2019 Seminole Hard Rock WPTDeepStacks Tampa
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 1
$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 1,012
Prize Pool: $303,600
June 5-9, 2019

(Tampa, Florida) – The 2019 WPTDeepStacks Tampa series kicked off on June 5 with a big, multi-day tournament the produced a great turnout. The $360 buy-in tournament beat its $250,000 Guarantee with more than one thousand entries and local Robbie Godbey was the player posing with the guitar trophy at the end before he collected $31,000 for the title.

Event 1 featured seven starting flights and it all built up to the huge day on Saturday afternoon. All flights combined to put 1,012 entries into the tournament and the prize pool grew to $303,600 by the time registration closed.

Of those 1,012 entries, we had 155 survive their opening flight to return on Sunday for Day 2. Former SHR Tampa winner Scott Caracciolo had the biggest stack coming back but his day did not go as expected and he had to settle for a 29th place finish.

The field quickly hit the money with 102 getting paid. The hand-for-hand process was quick and painless for all but one. David Yo’s could not beat Jermaine Gerlin’s to send him out on the bubble.

There was no slowdown throughout the day and Event 1 was down to its final table before the dinner break came around. Several of the last nine players took turns at top of the counts among those nine players including Gerlin, Shadrach Tercy, and Romel “Romeo” Huelga. Godbey hovered in the middle of the pack until he went on a heater.

With seven players remaining, Godbey wrestled control of the chips with more than 5 million, more than a million better than second position Tercy. The day was getting late and the last seven players were ready to call it a night.

On the last break of the day, they negotiated and reached an agreement for an ICM division of the remaining prize pool. Godbey took the lion’s share of the money and nearly doubled his career earnings total with this $31,000 payday. In addition to the prize money, Godbey also won a $1,100 seat into the 2019 WPTDeepStacks Tampa $3,00,000 Guarantee Main Event kicking off on June 13.

Congratulations to Robbie and thanks to our local favorites and out of town friends for making the opening event such a great success.

Event 1 final table results:

1st: Robbie Godbey – $31,000 + WPTDeepStacks Main Event Seat *
2nd: Shadrach Tercy – $29,013 *
3rd: Jose Garcia – $25,818 *
4th: Kevin Blewitt – $22,769 *
5th: Jermaine Gerlin – $21,923 *
6th: Romel Huelga – $19,631 *
7th: Mehdi Belhassan – $17,459 *
8th: Austin Jeffords – $7,181
9th: Eric Fetter – $5,381
* – denotes results of seven-way deal

Full Event 1 results

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 33: 150,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 1,012

The seven remaining players made it to another break. This time instead of walking away, they counted down their stacks and agreed to an ICM adjusted payout deal. Robbie Godbey was holding a nice lead at the time and took the title along with $31,000 and the WPTDeepStacks Main Event seat followed by long time leader Shadrach Tercy.

They were paid out per the counts below along with the deal numbers.

We will post a full tournament recap later this evening.

Robbie Godbey – 5,100,000
Shadrach Tercy – 3,900,000
Jose Garcia – 3,300,000
Kevin Blewitt – 2,500,000
Jermaine “Lion” Gerlin – 2,300,000
Romel “Romeo” Huelga – 1,800,000
Mehdi Belhassan – 1,300,000

1st: Robbie Godbey – $31,000 + WPTDeepStacks Main Event Seat
2nd: Shadrach Tercy – $29,013
3rd: Jose Garcia – $25,818
4th: Kevin Blewitt – $22,769
5th: Jermaine Gerlin – $21,923
6th: Romel Huelga – $19,631
7th: Mehdi Belhassan – $17,459

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32: 100,000/200,000 with a 200,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 1,012

Robbie Godbey opened to 400,000 and Jermaine Gerlin moved all in for 475,000 from the button. Mehdi Belhassan called from the small blind and Godbey called as well.

Both live players checked down the board and all hands were tabled.

Gerlin:
Belhassan:
Godbey:

Nobody made a pair and Gerlin’s best starting hand held up for a triple.

Jermaine “Lion” Gerlin – 1,675,000 (11 bb)
Mehdi Belhassan – 1,100,000 (7 bb)
Robbie Godbey – 5,500,000 (37 bb)

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31: 100,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 1,012

It folded around to Austin Jeffords in middle position and he moved all in for 650,000. Robbie Godbey called next to act and the rest of the table folded.

“You have anything good,” Jeffords asked.

“Nope,” Godbey replied.

Godbey:
Jeffords:

Jeffords was ahead and stayed that way on the turn. He took away diamond outs from Godbey, the turn changed nothing, but Godbey hit the river to send Jeffords out in eighth place.

Robbie Godbey – 2,900,000 (19 bb)
Austin Jeffords – Eliminated in 8th Place ($7,181)

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31: 100,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante
Players Remaining: 8 of 1,012

Eric Fetter moved all in for 700,000 from under the gun before the last card was dealt. It folded to Romel Huelga and he called.

Huelga:
Fetter:

It was a race and Fetter needed to come from behind. The board ran out to send Fetter out in ninth place.

Romel “Romeo” Huelga – 3,850,000 (26 bb)
Eric Fetter – Eliminated in 9th Place ($5,381)

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30: 75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining: 9 of 1,012

Romel Huelga opened to 250,000 from early position and it folded to Robbie Godbey in the big blind. He announced “all in” and Huelga called for his last 1,475,000.

Huelga:
Godbey:

It was Huelga up against the queens this time. He flopped one jack on the board, turned trip jacks on the turn, and faded the spade draw on the river to double.

Romel “Romeo” Huelga – 3,150,000 (21 bb)
Robbie Godbey – 2,100,000 (14 bb)

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30: 75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining: 9 of 1,012

Action folded around to Kevin Blewitt on the button and he moved all in for 1,475,000. Jermaine Gerlin folded his small blind and Romel Huelga quickly called in the big.

Huelga:
Blewitt:

Blewitt was in bad shape but outflopped Huelga when it came . His set put him in the lead and he doubled big after the turn and river completed the board.

Kevin Blewitt – 3,275,000 (26 bb)
Romel “Romeo” Huelga – 2,400,000 (19 bb)

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30: 75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining: 9 of 1,012

Action folded all the way around to Mehdi Belhassan in the small blind and his 125,000 stack behind.

“How much are you playing?” Belhassan joked with chip leader Shadrach Tercy in the big blind.

Belhassan dropped his 200,000 total in the middle, Tercy called, and Belhassan’s held against for his first double.

A few hands later, Belhassan shoved for his 525,000 stack and Robbie Godbey gave him action in the big blind.

Belhassan:
Godbey:

Belhassan was again ahead for the double, flopped trip queens on the board, and held to double again.

Mehdi Belhassan – 1,250,000 (10 bb)
Shadrach Tercy – 5,400,000 (43 bb)
Robbie Godbey – 3,400,000 (27 bb)

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 30: 75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining: 9 of 1,012

Level 29 came to an end and the blinds were raised to 75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 big blind ante. There’s been little activity since Mehdi Belhassan’s double, mostly the bigger stacks pushing around the middle-of-the-road stacks as they try to outlast the short stacks.

$360 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 29: 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining: 9 of 1,012

Mehdi Belhassan was the short stack coming back from dinner and was down to 275,000 and open-shoved from middle position. It folded around to Jose Garcia in the big blind and he shrugged and called.

Belhassan:
Garcia:

Belhassan needed to avoid the suited live cards and they both hit the flop. The board finished turn and river to send keep Belhassan in the game.

Mehdi Belhassan – 700,000 (7 bb)
Jose Garcia – 1,075,000 (11 bb)