2015 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa
Event #13
$1,650 Championship
Total Entries: 453
Players Remaining: 107
Prize Pool: $679,500
December 17-20, 2015

2015 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa
Event #13
$1,650 Championship
Total Entries: 453
Players Remaining: 107
Prize Pool: $679,500
December 17-20, 2015

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
End of Level 14: 1,200/2,400/400 Ante

Level 14 has expired and Flight C of the Main Event is in the books. It appears 45 players will bag with Antuan Bunkley claiming the overall chip lead of 616,500

Other notable names to advance include Carl Carodenuto, John Pappas, Daniel Ramirez, Wally Maddah and Justin Zaki.

Complete chip counts will be posted as soon as they are available.

Other notables: (returning to 1,500/3,000 and 500 ante)

Carl Carodenuto – 448,500 (150 bb)
Robert Goudy – 274,000 (91 bb)
Daniel Ramirez – 136,000 (45 bb)
David Jackson – 99,500 (33 bb)
John Racener – 83,000 (28 bb)
John Pappas – 76,000 (25 bb)
Wally Maddah – 39,000 (13 bb)
Justin Zaki – 34,000 (11 bb)

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 14: 1,200/2,400/400 Ante

The tournament clock reads 10:00 remaining and players in Flight C will log three more hands before beginning the bagging process. Notables still alive include Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Ambassadors John Racener, Justin Zaki and Wally Maddah.

Stay tuned.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 14: 1,200/2,400/400 Ante

Tampa’s Daniel Ramirez has had a Winter Poker Open worthy of envy. He kicked off his hometown series with a runner-up finish in Event 1 where he outlasted the majority of a 741-entry field to pocket $24,528. From there, he finished 49th in Event 4, 39th in Event 7 and 3rd in Event 10. With those deep runs behind him, Ramirez looks to finish strong in the series’ Championship.

He currently holds 145,000 chips with the end of Flight C right around the corner.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Beginning of Level 14: 1,200/2,400/400 Ante

Level 14 is underway and it marks the last level of the night. The clock shows 57 players remaining from the massive 235-entry starting field. Those still in contention bag and tag in about 45 minutes.

Complete, combined Day 2 chip counts will be posted later tonight.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 14: 1,000/2,000/300 Ante

You don’t see a player walk away from a big tournament with an hour left and a big stack. Seminole Hard Rock Tampa regular Alex Ivan did just that.

Tournament staff was breaking another table as Ivan was putting together a stack a few chips shy of 400,000 and Carl Carodenuto took a seat to his right.

“This is as good a time to leave as any,” Ivan said to a tournament supervisor. He left his player’s card for someone else to bag up his big stack at the end of Level 14.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 13: 1,000/2,000/300 Ante

Defending champion AJ Kelsall has busted from the Championship for the fourth and final time. Kelsall played deep into Flight A and B before busting shy of Day 2 in both instances. Flight C started out better, but ultimately saw him hit the rail just before the dinner break. He re-entered, and even doubled through current leader Antuan Bunkley, but eventually was sent packing a fourth time.

With that, his run at back-to-back Winter Poker Open Championship titles has come to an end.

MORE ON KELSALL’S 2014 WPO CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORY

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 12: 800/1,600/200 Ante

Antuan Bunkley held pocket aces and four-bet the action preflop to 45,000. One opponent flatted and the flop came giving Bunkley quads. A back-and-forth wager saw the opponent shove and Bunkley call. The opponent held queens and was all but live. Bunkley busted the player and now sits at an unheard of 490,000 chips — good enough for the Flight C and the overall chip lead.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Beginning of Level 12: 800/1,600/200 Ante

Players are back in their seats, cards are in the air and action has resumed following the last break of the night. A quick stroll through the tournament area during the players’ rest showed Carl Carodenuto is on a different planet hovering comfortably above the 300,000 mark. Appearing to claim the second spot in the counts is Antuan Bunkley. Despite doubling the defending champ shortly before break, Bunkley holds 231,000 chips and is poised to bag one of the biggest stacks in the room.

Players are set to log three more 45-minute levels before play wraps shortly after 11 p.m. ET. At that time, those still alive bag and tag set to return for Day 2 tomorrow at noon.

The clock currently reads 82 players remaining. Notable names still in the field include Seminole Hard Rock Poker Tampa Ambassadors Justin Zaki, John Racener and Wally Maddah as well as John Holley.