$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Flight D Entries:  223

Action is back underway for Flight D after the first break and we have a big Friday afternoon group in the Poker Room. There are 223 entries so far to push the prize pool over $285,000 and registration will stay open until 2:30 pm.

We have a friendly, familiar face at the top of the counts early in the day. Marsha Wolak leads the field with 98,900 and the 2011 WSOP Ladies Champion is trying to add a Tampa trophy to her collection.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/100 with a 100 ante

We head into the first weekend of the Tampa Poker Classic with a big tournament on our hands. Event 2 had a $200,000 guarantee but that was already surpassed Thursday evening with a combined 630 entries in the tournament so far.

The two big weekend flights will really spin it up starting with Flight D at 10 am.

Players start with 20,000 stacks and the first 14 levels last 30 minutes with an increase to 40 minutes from Level 15 forward. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 2:30 pm. Flight D will continue to play down until only 10% of the field remains and they will return for Day 2 on Sunday in the money.

Cards go in the air at the top of the hour and we will pick up the action at the first break.

• $200,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips
• Levels 1-14 last 30 minutes; Levels 15+ last 40 minutes
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9 (2:30pm)
• Day 1 will end when 10% of the field remains
• Event 2 Structure Sheet

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16:  3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 ante
Players Remaining:  65 of 630

Flight A: 175 Entries; 18 Advanced
Flight B:  243 Entries; 25 Advanced
Flight C:  212 Entries; 22 Advanced
Flight D:  Friday at 10 am
Flight E:  Saturday at 10 am
Day 2:  Sunday at 11 am

Primary Event Schedule

10AM: Event 2 Flight D – $400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• $200,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips
• Levels 1-14 last 30 minutes; Levels 15+ last 40 minutes
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9 (2:30pm)
• Day 1 will end when 10% of the field remains
• Event 2 Structure Sheet

Secondary Event Schedule

4PM: $770 TPC Package Satellite (1-in-8)

• 1-in-8 win TPC package that includes seats in $1,100 Event 10, $2,200 Event 12, and $2,500 Championship
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips
• Levels last 30 minutes each
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 8 (7:50pm)
• This is a one-day tournament and plays to completion
• Event 7 Structure Sheet

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16:  3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 ante
Players Remaining:  25 of 243

With 26 players remaining and 25 getting paid, Flight B went into hand-for-hand mode while still in Level 15. A bunch of hands later and Level 16 now in play, a big hand finally developed on Table 21.

With the flop reading , the big blind player checked and Aaron Thivyanathan bet 10,000 from under the gun. The big blind moved all in for 152,000 and Thivyanathan called with a similar stack.

Thivyanathan:
Big Blind:

Thivyanathan was ahead with top pair kings and the big blind needed to catch a club or a backdoor draw to double. The turn and river finished the board to give Thivyanathan two pair kings and jacks. After counting down the stacks, Thivyanathan was indeed the bigger stack and the remaining 25 players were set to bag their chips for Day 2 on Sunday at 11 am.

Onder Ekinci held on for the Flight B chip lead with 413,000 while Thivyanathan moved up to second with 386,000.

We will post the full chip coun list as soon as it is available.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 15:  3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining:  31 of 243

Flight B players returned from (likely) the last break of the day with 31 players remaining and 25 moving on to Day 2. They will go into hand-for-hand mode with 26 players remain and continue that way until we lose one player.

Onder Ekinci continues to lead the field with 457,000 while Gabriel Garcia moved into second with 375,000.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/100 with a 100 ante

The first multi-flight event on the Tampa Poker Classic is already a success and tonight we will hit the first milestone. The first two flights drew 418 entries to leave it only 180 away from pushing the prize pool over the $200,000 guarantee.

The $400 buy-in tournament should easily get that in Flight C and leave a lot of room for growth with Flights D and E on Friday and Saturday.

Players start with 20,000 stacks and the first 14 levels last 30 minutes going up to 40 from Level 15 till the final table. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 10:30 pm.

Play will continue in Flight C until only 10% of the field remains and those players will advance to Day 2 on Sunday at 11 am in the money.

• $200,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips
• Levels 1-14 last 30 minutes; Levels 15+ last 40 minutes
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9 (10:30pm)
• Day 1 will end when 10% of the field remains
• Event 2 Structure Sheet

Chip counts through Flight A

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 13:  1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 ante
Players Remaining:  42 of 243

Flight B is back underway with only 42 players remaining and close to breaking another table. They will play two more levels before the next break and blinds go to 40 minutes starting with Level 15.

We have another new big stack in the tournament with Onder Ekinci building a nice castle. He dragged a late pot and returned to 348,500 out front for the lead.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 12:  1,500/2,500 with a 2,500 ante
Players Remaining:  48 of 243

Another break is rolling around not long after Flight B dropped down to the last six tables of the day. They still have to work their way down to 25 players but they can see the end on the horizon.

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11:  1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining:  63 of 243

The Flight B field seems to be dropping at a faster pace than we saw for Flight A but it is destined to slow here before too long. There are 63 players at eight tables with less than half of them set to reserve a seat on Sunday.

Among those still in the game we found MT Tawfik, Marie Harrell, Jason Block, David Moses, Anthony Askey, Caleb Piderit, Rodney Turvin, and Ricardo Eyzaguirre to name a few.