$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 20:  5,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  31 of 479

Another round of results are here and includes former big stack Haitham Kaki who fell short of his intended goal today. Li Zhou, Barbara Cardin, and Mark Zhang were other former top stacks eliminated from the Main Event.

32nd: Barbara Cardin – $4,167
33rd: Charles Johnson Jr – $4,167
34th: Haitham Kaki – $4,167
35th: Mark Zhang – $4,167
36th: Li Zhou – $4,167

37th: Brandon Caputo – $3,779
38th: Mok Bsaiso – $3,779
39th: Barry Brown – $3,779
40th: Huicun Qiao – $3,779

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 20:  5,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  31 of 479

Players are back from their 15-minute color up break as the 1K chips come out of play and the 25K chips are introduced.

The blinds are now 5,000/15,000 with a 15,000 big blind ante. The average stack is 465,000 (31 bb) with 31 players remaining. They will play two more levels before enjoying an hour-long dinner break.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 19:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining:  32 of 479

Peter Vitantonio and Andrew Boccia were heads up to a flop. Vitantonio checked from the small blind, Boccia bet 36,000 and Vitantonio called.

The turn came , Vitanio checked, and Boccia bet 60,000. Vitantonio thought for a few minutes before he announced all-in and Boccia quickly called the 130,000.

Vitantonio:
Boccia:

Boccia flopped top pair and a spade draw but was drawing dead to the river against Vitantonio’s flopped nut flush.

Peter Vitantonio – 390,000 (39 bb)
Andrew Boccia – 204,000 (20 bb)

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 19:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining:  36 of 479

It didn’t take that long after the new level to drop the field down to the last four tables.

While players were busting out, Justin Zaki was going in the other direction. The SHR Tampa favorite is up to 1,265,000 to sit among the leaders. Austin Buchanan is still the big stack in the room with 1,457,000.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 19:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining:  40 of 479

There was a quick run to the payout desk after the bubble burst. Notable among the first in the money we had Event 3 runner-up A.J. Kelsall, Stephen Brite, and second-biggest Day 2 starting stacker Ken O’Donnell plus our two micro cashers Raymond Sykes and Nicholas Carter.

41st: John Dobson – $3,779
42nd: Timothy Mulroy – $3,779
43rd: Jeffrey Russell – $3,779
44th: A.J. Kelsall – $3,779
45th: Ken O’Donnell – $3,779

46th: Stephen Brite – $3,485
47th: Nicholas Carter – $3,485
48th: Raymond Sykes – $3,485

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 19:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining:  40 of 479

Levels are up in the Main Event with blinds now at 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante. The average stack is now 359,000 (36 bb) with 40 players remaining.

They will finish out this level and take another 15-minute break.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  4,000/8,000 with a 8,000 ante
Players Remaining:  48 of 479

After an early double up on the first hand of the bubble, the Main Event settled into a bit of a grind and it took seven more hands before we had another all-in called. Former WPTDeepStacks champ Vitor Coelho was down to only 7,000 and dropped that in the middle.

He picked up calls from Rob Manjura in the cutoff, Reggie Bautista in the small blind, and a check from Ken O’Donnell in the big.

The flop came , the blinds checked, Manjura bet 8,000 and only Bautista came along. The turn was , both players checked, and the river was . Bautista checked, Manjura bet 20,000 and Bautista folded.

“How did I not get there?” Bautista asked showing his busted nut flush draw . “Where are the hearts?”

Coelho showed for flopped top pair and turned two pair kings and nines but Manjura was best with for a bigger two pair, kings and tens. Coelho was sent out on the bubble and the rest of the field was in the money.

It was bad news for Coelho but good news for Raymond Sykes and Nicholas Carter when both slid into the money with 15K and 20K respectively and the blinds coming up.

Rob Manjura – 330,000 (41 bb)
Vitor Coelho – Eliminated

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  4,000/8,000 with a 8,000 ante
Players Remaining:  49 of 479

On the first hand of the bubble, Peter Vitantio three-bet shoved for 84,000 from the small blind after an 18,000 open from the player under the gun and he called. Then they waited for the other five tables to finish their action before hands were tabled.

Vitantonio:
UTG:

Vitantonio needed to catch to avoid the bubble and found what he needed on the flop. He made aces up on the turn and doubled after the river.

Peter Vitantonio – 188,000 (24 bb)

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  4,000/8,000 with a 8,000 ante
Players Remaining:  49 of 479

With 49 players remaining and 48 getting paid, tournament staff paused the clock to begin play on the money bubble. They will play hand-for-hand until one player is eliminated with two minutes coming off the clock per hand.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Main Event
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  4,000/8,000 with a 8,000 ante
Players Remaining:  50 of 479

The Main Event made it to the first break before reaching the money bubble. They only need to lose one more before going into hand-for-hand play.

Austin Buchanan continued to lead the way with 1,187,000 while Alex Rocha jumped up to second place with 915,000 after a big hand against Ken O’Donnell when his was good on the board.

Duff Charette is also moving up on the outer table with 910,000.

Blinds went up to 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante and the average stack is 287,000 (36 bb).