$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 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
2023 Tampa Poker Classic Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida Event 12 $2,200 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry) $75,000 Guaranteed Entries: 46 Prize Pool: $92,000 September 13, 2023
Frank Brannan topped the field at a talented final table that included runner-up Paul Snead, AJ Kelsall (who was multi-tabling two final tables along with Event 13), and Joe Serock to take home the tournament title in Event 12 at the SPS tournament series. Brannan was awarded the top prize worth $32,710 along with the SPS guitar pick trophy. He now holds more than $460,000 in career tournament earnings.
Here is what Brannan had to say after the win, “It feels good, I haven’t won a tournament since a deuce-to-seven triple draw. I haven’t won a hold’em tournament since like 2020 or something.”
He continued, “I’ll play anyone, I don’t really care. I just tried to play as optimally as possible short-handed. I’m pretty well studied sub-15 big blind poker, it’s not that difficult. Everyone was pretty even, so there weren’t really many strong ICM spots because we were all equal in chips.”
When he was asked about the heads-up final, here were Brannan’s thoughts “Nothing crazy, and I think heads-up I was just more prepared. He had more chips, but he was doing weird things, he kept four x-ing . I had the more solid strategy, I’ve played a lot of heads-up, I used to play heads-up sit-and-go’s.”
Eight-handed play uncannily lasted for more than three hours, and Brannan took a bad beat during the slow period of play. He offered some interesting thoughts on keeping his composure during that stretch of play.
“I was actually so tilted because I lost a chip lead pot there with jacks versus A-9 there. We were eight-handed for like three hours. I went from being the chip leader to almost the soft bubble, I honestly normally don’t get titled, but I hadn’t eaten yet today because I fasted. I was a little hangry plus tilted. I try not to get emotional. I mean I will get mad, but I don’t let it affect the way I play my hands. It will never change how I play. I’m going to play exactly the way I’m going to play. I’m a big tilter, but if I’m tilted I will just go home, I’ve always good been with that,” said Brannan.
Final Results:
1st: Frank Brannan – $32,710 + SPS Trophy 2nd: Paul Snead – $21,810 3rd: AJ Kelsall – $14,540 4th: Mostafa Aboalmajed – $10,090 5th: Elliot Smith – $7,310 6th: Tim Mina – $5,540
$200 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 29: 100,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante Players Remaining: 1 of 973
Ray Lambert got all in with in the hole from the button, and Jimmy Tomblin had him covered holding .
The final board read , and Lambert was eliminated in second place, good for $17,830. That gave Tomblin the tournament title, SPS guitar pick trophy, and top prize of $28,850 in prize money.
$200 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 29: 100,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante Players Remaining: 2 of 973
James Tomblin took out two players when his pocket queens held up against pocket aces and on a board that delivered a third queen.
That hand kocked out Travis Hall in fourth place and Tommy Hwang in third place to set up a heads-up final with Tomblin holding 14.7 million against the 4.76 million of Ray Lambert.
James Tomblin – 14,700,000 (98 bb) Ray Lambert – 4,760,000 (31 bb) 3rd: Tommy Hwang – $13,160 4th: Travis Hall – $9,830
$200 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 25: 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante Players Remaining: 1 of 973
Frank Brannan had gained the upper hand in the heads-up final when all the chips went into the middle and he held against the of Paul Snead on a final board reading . Snead was eliminated in second place, good for $21,810, and Brannan was awarded $32,710 for the win along with the SPS guitar pick trophy.
Stay tuned for a winner’s photo and interview later tonight.