning his first WSOP Circuit ring and $70,567.
, and Mendoza tanked for a long time before he called with 
for an overpair. But Kelsall turned over 
for two pair, and Kelsall was one card away from his first February 13th victory. (Don’t worry, that’ll make sense soon.)
, giving Mendoza a set to win the pot and double into a 3-to-2 chip lead. Mendoza was in control after that, eventually winning when his 
beat Kelsall’s 
after the board double-paired with aces and jacks.
