Event 1A: $570 Deep Stack, $300K Gtd
Level 6: 200/400/50 | Structure
Flight A Entries: 159

John Racener got a seat in the action before first break while John Dolan sat down in the game just after break. The Tampa locals combine for more than $14,000,000 in career earnings and shared a deep run in the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event both final tabling the game’s championship that year.

Racener’s big payday came in the form of a runner-up finish to Jonathan Duhamel for more than $5,500,000. Dolan, meanwhile, finished sixth pocketing $1,700,000.

Event 1A: $570 Deep Stack, $300K Gtd
Level 5: 150/300/50 | Structure
Flight A Entries: 147

Nicholas Raio separated himself from the pack over the first four levels of the day. After taking his seat at Table 12 with 20,000 starting chips, he ran it up to 49,500 and leads the way early in the $300,000 guarantee.

Marie Harrell is among those to have found the rail as her seat sits now sits empty.

Event 1A: $570 Deep Stack, $300K Gtd
End of Level 4: 100/200/25 | Structure
Flight A Entries: 144

Players are on their first 15-mintue break of the day. We will take a look at the big stack while tables are cleared.

Event 1A: $570 Deep Stack, $300K Gtd
Level 4: 100/200/25 | Structure
Flight A Entries: 140

No Seminole Hard Rock Tampa series would be complete without a visit from Anthony Astarita. Astarita plays in the room weekly and recently took down the Friday night $10,000 guarantee. The Tampa-area resident burst onto the Central Florida poker scene back in 2016 when he won the property’s WPTDeepStacks Main Event for over $131,000. From there, he finished fourth in a $570 event for over $18,000.

Astarita is in the field here in Flight A and we expect it’s just his first appearance in what will be daily visits between now and the Main Event.

Event 1A: $570 Deep Stack, $300K Gtd
Level 3: 75/150 | Structure
Flight A Entries: 127

It’s a friendly vibe in Flight A of the Winter Poker Open kickoff as a slew of local players are in the poker room taking their shot at a big score.

Over at Table 13, Tampa’s Anthony Dianaty recently chopped with fellow Floridian Mark “Bud” Wiser when Dianaty’s had the of Weiser faced off on a king-queen-high board. Dianaty was already above starting stack and piled up half of that medium-sized pot as well.

Also on Table 13 is Marie Harrell. Harrell lives nearby, is a regular in the room and has claimed a handful of cashes in the state including a final table appearance in a WPTDeepStacks event in northern Florida earlier in this year.

Event 1A: $570 Deep Stack, $300K Gtd
Level 2: 50/100 | Structure
Flight A Entries: 111

Level 2 is underway with the clock showing a strong field of 100 entries so far. The stout start puts it well ahead of pace last June’s WPTDeepStacks $570 opener and the figure is expected to steadily grow until registration closes at about 3:30pm.

With the big number comes a big top prize in this event. Additionally, the winner will snag the property’s token guitar trophy pictured above and below.

We’ll take a look at some of the notables in the early action shortly.

Event 1A: $570 Deep Stack, $300K Gtd
Level 1: 25/50 | Structure
Flight A Entries: 77

The clock ticks to 11am in Tampa, Florida and the Winter Poker Open (WPO) at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is officially underway. The series opener is a $570 buy-in Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry tournament with a $300,000 guarantee. Underway now is Flight A while Flight B begins tonight at 6pm. Subsequent flights take place Friday and Saturday with Day 2 going Sunday.

A new event for the WPO, players in the $570 take their seats to stacks of 20,000 chips. Levels during the opening flights are 30 minutes long and jump to 40 minutes for Sunday’s Day 2.

Here are the details:

11am: $570 Deep Stack NLH Re-Entry, Flight A

• $570 buy-in and $300,000 guaranteed
• 20,000 chips and 30-/40-minute levels
• Registration and unlimited re-entry available until the start of Level 9 (~3:30pm)
• Play concludes following Level 14 (~6:45pm)
• Day 2 begins Sunday, December 10 at noon
• Structure sheet

Updates throughout the day will be available right here on SHRTPoker.com. Good luck, players!

11am: $570 Deep Stack NLH Re-Entry, Flight A

• $570 buy-in and $300,000 guaranteed
• 20,000 chips and 30-/40-minute levels
• Registration and unlimited re-entry available until the start of Level 9 (~3:30pm)
• Play concludes following Level 14 (~6:45pm)
• Day 2 begins Sunday, December 10 at noon
• Structure sheet

6pm: $570 Deep Stack NLH Re-Entry, Flight B

• $570 buy-in and $300,000 guaranteed
• 20,000 chips and 30-/40-minute levels
• Registration and unlimited re-entry available until the start of Level 9 (~10:30pm)
• Play concludes following Level 14 (~1:45am)
• Day 2 begins Sunday, December 10 at noon
• Structure sheet

2017 Winter Poker Open Tournament Schedule