Winter Poker Open Main Event $1,650 Buy-In, $500,000 Guaranteed Level 4: 100/200/25 | Structure Flight A Entries: 131
Victor Nassif
Victor Nassif and Terri Ann Crawford both doubled their stacks over the course of the first three levels of the day. Nassif got the best of it with holdings of about 70,000 while Crawford has a stack of 60,500.
Terri Ann Crawford
The clock shows 132 entries in the game and Flight A is all but assured to surpass last year’s figure of 142 entries. Registration and re-entry in this flight are available until about 7:15pm with Flight B and C still to come Friday and Saturday at 11am.
Winter Poker Open Main Event $1,650 Buy-In, $500,000 Guaranteed Heading to Level 4: 100/200/25 | Structure Flight A Entries: 127
Players in the Main Event are on their first 15-minute break of the day. We’ll take a look at some of the big stacks while the tables are cleared and report back afterward.
Winter Poker Open Main Event $1,650 Buy-In, $500,000 Guaranteed Level 3: 75/150/25 | Structure Flight A Entries: 123
Anthony Astarita
Anthony Astarita is one of a few players in the Flight A game that’s claimed a Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Main Event title. His crowning poker achievement came in the property’s 2016 WPTDeepStacks Main Event besting 538 entries in the $1,100 buy-in event. Astarita earned better than $130,000 and sparked a nice streak of tournament cashes that included an $18,000 score a few months later.
He’s back on the Tampa felt and among the hopeful here in Flight A of the Winter Poker Open Main Event.
Winter Poker Open Main Event $1,650 Buy-In, $500,000 Guaranteed Level 2: 75/150 | Structure Flight A Entries: 108
Tom Nguyen
Tom Nguyen and Robert Irby put in a long, 13-hour Wednesday, but they would have liked it to be a bit longer. The pair went deep in the $350 restart, but ultimately finished just shy of the top spot exiting third and fourth respectively. Nguyen earned a consolation prize of $14,742 while Irby pocketed $11,712.
Despite the long hours, both are in the game here in Flight A of the Main Event eying another big score.
Winter Poker Open Main Event $1,650 Buy-In, $500,000 Guaranteed Level 2: 75/150 | Structure Flight A Entries: 103
There’s been a steady uptick on the entry count since cards went in the air just about 50 minutes ago. Kicking off Level 2 is a 103-entry field putting the tournament comfortably ahead of pace of last year’s event.
There’s a number of notable Tampa regulars filling up the seats as well as some out-of-town travelers. We’ll take a look at a few of the familiar faces in a bit.
Winter Poker Open Main Event $1,650 Buy-In, $500,000 Guaranteed Level 1: 50/100 | Structure Flight A Entries: 94
Win a Seat winner Brett Apter
Brett Apter of Washington D.C. is one of the early entries here in Flight A of the Winter Poker Open. To get in the game, Apter entered the property’s Win a Seat promotions which gave away one $1,650 seat at random. He simply provided his name, e-mail address and zip code and was chosen for a free entry. After flying in from the East Coast last night, Apter is in his seat and in the midst of a total freeroll for the lion’s share of the event’s $500,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Congratulations, Brett! Stay tuned for future Seminole Hard Rock Poker Win a Seat promotions as they are run for all major series at the Seminole Hard Rock here in Tampa, Hollywood and during Coconut Creek’s event’s.
Winter Poker Open Main Event $1,650 Buy-In, $500,000 Guaranteed Level 1: 50/100 | Structure Flight A Entries: 83
The clock strikes 11am and we’re a go for Flight A of the Winter Poker Main Event. The series finale boasts a $1,650 buy-in and $500,000 guarantee. Each of the last two years have seen monster fields highlighted by a $730,000+ prize pool in 2016.
Here are the details on this year’s tournament:
11am: $1,650 Main Event ($500,000 guaranteed), Flight A
$1,650 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed
30,000 chips and 45-/60-minute levels
A one-hour dinner break occurs following Level 9 (~6:15pm)
Registration and unlimited re-entry until the start of Level 10 (~7:15pm)
The $1,650 buy-in, $500,000 guaranteed Winter Poker Open Main Event kicks off tomorrow with the first of three starting flights. The finale has become a staple on the tournament circuit having drawn more than 450 entries each of the last two years highlighted by a prize pool in excess of $730,000 last year.
