$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 14:  2,000/3,000 with a 3,000 ante
Players Remaining:  35 of 252

Flight B is down to the last five tables and they still have some work to guarantee themselves some money. Nine players need to hit the rail before the day comes to an end.

Steve Tziris made it deep in the day but he was among the lastest victims of a bad run of cards. He’ll be part of the big crowd tomorrow when Flight C gets going at 11am.

We expect a huge day tomorrow, it is suggested to get here on time or early if possible to get an early seat.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 13:  1,000/3,000 with a 3,000 ante
Players Remaining:  42 of 252

The last break of the day is done and 42 players are back with a chance to make Day 2.

Tom Nguyen still holds a big stack with 319,000 but Roberto Molina jumped to the top with a whopping 392,000. While he was in a hand, his tablemates let us know he got there in one massive hand with an overflush to knock two players out before the break.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 12:  1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining:  52 of 252

Flight C has hit the point where half the players will make the money and Day 2 while the other half will have to try again tomorrow. Only 26 players will advance and that will happen sometime after the next break after this level.

It’s been a busy busy day in the Poker Room between WPT Event 2 and the High Hand promotion.

If cash games are more your thing, we are paying out $500 bonuses every 30 minutes for the high hand during that time. Soon it gets much better when that bonus goes up to $1,000 every 30 minutes between 6pm and midnight.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10:  500/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Players Remaining:  77 of 252

Action is picking up late in the day and Flight B is down to the last 11 tables with 77 players. Things won’t tighten back up until they get much closer to the money bubble and bagging with 26 remaining.

We found two more Tampa favorites making their way through the flight. John Dolan is widely known in the poker world from his sixth place finish in the 2010 WSOP Main Event but he has some big cashes here in his home state including a $220K cash for winning the 2014 Coco Poker Open Championship and $550K for a fourth place finish in the 2014 SHRPO Championship.

David Tuthill has six cashes over six digits with his biggest coming courtesy of a 2013 WSOP Circuit Main Event win in Las Vegas. Perhaps his most impressive run came in 2014 when he finished 43rd out of 6,683 players in the WSOP Main Event.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Players Remaining:  119 of 252

There were few big stacks standing out during the break but Tom Nguyen had the biggest among the 119 still around. He is up to 170,500 and looking for another deep run.

The Tampa regular has more than $630,000 in career earnings with his biggest cash here coming with a win in the 2016 Fall DeepStacks $350 NLH game. Nguyen managed his two biggest cashes within 10 days of each other, both in Hollywood; sixth place in the 2018 SHRPO $570 opener for $60,514 and fourth in the $2,650 Big 4 tournament for $62,936.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Players Remaining:  147 of 252

Level 8 is coming to a close which means the second break is nigh. There are still 147 players in the mix so the pace is considerably slower than Flight B. They need to work their way down to the last 26 players before making it into the money and on to Day 2.

Steve Tziris is another Tampa regular back today and grinding his way through the day. The local restaurant owner is looking for his first Tampa win after several close calls including a final table run during the 2016 WPTDeepStacks Tampa Main Event.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Entries:  252

The accounting is complete and Flight B of Event 2 officially drew 252 entries to put a combined 455 in the game. That pushes the prize pool up to $150,150 and an easy pass of the $100,000 guarantee.

The last flight goes tomorrow morning at 11am with late registration open until noon and re-entries available until 1:30pm.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Entries:  257

Players returned to their seats and the box is officially closed on the second of three flights for Event 2. The current count stands at 257 entries for Flight B and we will know for certain once the last few alternates are seated.

That’s good enough to put more than $150,000 in the prize pool, an easy pass of the $100,000 guarantee, with another huge turnout expected tomorrow.

We found more than a few Tampa champs in the game including Dimitry Agrachov and Alex Ivan. Agrachov earned top honors in the 2016 WPO $570 Deep Stack tournament and Ivan won the Fall Deep Stacks title a few months earlier.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Entries:  206

Level 4 came to an end and Flight B players are taking a 30-minute dinner break. The re-entry period will end when the return and everyone with an alternate ticket will be seated.

The tournament was well over the $100,000 guaranteed prize pool and they’ve put more than 100 entries on top of that already.

We will have official numbers are soon as the cage is closed and see how big we got on a Friday afternoon.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/100

The first weekend of the Winter Poker Open is here and we continue things with the second of three flights of Event 2. The tournament has a $400 buy-in and $100,000 guaranteed prize pool with 203 entries in the game from Flight A.

That means only 101 more entries are needed to push the prize pool over the guarantee and Flight B has more than that before cards even go in the air.

Players will start with 20,000 in chips out front and the tournament runs with 30-minute levels. Late registration is open until the start of Level 3 at noon and re-entry is available until the start of Level 5 at 1:30pm. Flight B will continue into the evening until only 10% of the field remains, those players will be in the money when they return for Day 2 on Sunday.

It should be a fun, busy weekend in the Poker Room.

Chip counts from Flight A

• $100,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
• Late registration available until the start of Level 3
• Re-entry available until the start of Level 5
• Day 1 will end at 10% of the field or Tournament Director discretion
• Event 2 Structure Sheet