$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1B Entries:  132

Adam Jaffe is coming off a nice run over the last few days leading up to the Championship and having a nice day so far. He is up to 148,000 and among the leader with the dinner break on the horizon.

We bumped up the buy-ins on the last three days before the Championship, running one-day Deep Stacks with $600 and $1,100 and $2,200 buy-ins. Jaffe made the final table of all three with a runner-up in the $600 and seventh place finish in the $1,100 before he just went ahead and won the $2,200.

Not too shabby.

$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries:  125

Cards are back in the air after the second break and Patrick Murphy is way out in front of the crowd. He is stacked up to 317,000 after six levels and that would be enough for a top-five stack coming to Day 2 if he never lost or gained another chip.

Other big stacks include Chongyou Chen (171,800), Raminder Singh (163,000), Joey Zahn (158,000), and Tom Nguyen (153,400).

$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1B Entries:  120

The second break of the day is here and players can take a 15-minute breather before returning to action.

Once they are back, they will play three more levels before the 60-minute dinner break.

$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1B Entries:  113

As the new entry number increased, we had more hit the rail to shrink the number remaining. Patrick Murphy extended his lead when he caught a club flush against Amie Martini’s aces to send her out then David Meagher won a race with against for another knockout.

Flight B players will finish out Level 6 before taking another break from the action.

$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1B Entries:  107

We hit 100 entries in Flight B and the combined total crossed over 200 for the Championship with registration open till 6:30 pm plus tomorrow’s big Saturday flight.

Some more familiar faces in today’s field include David Tuthill, last year’s runner-up Kevin Ragusa, Joey Zahn, Manny Minaya, Ryan Hogan, David DiBernardi, Doug Decker, and Dimitri Agrachov.

$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1B Entries:  98

Flight B is on the verge of putting 100 entries in the Championship and it’s turning into a very nice day.

It’s already a good one for Chris Tryba. The WSOP bracelet winner is up to 102,900 and among the early leaders.

$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1B Entries:  91

The first break is over and players returned to their seats for another three levels. The count topped 90 while they were gone and registration will remain open until 6:30 pm.

Patrick Murphy roared out of the gates this morning and turned his 40K starting stack into 125,300 over three levels.

“Just tell them it was luck,” Murphy said.

Jerry Silva is the next biggest stack with 109,400 with a handful of other hovering around the six-digit mark.

$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1B Entries:  83

Flight B players are just about to leave their tables for a 15-minute break, time to refresh and maybe grab a bite at the snack bar.

We will take this chance to check out who had a good start to their day.

$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1B Entries:  76

More players are joining the fast-growing Flight B field and the Championship crossed over the halfway point toward the $500,000 guarantee with a ton of time to get there.

More friends in the crowd include MT Tawfik, Anthony Astarita, Davidi Meagher, and Steve Trizis.

$1,700 Winter Poker Open Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1B Entries:  55

The count is moving up as more people wake and make their way to the Poker Room. We are closing on 60 after the first level and our late sleepers will be there soon.

Some of those here early include Karl Manouchakian, Marie Harrell, Jerry Silva, Raminder Singh, Chris Tryba, Peter Vitantonio, and Brian Arbaugh.