$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
End of Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

Players are on the first break of Day 2 with 52 players remaining and 45 getting paid. The chip average is hovering around 50 big blinds but that number is skewed thanks to the big stacks of Carl Carodenuto, Antuan Bunkley, and Ron West.

Carodenuto continues to lead with 1,100,000 over Bunkley’s 821,000 with West not far behind with 775,000.

Other notable players still around include John Holley (296,000), Tony March (109,000), and Seminole Hard Rock Poker ambassador Sheddy Siddiqui (310,000).

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

The clock shows 54 players remaining toward the end of Level 17. That’s good for six full tables with only the final five tables — 45 players — finishing in the money.

Here’s a look at what’s on the line:

1st – $173,607
2nd – $100,226
3rd – $61,155
4th – $49,264
5th – $38,732
6th – $32,276
7th – $25,821
8th – $19,706
9th – $13,590
10th-12th – $8,834
13th-15th – $6,795
16th-18th – $5,368
19th-27th – $4,213
28th-36th – $3,737
37th-45th – $3,398

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

Ron West suddenly holds one of the biggest stacks in the room after eliminating arguably the hottest player of the series, Daniel Ramirez. According to the table, Ramirez opened for 13,000 and another player called. Ron West three-bet to 41,000 and it folded to Ramirez who shoved for about 400,000. The other player in the hand folded and West called. Ramirez was the at-risk player.

Ramirez:
Ron West:

The flop came with one diamond. The turn was the giving West a flush draw to go with his straight possibilities and two overs. The river fell the pairing West’s ace and sending Ramirez to the rail.

The hand put West at 810,000 chips.

For Ramirez, the Winter Poker Open was a success no matter what happened in the Championship. He kicked the series off with a runner-up finish in Event 1 worth $24,528. From there, he finished 49th in Event 4, 39th in Event 7 and 3rd in Event 10.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

Carl Carodenuto, fresh off an MSPT title at Canterbury Park, spent much of yesterday’s Flight C toward the top of the counts before being bested by Antuan Bunkley’s uncanny heater. Carodenuto’s, like Bunkley’s, hot play has continued here on Day 2. After starting with 448,500 chips, he’s up over 900,000 and flirting with the 1,000,000 mark.

In addition to just being pretty darn impressive, that figure is good enough to put him at the top of the counts for now.

The clock shows 60 players remaining toward the end of Level 17 meaning the tournament is just a couple tables away from the money.

Below is an example of how someone moves their leading chip stack, food, drink, and sundries when your table breaks.

$150 Deep Stack Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 25/50

The last of the Winter Poker Open primary events is underway at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa. The $150 deep stack turbo no limit hold’em tournament is the third of its kind on the series schedule. The other two drew fields of just under and just over 200 players and finished in about seven hours a piece.

Players take their seats to starting stacks of 25,000 and will play 15-minute levels. Registration/re-entry remains open until the start of start of Level 13 and players have until then to help the tournament best its $15,000 guarantee.

EVENT 14 STRUCTURE SHEET

We will touch base with you again when the prize pool is finalized. Good luck players!

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 17: 2,500/5,000/500 Ante

Antuan Bunkley was on a heater to end Day 1 and, so far, riding it into the start of Day 2. He began the day with the lead and moved it up to 740,000 as they transitioned to Level 17. Seminole Hard Rock Poker regular Erik Christensen was one of his recent conquests when Bunkley flopped quad Sevens to send him out.

Bunkley doesn’t need to worry about racking up his huge castle of chips for a seat change. His starting Day 2 seat draw was the table which will eventually become the final table, all he needs to sweat is getting there and the three-table redraw.

Aq<77 all in on a77a turn to @BigCityBunk. #deathbyquads. Out. @SHRTPoker

— EC (@MiamiErikC) December 20, 2015

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 16: 2,000/4,000/500 Ante

2010 WSOP Main Event runner up John Racener has been in all-in or fold mode for much of Level 16. After fading a few calls, it was time for a showdown. Racener held and was in a world of hurt against the of Matt Ezrol. The flop came giving Racener straight outs in addition to his set outs. The turn marked the third heart on the board, but Ezrol held the advantage in that category with the . The river fell the improving both players to a flush and busting Racener shy of the money.

Racener, a Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Amabassador, is best know for his deep run in poker’s championship, but his accomplishments stretch far deeper than that. In addition to his massive haul in 2010, he owns seven six-figure scores and boasts career earnings of $8,592,474.

Other recent eliminations from the Championship include John Pappas, David Farber and Derek Bowers.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 16: 2,000/4,000/500 Ante

Perhaps it was a good thing Alex Ivan stayed away for his extended break. He made his return and promptly lost chips when he doubled up Thuy “Cindy” Beltran.

She was down to 27,500 and put them in the middle to see a call from Ivan in the small blind. Beltran was ahead with against and breathed a sigh of relief when she hit the flop. The turn left Ivan drawing dead but it was a small hit to his stack.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 15: 1,500/3,000/500 Ante

After doubling David Farber, Derek Bowers was left with 8,000 chips and hit the rail shortly thereafter. His seat was filled by Carl Carodenuto who, like Bowers, tangoed in a big pot with Farber. For Farber, the results would be polar opposite, though.

The board was and Farber checked. Carodenuto made a bet of what appeared to be 58,000. Farber went into the tank.

“Clock,” tablemate John Pappas called after a couple minuets. “I came here to play some poker.”

Farber called before the tournament director could even make it over to start the countdown.

The river fell the . Farber checked again and Carodenuto announced, “One hundred thousand.” Farber stood from his chair as his masseuse took the rest of the hand off. In the context of his turn decision, his river decision came quite fast. He called and Carodenuto flipped over for a set. Farber, surrendered the pot, squared up with his masseuse and sat back down.

Farber now holds 73,000 chips while Carodenuto sits at about 600,000.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship
Level 15: 1,500/3,000/500 Ante