$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 ante
Flight C Players Remaining: 34 of 132

Angelo Valdez’s stack is comfortably over 100,000 despite losing a small pot to Michael Scott recently. The hand saw Scott raise under the gun while Valdez came along from the small blind and the big blind followed suit. Action checked to Scott on the flop and he bet. Valdez mucked and Scott went on to take the pot, but it’s Valdez who has the notable stack.

$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 10: 500/1,000 with a 100 ante
Flight C Players Remaining: 50 of 132

Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open record-setting Event 1 champion Rafael Reis got things started with a raise to 2,500. The cutoff, button and big blind called giving them four-way action to the flop.

It checked to Reis who bet 3,100. The cutoff called while the other player mucked and they were heads up to the turn.

Reis checked, the cutoff bet 7,000 and Reis called.

With the board completed, Reis checked a second time. The cutoff jammed for 22,200. Reis cut out calling chips and took a couple minutes to weigh his options. In the end, he found a fold and surrendered the pot.

Despite the tough lay down, Reis smiled for the camera afterward, and good for reason. He still sits on 84,000 chips midway through Flight C.

$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Entries: 132

The beginning of Level 9 marked the end of open registration for Flight C of the Winter Poker Open $150. The field sits pat at 132 entries jumping the three-flight total to 355. That puts the tournament just 62 entries short of eclipsing its $50,000 guarantee — a feat that will certainly be accomplished during tonight’s Flight D.

Tournament breakdown:

$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 8: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Entries: 128

With its 128th entry, Flight C of the Winter Poker Open $150 is officially the largest start day yet. It puts the combined field at 351 entries and all but guarantees the tournament will surpass its $50,000 guarantee.

Late registration and re-entry are available until about 3:30pm with Flight D rounding out the start days tonight at 6pm.

$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Entries: 121

Karl Manouchakian is no stranger to Seminole Hard Rock Tampa success. He’s final tabled his share of events this year and even earned Series Champion honors during the WPTDeepStacks-Tampa series this summer. He’s off to a slow start in the Winter Poker Open, but is hanging around in Event 4.

He recently jammed the big blind after a few other made their way into the pot. Manouchakian got the respect he’s earned as it folded around and he lived to fight for another pot.

$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Entries: 116

Fresh off a trip north to Canada to represent Seminole Hard Rock Tampa at the WPTDeepStacks Championship is Anthony Astarita. Astarita earned his seat in the season-ending event after claiming victory in the WPTDeepStacks-Tampa Main Event in June. Astarita defeated a field of 538 entries pocketing $130,541. He’s recorded a handful of cashes since then, including an $18,000 score in October’s Fall Deep Stack Series here in Tampa.

Astarita is in action in Flight C of the $150 and expected to be on site throughout the rest of the series.

$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 5: 150/300 with a 50 ante
Entries: 108

Antonio Rangel is on a different planet in the first four levels of Flight C of the $150. He’s turned his 15,000 starting chips into 61,000. For those of you scoring at home, that means he’s more than quadrupled his stack over the first two hours of play. There’s a long way to go yet, but if Rangel bagged right now he’d have more chips than six of the players who bagged during yesterday’s Flight A and B.

Another notable stack following break is that of Myong Han. Han, who final tabled the $150 turbo, claims 40,500 chips.

$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
End of Level 4: 100/200 with a 25 ante
Entries: 107

Players in Flight C are on their first 15-minute break of the day. We’ll take a look at some of the notable stacks while they are away.

$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150 with a 25 ante
Entries: 92

Rafael Reis is fresh off a six-figure score and record-breaking victory in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open which took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood last month. Reis masterfully maneuvered through a record-breaking field of 5,018 entries and turned a modest $360 investment into more than $155,000. With that win in his back pocket, he’s looking to make his way through a decidedly smaller field here in the Winter Poker Open $150.

Reis was born in Brazil but now resides in Kent, Washington. The massive win in Hollywood catapulted him to $466,000 in career earnings.

$150 Big Stack NL Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: 50/100
Entries: 70

The field is filling out and some familiar faces are taking their seats as the prize pool continues to climb toward its $50,000 guarantee.