$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11: 800/1,600 with a 200 ante
Flight C Players Remaining: 31 of 95

Unlike yesterday, the action today is much faster. Flight A took its time busting players to the rail but Flight C is quickly down to 31 players. One elimination away from going down to three tables.

The math says we should expect to see 17 to 19 players advance from this flight but there’s a chance they get much further down.

$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10: 600/1,200 with a 200 ante
Flight C Players Remaining: 45 of 95

We found only one 100K stack during the last break and it belonged to Tampa regular Daniel Castillo. He related how he went from all in and dominated to chip leader with one card.

Castillo said he was all in with two black queens and ran into pocket kings. There were three hearts on the board heading to the river with his opponent holding the king of hearts leaving him only the to save him. It binked on the river to give him the double and he ran it up from there to the lead.

“Call me ‘Soulja Boy’ because that’s what they know me by here,” Castillo laughed.

$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 500/1,000 with a 100 ante
Flight C Entries: 95 (Total Entries: 301)

Players returned to the tables after the second break and registration is closed for Flight C. The third of six flights drew 93 entries to push the combined total up to 301. They put $150,000 into the prize pool towards the $200,000 Guarantee and they are only halfway home.

Flight D kicks off at 6pm with the last two flights tomorrow at 11am and 6pm.

Chip counts through Flight B

$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8: 400/800 with a 100 ante
Flight C Entries: 91 (Total Entries: 297)

Steve Trizis isn’t the only player making the most of their second chance. Tony March was unable to make it through to Day 2 with his entry yesterday but today is going much better.

March is sitting with more than 60,000 as players prepare for the second break of the day.

When they return, registration will close and they will be more than 75% on the way to the $200,000 guaranteed prize pool with only half of the days flights locked up.

$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 300/600 with a 75 ante
Flight C Entries: 87 (Total Entries: 293)

The first bullet didn’t fire correctly for Steve Trizis but the second seems to be doing just fine. The Tampa regular re-entered after the first break, took a new seat, and promptly ran his 20,000 starting stack over 50,000. A good position with registration closing in less than an hour.

This level wasn’t so good for the previously mentioned John Pappas. He rivered a straight, put his chips in the middle, and was second best to a rivered full house to send him to the felt.

$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 200/400 with a 50 ante
Flight C Entries: 85 (Total Entries: 291)

Flight C is up to 85 entries at the midpoint of Level 6 and that’s good enough to beat last year’s count. This is the third flight in a row where the year-to-year numbers are better and that bodes well for another huge prize pool by the time registration closes on Event 1 Saturday evening.

We have a Deborah Farmer appearance in the poker room this afternoon. The Tampa regular entered shortly before the first break and had her 20,000 stack up to 31,000 in no time at all. Farmer’s most recent cash came last month during the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown when she went deep in the $570 Six-Max tournament.

$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 150/300 with a 25 ante
Flight C Entries: 80 (Total Entries: 286)

The first break is complete and the field is settled in for another two hours of play. Unlike the previous flights, no one is running away with a big chip lead in the early portions of the day.

Greg McMillan had one of the biggest stacks at break but his 52,000 sits among a group of players who doubled up their 20,000 starting stack. As we near the end of registration, expect to see some big stacks emerge.

$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 100/200
Flight C Entries: 71 (Total Entries: 277)

Flight C players are taking their first break of the day and they will return to play four more levels with the re-entry option available.

We will take a look around the tables and see who had the best run over the start of the flight.

$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 100/200
Flight C Entries: 68 (Total Entries: 274)

The clock is running out on Level 4 and players will take a 15-minute break when it is complete. The entry count ticks higher and they will have four more levels to spin it higher.

Mark “Bud” Wiser is taking another shot today after falling short yesterday. He has a bit of success in this tournament with an 11th place finish last year to just miss the final table.

$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 75/150
Flight C Entries: 60 (Total Entries: 266)

The afternoon hours are here and more players are getting in the game. We have 60 in the game to push the prize pool two-thirds of the way to the $200,000 Guarantee with this session and three fresh flights to push it higher.

Tampa favorite John Pappas was one of the recent players joining and he wouldn’t mind adding another trophy to his case. He picked up his sole tournament victory here during the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open in the Big Stack Turbo event. Pappas earned the biggest cash of his career last summer in Las Vegas during the Deepstack Extravaganza for more than $20,000.