$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Flight A Entries:  418

The dinner break is over and Main Event players are back in their seats. The field picked up another half dozen entries while they were gone and they have a little over two hours to run it up higher.

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Flight A Entries:  412

Level 9 has come to an end and tournament staff sent the Main Event players on their 60-minute dinner break to enjoy the amenities around the property. Or just turn their brain off for an hour. They will return at 6:30 pm and play three more levels before registration closes.

Before the break, WPT and WSOP champ James Calderaro joined the Main Event after a nice run yesterday. He had a lot of chips in the $2,200 High Roller but caught a bad beat to go out in fifth place.

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Flight A Entries:  400

The entry count is up to 400 on the nose to put the prize pool $606,000 towards the $1,000,000 prize pool. The field probably won’t make it all the way there but the magic number will be hit early on Saturday.

Two more WSOP Circuit winners grabbed a seat and they are stuck next to each other. Loni Harwood owns five WSOPC rings with one of them coming in Coconut Creek during their February 2018 series. Zachary Mullennix picked up his first ring one year later in the same series then added another this past October.

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Flight A Entries:  363

The players return from their second break to begin Level 7, with increased blinds of 300-500 and a 500 ante. Registration for Day 1A remains open with unlimited re-entries until 8:45 pm.

A scan of the field during the break turned up four players with at least 100K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Tyler Phillips  –  139,800  (280 bb)
2.  Dapo Ajayi  –  135,700  (271 bb)
3.  Raffaello Locatelli  –  102,000  (204 bb)
4.  Richard Rice  –  101,000  (202 bb)

Tyler Phillips was the chipleader at the first break, and he has held onto the top position.

Dapo Ajayi is new to the leaderboard, but he is coming off a very strong 2019, when he racked up three six-figure scores — in January he finished second in the WSOP Circuit Main Event in Choctaw ($198,265), in July he finished 39th in the WSOP Main Event ($211,945), and in October he finished second in WPT Montreal ($254,966). And while it was just shy of a six-figure score, Ajayi finished second last month at the WSOP Circuit Main Event in Thunder Valley to earn $91,009.

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Flight A Entries:  350

The second break is here and the 350 entries have pushed the prize pool over $500,000.

There was a Main Event schedule update recently. The dinner break following Level 9 has been increased to 60 minutes to make sure everyone has time to grab a bit. That will also push the late registration period to 8:45 pm.

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Flight A Entries:  315

The Main Event is five levels into the day and the prize pool is nearly halfway to the $1,000,000 guarantee with a ton of time left to run it up.

Michael Cohen and Anthony Astarita are sharing a table in the Main Event and they share a little history. Astarita won the WPTDeepStacks Tampa Main Event in 2016 and cashed deep in the tournament three years in a row. Cohen did not win the WPTDeepStacks Tampa Main Event but he came very close with back-to-back second place finishes in 2017 and 2018.

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight A Entries:  287

The first break came to an end and players returned to their seats with 287 entries here so far. It’s looking like an easy path to the $1,000,000 guarantee, now we’ll have to see where it goes from there.

North Carolina’s own Tyler Phillips ran well over the first three levels and came back from break to a stack that went from 30,000 to 147,900. The WSOP Circuit ring winner is the clear front runner but there’s still a lot of time to catch him.

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight A Entries:  265

Level 3 came to an end and tournament staff sent the Main Event players on a 15-minute break from the action. They will return to blinds still at 100/200 with a 200 big blind ante.

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight A Entries:  236

The entry count continued to climb and the Main Event moved more than a third of the way to the $1,000,000 guarantee before the first break. We’re looking at another great turnout.

We found a couple of Davids in the room in early action, both with some great results.

David Jackson has titles from around the country including New Jersey, Las Vegas, and his home state of Florida and won a WSOP Circuit ring in North Carolina.

David DiBernardi has a unique record of sorts. He has tournament wins at our all three Seminole Florida properties that offer poker. DiBernadi picked up his second Tampa win in December when he won the Winter Poker Open Freeze-out. He began 2019 with a WSOP Circuit win in Coconut Creek and took home a Turbo trophy during the 2017 Poker Showdown in Hollywood.

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event (Single Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  100/100 with a 100 ante
Flight A Entries:  209

One of the fun parts of these big events is seeing out local regular mix it up with some of the best players from outside Florida. The Sunshine State has its fair share of top talent and we have a lot of local players in early action.

A quick look through the field we found DeVaughn Smith, Marie Harrell, Bryce McVay, Steve Tziris, and Jesse Hadley to name a few. More will make their way to the Event Center where they hope to keep the Main Event ring right here in Tampa.